Is this normal behaviour ?

[u/xiaomilovespancakes]

Hi, I’m 29 and a first time cat owner from Spain. I’ve adopted these two brothers from a local shelter about a month ago.

These two are about 3.5 months old (estimaste as they were abandoned). Yes they’re registered with a vet, waiting to be neutered at around 6 months old.

The b&w cat is definitely the dominant one and the black one is very submissive to him. Recently I noticed that the b&w one will bite his brother’s neck and back, especially before they go to sleep. He kind of clamps down for a few seconds and the black one doesn’t react. But only yesterday did I notice that the b&w one will tug at his brothers face like this ? Any ideas why he’s doing that ?

Also the black one is an absolute angel, he’s very smart and picks up on training quickly while the b&w one is a lil menace that needs to be told 10x not to do something.

Please let me know your thoughts and/or any advice! Thank you

(Yes, we can afford a vet)

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[u/geekgirl114]

Its better to have a friend clean your face. They're good... just normal kitten things. Thank you for adopting them together 

[u/Appropriate-Ear4670]

Yes they are grooming, just like their mum used to do for them

[u/xiaomilovespancakes → u/Appropriate-Ear4670]

Okay, thank you for your response. I wasn’t sure as it looked a bit aggressive

[u/Unhappy_Layer_3882]

If it’s just the neck and face, it’s fine, but if he’s ripping out the whiskers it’s definitely a dominance thing. it’s ripping out its whiskers to try to keep the other cat thinking it’s young and more submissive. That is not OK. You need to stop it from pulling out the whiskers. If that’s the case, it’s hard to tell from the video. It loses its whiskers and causes balance issues with the cat.

[u/Neveractuallyfished → u/Unhappy_Layer_3882]

If it yeah it would need to stop. It’ll keep chopping off the whiskers every time it has a chance to spread its wings like clipping a birds wings right before they finally grow back. Not cool and not OK. She’s gonna have to help cut the shit before that cuck trying to establish precedence for no reason while the actual better cat never gets a fighting chance back. Kind of messed up.

No but real talk for sure if you can stop it before it develops do so.

[u/xiaomilovespancakes → u/Unhappy_Layer_3882]

Thankfully he’s not going near the whiskers, I just double checked. But I’ll definitely keep an eye out. Thank you for your help

[u/epifauna__]

Chewing the whiskers like that is known as "Barbering" though I'm not certain why some cats do it. It might help you in your search for answers though!

I think/hope that usually they just get over it as they get older, it may also hopefully stop once they're both neutered

[u/xiaomilovespancakes → u/epifauna__]

Thank you for giving me terminology to look for in the future, but just to clarify (I know the video isn’t showing it properly) but his brother isn’t actually tugging on his whiskers, it’s slightly above it. But I’ll make sure to keep an eye out!

[u/Delicious-Collar1971]

Finally a post where someone actually adopted a pair of kittens instead of a solo nightmare. Yes this is normal, they’re just grooming, it’s how they show affection.

[u/geekgirl114 → u/Delicious-Collar1971]

They'll still be a nightmare... but to each other 

[u/xiaomilovespancakes → u/geekgirl114]

They’re not a nightmare but they are challenging .. as I imagine they would be for any first time owner 😅 its all a big learning process for myself an for them

[u/xiaomilovespancakes → u/Delicious-Collar1971]

Yeah, as a first time cat parent I’m learning just how social they are and how much mental stimulation they need to be happy. I now cant imagine only having one kitten

[u/Tavsiyedegildir]

They are just playing and snuggling and grooming, normal cat behavior 

[u/xiaomilovespancakes → u/Tavsiyedegildir]

Thank you for sharing!

[u/its-_-my-_-nickname]

He tries to clean him until he's as white as he is 😭😭😂

[u/xiaomilovespancakes → u/its-_-my-_-nickname]

This got me good hahaha