Why won't my kitten stop playing too rough with my older cat?
Growing kittens often ignore a resident cat's warning cues and push past boundaries during play, escalating into tackling and actual physical harm. Because older cats frequently fail to put the kitten in its place, owners are left constantly separating them and worrying about long-term stress for their senior pets.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Separating the cats whenever play gets too rough
- 2Switching which cats sleep in the main bed night by night to prevent nighttime fighting
- 3Providing escape areas and climbing walls for the older cats
- 4Warily waiting for the kitten to mature with age
- 5keeping cats in separate rooms during feeding
- 6using spray bottles
- 7grabbing the kitten's scruff and scolding
- 8offering treat incentives for being nice
- 9tossing the kitten in a different room when it pounces
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“as Appa has gotten bigger, he is ignoring the other cat's cues to stop being so rough dueing playtime.”source ↗
“It's almost like he enjoys the reaction of them screaming when he gets them, as he will tackle them to the ground and then run away and wait to be chased.”source ↗
“We seperate them anytime play gets too much, which is pretty much every time.”source ↗
“we are worried that it could stress out out bigger cats long term.”source ↗
“They both do this where the tuxedo cat(9 months) will chase the turtle cat(15 years) up her cat tower (can never tell if it's malicious) and the scratch the posts at the bottom.”source ↗
“My kitten would beat up on my senior cat. It didnt do much as a kitten, but as they got older they started actually hurting him.”source ↗
“Nothing I tried seemed to work. Maybe my cat was just extra stubburn, but beyond that, I really dont if YOU can do anything if your older cat cant put them in their place and hold the hierarchy unfortunately.”source ↗