Is this common?

[melissam87]

If I feed Nikita something that I know she likes and the kitten comes to join in Nikita will back away and retreat. Same thing with playing games. I often will feed the kitten and play with Nikita so she has some one on one time with me. As soon as the kitten joins in Nikita will linger in the shadows and not go after the toy. It almost has a backing down feel to it. It's bizarre. I almost feel bad that the kitten is so forthcoming because it seems to make Nikita submissive to the kitten's desires.

Nikita is my 3 yr old SV and my kitten Samantha is my 13 wk. old domestic. I don't know if this behavior is breed related or not so I wanted to put that out there.

My other question is my kitten has fur that has a quill-like feel to it on the ends. Whats up with that? I really can't explain it. Nikita has the softest coat I've ever felt on a cat but my kitten looks like she had a bad perm and her ends are fried. Lol I've read that kittens have the fuzzies but I'm not sure that this is what people are referring to.

Thanks,

Melissa

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I think that adult cats will often let the "baby" take precedence with food or play... there's no harm in that and it will sort out in time. Our domestic cats did that when we got our first Savannah kitten, but then there was that added SV hyper behavior too...

As to the kitten's coat, it is hard to say without seeing/feeling your kitten. If she was a breed like an American Wirehair for example, there would be a different feel than the general kitten fuzzies... but this is a kitten you got at a shelter right? I'd think maybe it is poor coat condition from however she was living as a very young kitten and once she sheds her kitten coat it will be very different.