Sounds like you got one of those asshole kittens.
Give 'em time. Dewey’ll eventually get tired of it, and probably give Edison a good whack to let him know who’s boss.
And you are SO turning into crazy cat lady.
E.
I’ve gotten Dewey pretty used to the claw clippins, and I was planning on doing the same for Edison. I think he’s just going to have razor claws for a while, though - they’re just so little! I’d thought about SoftPaws, but is that really better than clipping? Doesn’t it get expensive?
Well, I was all set to make a tearful post about how poor Doozles has been thrown out of his spots and he won’t play with his toys and he won’t eat, but he did play fetch a little bit with me this morning, and Edison was actually sweet and not squirmy for two seconds, and they were licking each other with Aaron when I left this morning. I still don’t know, though - I’m scared I’ve made a huge mistake. If Dewey isn’t back in his bed on the table in a week, I may have to consider finding a new home for Edison. (Who was a lot less active at the shelter!)
They’ll find their own hierarchy, Zsofia. If Dewey is a submissive cat (like mine), he’ll probably always be the subordinate cat, and it usually is better for cats to have animal companions. I guess you’ll have to decide if Dewey is getting the short end, if Edison turns out to be the dominant one. Edison looks to be about five months old - he’ll settle WAY down in a year or so.
Well, they said he was 11 weeks, but he (and his littermates) look kinda… big, doesn’t he?
I think he’s gonna be a big cat, though.
Zsofia - “You’re gonna need a bigger boat…” About kittens, I took my niece cat in just for a week about three months ago. My other three cats have hated him and he’s picked fights the whole time. Suddenly, this week, everything has settled down. They can occupy the same spaces without fighting and he sleeps on my bed with the other cats. It just takes time for them to grow up a little. I figure Spike is probably about 9 months old now.
StG
Eh, don’t coddle Dewey. You want him to grow up to be a momma’s boy :p?
My guess is that he’d be happier as the junior partner in a two cat household, than king of an empty domain. Seems like they are already starting to adjust - if they aren’t trying to kill each other, there is no inappropriate elimination from Dewey ( you should definitely have a minimum of two litterboxes by the way, at least for now ) and he is eating fine, I’d leave them be.
ALL ( well, almost all ) kittens are less active at a shelter. They all turn into whirling dervishes of activity. It’s just the state of kittenhood.
He looks older than 11 weeks to me, too. Handsome guy.
- Tamerlane
He’s not eating, though. He only ate a little.
And yes I want him to be a mama’s boy! I love it when I come home and see him through the window in his little bed waiting for me!
If Dewey’s a mama’s boy, that’s not going to change. If he wants to wait in his window bed for you, he will, other cat or no. They’ll settle down with each other.
As for the eating, that can be a problem with two or more cats. My cat eats till the food is gone; my husband’s cat was an all-day grazer. We compromised and feed them two times a day now, so both cats have a crack at it. When they first came together, my cat gained exactly as much as my husband’s cat lost. They are the same weight now. I’d still give it a little while for your boys to settle in.
Well, things have been going better. We’ve started to get attached to the little shit - er, kitten. He’s weird. He’s like a puppy, really. And he purrs like a lawnmower. Also he has a fat little belly. He and Dewey have been wrestling a lot, with a little bit of hissing but no puffed tails and no claws out as far as I can tell. I’m trying to feed them seperately (Dewey usually eats his food in a hurry) but they just meowed at each other through the door sadly until we let them back together. Tonight or tomorrow maybe they’ll be hungry enough to eat.
Two questions - how can you tell if you need to separate scrapping kitties? I mean, they look like they’re just playing, but there is a little hissing. And how can you tell who’s winning? With dogs I’d say the loser is on the bottom, but I know cats get down defensively so they can disembowel you with their hind legs.
And is it weird that Edison shed the skin on his paw pads? Because that creeped us out.
Riiiigggghhhtttt…
One of us. One of us. One of us. 
He’s very cute. Glad to hear that they are getting used to each other.
I don’t separate my boys at all. They’re close enough in size that if it gets serious, one of them will break away and run (usually the young 'un who started it. :p). If either of them start picking on little Molly, though, I separate 'em, especially if she starts yelling like she’s in pain. She’s full grown, but still smaller than the boys, and she does NOT like to tussle and fight like they do.
I have no answer on the paw-pad question, sorry.
If you keep both of their claws trimmed up, they should be able to sort out their own scrapping. If you’re not hearing sounds like when you step on a cat’s foot or tail (and I think everyone who has a cat knows that sound), I don’t think anyone’s getting hurt. Cats play rough.
Are they stampeding through the house yet? That always kills me - how two little kitties can make THAT much noise!
Oh, yes. It’s a freight train.
Having dealt a lot with both recently, I’d say that in a lot of wayst hey really aren’t all that dissimilar . Most little carnivores/omnivores seem to have that insatiable need to play and a desire to follow “mom” around everywhere. But ( young )puppies do seem to be just a little easier to tucker out ;).
Are you trying to feed them seperate diets ( i.e. kitten vs. adult food ) ?
The occasional hiss is pretty normal, as is a little mild squealing. As noted cats tend to play rough and that’s there way of telling their wrestling partner that they’re getting a little too rough/intimidating. Kittens that don’t get that sort of interaction actually tend to be a little too rough themselves as adults, play biting harder than they should and whatnot.
Warning signs of a real fight would be if they puffed up like snowballs, were making angry-sounding warning growls pre-contact and loud screeches after contact. Also cat wrestling tends to be more…hmmm…wrestling-like, whereas fights are usually fast and nasty.
If they aren’t doing that, I’d seperate them only if one seems to be making frequent distress noises and shows signs of wanting to stop, but the other one keeps pushing. This would probably be a little more likely to happen with a size differential ( i.e. littler kitten decides it has had enough and the bigger one wants to keep going ).
I usually just go by whoever ends up fleeing in the end.
That doesn’t seem real normal to me ( non-vet speaking ). Probably nothing, but if the continue to look a little scaly, you might want to point it out at his next vet visit.
Otherwise they seem to be adapting just fine. They’re grooming each other, playing together and are distressed when seperated. Sounds like they’ve already bonded :).
- Tamerlane