Not sure if my cat is bullying the kitten.

[Methe]

We've had our female cat ruby since oct 2013 when she was 7 weeks old and pearl for 2 weeks. Pearl is about 14 weeks old and came from the rspca. They are both neutured.

Ruby is a complete cow in a lot of ways. Everything is on her terms and she's never been shy when it comes to scratching/biting. She'll come for a love but it's rare.

Pearl is nothing like ruby, she is quiet and affectionate and seems to enjoy human contact.

Over the last few days ruby has started chasing pearl round the house and 'wrestling' with her aka pinning her down. There has been no blood shed other than a scratch on the nose and pearl doesn't seem that bothered but it's hard to watch and dh has just has to literally shove ruby off pearl as she made a pitiful yowling noise.

We've put ruby outside several times and then pearl wanders round the house looking for her and If pearl is under the tv stand for example and ruby walks past pearls paw comes out and swipes her.

I have absolutely no idea what is normal behaviour. Is this this normal?

.......pearl wanders round the house looking for her and If pearl is under the tv stand for example and ruby walks past pearls paw comes out and swipes her.......

Sounds as if they have the measure of each other.

Should I just let them fight it out then? Do cats normal wrestle like that?

Our girls did the same thing. Wrestling and pinning to the floor. The kitten got her own back when she grew by leaping on the older cat's back.

Occasionally we separated them like a referee it's just how they are though. Sometimes they will play rough.

Ours are at it constantly, one will chase the other for ages and next time you see them it's the other way round, 10 minutes after that they're curled up together.

What are they like when not fighting - any grooming one another going on at all?

I've not seen them groom each other at all. At best ruby seems to tolerate pearl when she's not trying to pin her to the floor.

I am such a novice!

In my experience it's normal kitty behaviour. My two neutered males are 13 and 4 and have wrestled ever since DramaCat2 was a kitten. I don't interfere, they are well able to handle each other and there definitely doesn't seem to be any aggressive intent - it's just playful behaviour. A bit like my three sons, really

Sounds a bit like mine. MCat pins little MKitten to the floor, bites his ears, MK wails and runs away. Then MK wakes up MC with a slap and it begins again.

They're doing it now.

Yep - I've got a holy terror and a gentle lamb, and holy terror is just merciless.

I stop them when it goes too far, and they have separate bedrooms at night. The lamb doesn't seem horribly upset by it or anything, but I figure she appreciates a little bit of respite.

The other day a big box arrived and we left it in the living room for them to play with. Holy Terror jumped straight in, and the Lamb promptly leapt up to pin the top of the box closed, then settled carefully down on it for a snooze. Her expression was one of deep satisfaction.

....Her expression was one of deep satisfaction.......

OP

Nothing wrong with intervening if things get just too overheated - if you watch a litter at play, you'll see the mother cat do it occasionally if the squawks are too loud.

Sounds to me as if they're gradually reaching an accommodation though. (And unless you have your eye on them every minute of the day, remember that you don't know what Pearl is doing to wind up Ruby!)

"remember that you don't know what Pearl is doing to wind up Ruby!"

Indeed Cozie. MKitten devotes a large portion of his day to annoying MCat. It's like it's his job, Chief Annoyer.