I have a male maine-coon lookalike who is almost 2 years old. He has many of the breeds characteristic, from appearance to behavior. He is very lovable and was the only pet in the house until we rescued a small kitten who was motherless. I have tried to introduce Wallace to the new kitten; they have made friends under the door. (We have kept them sperate and tried to introduce them gradually). However, the new kitten tries to snuggle up to Wallace around his belly, apparently looking to nurse, Wallace rolls him over and bites at him. We are concerned that he will hurt him, but so far the kitten has never cried out and always goes back for me. The biting around the neck scares me. Has anyone had any experience with this behavior and do you think that the larger cat (12 pounds) will try to injure the little one? Thanks....

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Answers

Several months ago I introduced a small (3 pounds) Maine Coon to our large (16.8 pounds) MC lookalike and they do the exact same thing. Several times a day they have wrestling sessions that the kitten always starts. They bite each others ears, head and neck and smack each other with their paws. They jump on top of each other and roll around on the floor and run like crazy through the house. Typical kitten play. To me it looks rough but so far there have been no injuries and the kitten always wants more. The big one seems to know just how far she can go with the playing and not hurt the kitten. If a play session looks to rough I just stop it. As long as one isn't hissing or going for blood they should be fine.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

I had the same thing happen when I introduced a male maine coon who was approx. 15 weeks into my house with a female who was 1 1/2. The male kept trying to nurse and the female who was spayed just kept swatting him away. I don't think they actually bite hard, just play bite. It was comical to watch. If the kitten keeps coming back, I doubt if it hurts. They both now get into some rough and tumble fights but I observe very closely on occasion, keep their claws trimmed every month so they can't do much serious damage. But it still appears to just be play. When they start growling or one meows in aggression, I separate them and give them a break. Deborah

-- Anonymous, June 16, 2000

Keep an eye on things, but I don't think you need to worry about them. I have 2 Maine Coon look alikes, male and a female who are littermates. When I got them, the male kept coming to ME to innitiate nursing behaviour. Apparently, even though his sister was, he wasn't quite weined. I let him go for a little while, to bond with me and to get comfortable with his new home. Later, I would gently push him away when he tried to nurse, as his mother would have done to get him weined. The kitten is looking for that kind of comfort -- but eventually he'll stop when Wallace doesn't give in. As long as the neck biting is on the sides and back, there is no need to worry about this either -- as this is where nature built in 'handles' for the kittens to be picked up by their mother. Going for the throat could be another thing altogether, as it's the instinctive kill move -- however, between the cats it could be play too. Mine are constantly stalking each other, and going for the throat. However, if one of them succeeds, then it promptly switched to cleaning the ears of the downed sibling. It's the same play they would engage in as wild cats, to train them to hunt... The nipping and swatting will continue until the cats establish their pecking order.

-- Anonymous, June 22, 2000