Hi. I’m Andi from Washington,, A friends female Bengal/Domestic tabby was believed to have been accidentally bred by a neighbors Bengal ( possibly her sire) who snuck out for a joyride. Apparently he escaped regularly I ended up with a kitten from the resulting litter. I thought he ( Ben) was a really pretty (2 pound) kitten. And my older ( 16 pound) kitten, Manny, was lonely so it seemed like a match made in heaven. Manny seems scared of the 8 week old kitten. Ben has been with us since 6 weeks. Ben bugs the older cat into very aggressive behavior. I realize the kitten was separated far to soon for proper socialization. So I’m wondering is the older cat socializing the new kitten, defending himself, or actually scared of the little guy? Is the new guy aggressive because he doesn’t know better? Or because he’s a Bengal or because he’s just a kitten? I’ve never had a kitten this young. I once bought a pixie bob kitten and my two adult males I had at the time cowered from him and made no attempt to make contact. Like they sensed they were different. We returned that kitten to the breeder. So what’s happening is the kitten bugs the older cat into action which changes from playfulness to aggressiveness in a few minutes. The older cat lays on top of him and tried to bite his genitals. He also tries to bite him under the neck. These are the final stages of his frustrations and it’s whats happening when we separate them. We rescue the kitten who flies right after the older cat and leaps on his back, or dives at his neck. Or swats at him. At some point Manny kind of loses it and seems to regard little Ben as prey when he sees him darting all over the house. This whole cycle is about 4-5 minutes before we capture one and isolate. We just started letting them be together about 4 days ago though they have been Nose to Nose for feeding through the kittens three story cage since day one. We also just started using Jackson Galaxy’s peacemaker and his clicker stick with early success. My next question is whether this kitten is going to continue to be aggressive, even if it’s just play or if they will eventually get on together. I know this is a lot to ask for a first effort. My vet said he appeared to be a “ monastic” or “ metastic” marble patterned Bengal. I tried to look that up and didn’t see anything with that description. Does anyone have any idea what I’m not remembering correctly? I do know this kitten was too young to be separated. It wasn’t our choice. Mom got mastitis. And regarding safety. The kitten is caged or supervised at all times Manny spends most of his time outside in his catio and we close off the door so the kitten has his time out too. If he is awake, he is not caged.

Both can s are charming. I think under normal circumstances they will adjust to each other. It’s the Bengal part that is unknown to me.

Thanks for any experience that you can offer.

Welcome to our forum and congratulations on your baby. Unfortunately, six weeks is way too young to take a kitten from its mom. Mom teaches the kittens a lot in these last few weeks. But .. what's done is done this point. And it will be up to you to socialize your kitten.

As to why your older kitty is reacting this way ... cats create territory and a new cat has entered that territory. There is a proper way to introduce two cats and I'm guessing you did not do it the correct way. Your kitten is extremely playful and is going to antagonize your older cat. Until these two cats can co-exist without any issues, you cannot leave them alone together. A bite to the neck of your kitten can puncture the jugular vein and kill just about instantly. There is definitely a difference between "play"and "fighting." You will need to make sure your home is catified and both cats have their own spaces for their own territory. Your kitten will grow throughout the year.

It is possible you will eventually find your two kitties grooming each other and snuggling together -- or not! I have two -- one domestic shorthair and one a bengal and the bengal antagonizes the DSH constantly and they are usually in separate room to sleep -- their choice, not mine. However, they enjoy chasing each other and do not bite or hiss at each other. But they are not best buddies by any means.

You are going to need patience and time -- plain and simple.

So two points:

1. 8 week old kittens are not capable of being aggressive. They don't have a mean or vicious bone in their body, they don't care about territory or the house pecking order, they simply have a really really high play need, as they are in "training to be a cat" mode. They need to gain strength, coordination, and practice all those predator moves that they would traditionally need to survive, and at 8 weeks, they quite frankly suck at all that stuff. They are certainly not a threat to anyone.

2. Older cats simply don't have the same needs as kittens do. So most of the time, the kitten's play advances are not going to be appreciated. You'd have to describe their encounters more carefully and precisely to really know what's going on, but you're older cat is definitely not socializing the kitten. He's either just telling the kitten: "eff off, leave me alone", or telling him: "this is my territory, I want you gone, you're not welcome here".

I think you definitely need to keep them apart for awhile (awhile probably means a week or two). And then when they do get back together, really carefully monitor and control their interactions. There's a lot of info around on how to do that (i.e., cat introductions) but the main challenge is to convince the older cat to accept the kitten as new resident of the home, as opposed to be an enemy.

I also don't really think that a cage is appropriate for a kitten of that age (if there is a proper age), and it's also going to be an impediment to getting the older cat to accept him. If you have a spare bedroom or something like that, that would be a lot better.

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The little monsters 3