Are my cats fighting or playing?

kittielover1195

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Two of my cats are 6 months and the other one is 10 months, but their all siblings. They've always gotten along. They lick each other, sleep together, and play wrestle with each other. They are also all fixed. The older one and one of the younger ones are boys, the other younger one is a girl. They've always pounced on each other and play wrestled, but here lately I'm not sure if it's playing or fighting. The older boy cat will pounce on the younger boy cat and bite at his neck (they've always bitten each other during their play fights but never at the neck). The younger one will then barely meow, it isn't loud at all though, and usually the older one lets go but sometimes he doesn't. Then, the younger one will get up and run, sometimes the older one chases him and sometimes he doesn't. The older one also does this to the younger girl, but not as bad. Earlier today when this happened the younger boy hissed at the older one. None of them have ever hissed at each other before. But, the younger one doesn't stay hidden from the older one or anything. After he runs from him to stop the wrestling, then he'll come back and lay with him. I looked it up online and everything I've seen says it's fighting if they are yowling and growling. They haven't done either of those. The two younger ones also pounce on each other and the older one sometimes. It's not always the older one initating it. I don't know if they're fighting, or if they're just playing and the older one gets to rough. Opinions please? Thanks!
 

dave_l

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It sounds to me as if they're just playing, as long as no actual injuries are occurring.

My two cats, who are almost seven years old and brothers, act the same way. One of them did get a scratch on his nose recently, which I suspect was inflicted by his brother; I try to keep their claws trimmed largely for that reason.

I've been told that the biting on the neck is a sign of domination, one cat telling the other that he's the boss.
 
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betsygee

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It sounds normal.  I have boy and girl siblings who have been playing like that since they were kittens, and they're five now.  Sometimes the boy gets too rambunctious and I separate them, but even so--they've never drawn blood or anything like that.  
 
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kittielover1195

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Alright, thank you all so much. I just didn't know why this started all of a sudden, and I thought they might be fighting. I've never had more than one cat before so this is new for me. Thank you everyone!
 
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