Is the butt wiggle thing always friendly?

Aspen and Pumpkin have been doing fairly well together although Aspen still sometimes chases him. Most of the time when she chases him she hunches down and wiggles her butt then runs after him and only slightly swats at him or just chases him away. I interpret the butt wiggling as playful. My question is is it always playful or do they sometimes do this when they're seriously chasing another cat?

Thanks.

I think it's just play full, I've never see a cat do that when they were really fighting, but my kitties always do that.

Manda

The butt wiggle is what a cat does just before he jumps on his prey. It's a kind of a preparation: prey sighted, zeroed in, get ready, get set, three...two...one....POUNCE!! So it's a hunting behavior - attacking prey - that he's "practicing," which goes to show that most of cats' play is practicing hunting and fighting. They're predators, and that's what they enjoy doing. So if they don't have real prey to hunt, they can play at it by hunting and attacking each other.

I've always thought they only do it when playing. I can't say I have much experience with cats that fight though.

No, the wiggle isn't fighting between cats -- just hunting. Fighting between cats would be stuff like the bunny-kicking, clawing and biting.

All of that is good to know because Pumpkin acts like he really doesn't like it, but he never stays away very long when she does it so I assume he doesn't think she's really going to hurt him. I just wish he could just play along with her, but he's a more timid cat than she is and I guess it's just not in him. They did end up sleeping next to me and very close to each other yesterday and when they stretched out they ended up with their legs entwined around each other and Aspen ended up with her front paw on his head and he didn't move it, so I'm very hopeful that they'll develop a friendship devoid of either one of them being wary of the other. It was really cute...at first when Pumpkin squeezed in between me and Aspen (which he did because he's very jealous and couldn't allow her to be laying closer to me than he was) they sort of just looked at each other for about 30 seconds, but then seemed to both agree that this proximity was ok and they just went to sleep. I was very happy, but then later that day she chased him again, so I wasn't quite sure about how their relationship is going.

Originally Posted by Ethiope

Aspen and Pumpkin have been doing fairly well together although Aspen still sometimes chases him. Most of the time when she chases him she hunches down and wiggles her butt then runs after him and only slightly swats at him or just chases him away. I interpret the butt wiggling as playful. My question is is it always playful or do they sometimes do this when they're seriously chasing another cat?

Thanks.

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I think this is only part of their play. Barkley will do that (it is adorable!!) right before he pounces on her and vice versa. I have not noticed either of them do it other than when they are playing with each other.

I LOVE watching them do the butt wiggle thing!!! It's one of the cutest things a cat does, I think.

Originally Posted by taterbug

I LOVE watching them do the butt wiggle thing!!! It's one of the cutest things a cat does, I think.

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I have to agree! I've never really understood WHY they do it when they're getting ready to pounce, but it is adorable.

I've always thought "wiggle-butt" was friendly; I've never seen it during a real fight, although the recepient of it may not care to be rushed or jumped on.

I've seen Sweetie do it when she's getting ready to pounce on Juno. She wiggles, runs toward Juno and then just walks away. I think its play.

That's pretty much what Aspen does. She'll wiggle her butt, then run at Pumpkin and either swat him or they just end up running in separate directions. He walks around looking a little wary after she does this though which is the only thing that made me wonder if she was playing or not. You'd think they would have some sort of secret cat language that would let Pumpkin understand that she was playing. He seems to take it so seriously. Perhaps it's because he's 7-8 and 2 1/2. She's still a kid. He sure does have a short memory, though, because I distinctly remember him giving my girl kittie, Velvet, a run for her money when he first moved in. He used to chase her mercilessly. I guess payback's a b---h.

I think it's holdover from their hunting instincts. I was watching a really awesome, super-nerdy PBS show this weekend about big cats in Africa. All of the cats did the "butt wiggle" before making the dash toward their prey. In their case, it was clearly part of their hunting routine. With our kitties, it might be used in play, but I think its roots are more predatory.

So does that mean Aspen sees Pumpkin as prey? If so, no wonder he doesn't like it.

I love the kitty butt wiggle when they're playing!

Tsar always does the butt wiggle when she's approaching a more challenging prey LOL. Its way cute to watch, but if she starts doing it to me she'd be in trouble!