Cat play?

Hi everyone,

Last week my partner and I adopted a second cat (a 12 week old kitten) called Ickis.
So far our resident cat Willie has been really good with Ickis. Willie is a placid thing and about 4 years old. We've had him since late 2012. Initially, in the first few days, Willie gave the occasional hiss and "warning" swipe toward the kitten. Things seemed to get better after a few days and I've seen the two sniff noses. I'm assuming this may be good but I've never had more than one cat at once before.
Anyway, to get to the point- Willie and Ickis have been possibly "playing" the last couple of days. Ickis will pounce on Willie's back for example, and then the two will proceed to madly chase each other around the house and even wrestle. At first I was horrified by this, because Willie is a giant compared to the kitten- but plucky Ickis always comes back for more. When the play (?) it is always silent and it doesn't look like a fight but I still worry. I read on the Internet that cats will often take turns to be the aggressor in play- and they do that too.
I suppose my question is, is this play? And what does play actually look like? Aside from the obvious things like not being in pain.
Cheers.
Erin

Sure sounds like playing to me. You're lucky they are interacting already and not attacking each other.

A real fight would not be silent, for one thing. If you've watched Jackson Galaxy's show, you'll know real fighting would be loud, serious bleeding, and lots of fur flying. My two cats are similar in age, bit younger than a year and a half. They continue to wrestle at least twice a day, and love to do bunny kicks in each other's faces, soft bites to ears, neck, etc. I'd be grateful your Willis has taken on a role that will teach your Ickis proper social behavior regarding biting and scratching appropriately. Many single owner of kittens suffer trying to teach a new kitten appropriate play. Plus, Willis and Ickis have a new way to release energy on each other for play and rough housing rather than on you! You are surely blessed they get on so well. :-)