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Hard Core Play Fighting - Should I be concerned?

post #1 of 3
11/29/11 at 6:07am
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So I have had Amber for about a little more than a month now and she has settled in beautifully. She is very comfortable and content with her new home and gets along really great with Annie. They sleep together, eat together, and spend lots of time grooming each other. What concerns me, though, is their play fighting. Several times a day they will attack each other, chasing and rolling around together. They stalk each other and pounce and seem as if they are having a lot of fun. There is no hissing or growling and I've watched them closely and it really looks like 100% play. The problem is that they play so rough that literally the fur is flying. Both girls have most of the hair rubbed/torn of their ears in places, and Annie in particular has several scabs around her head from where Amber kicks her with her back legs. I found one on her throat today that was a huge scab and I am worried about if it will impact her overall health. I've tried keeping Amber's nails trimmed, but they tend to always stick out just a wee bit when she is excited (which is pretty much always, but in her defense she is only 8 months old). So should I be worried and intervene or just let cats be cats?

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post #2 of 3
11/29/11 at 7:54am

Smokie & Bandit do the same thing.

 

I generally let them duke it out as it is playing and if their daddy or I say stop, they do. However it seems they are being VERY rough, drawing blood etc so maybe you should use a distraction of sorts. Sometimes when it gets THAT bad with Smokie & Bandit, we (my hubby and I) will each pick one of the cats up and separate them, then each cat gets one-on-one time with mommy or daddy to calm down.

 

The last time it happened, smokie bit bandits ear and drew blood. So I took smokie to bedroom for one on one mommy time and Ricky kept bandit in the living room for one on one daddy time. It works, gets them distracted- and lets them have individual attention

 

 


My boys in action:

 

http://www.youtube.com/mstone2006#p/u/0/D_X8i7-xem4

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post #3 of 3
11/29/11 at 8:13am

my two like to play rough too. Monet more so since he's older and the dominant one. Sometimes I think he's inserting his dominance during play as he's always on top of Picasso. They do play hard sometimes, but never blood.

 

If you feel they're hurting each other, distract them with something else, as suggested above

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