How to you tell if they are playing or attacking?

I have 7 year yellow persian mix 13.5 lb cat (Ricky) and a 1 year grey tabbie 5 lb cat (Baby). I just adopted baby about 4 weeks ago so Ricky could have some company while I'm gone during the day. Well I took all the precautions and introduced them slowing and all seemed to be going well until a few days ago. They were left alone together all day for about a week then about two nights ago Ricky started acting like he was going to ponce on her. He started taking his left paw and wrapping it around baby's shoulder and acting like he was going to bite her neck. The last day or so he wrapped his paw around here shoulder again and acts like he want to attack her but there's no hissing involved and Baby who is about as docile as they come just freezes and doesn't react. Could this just be playing? I've never had two cats before at one time and I may just be overreacting. I've punished him by locking him in a small room for a few minutes when he acts like this but should I be letting it go further. No blood has been involved but I'm hesitant to leave them in the same room all day. They've both had free reign to roam around at night and seem to get along then....I mean they touch noses and walk around each other without any kind of agression but Baby does eat out Rickys food bowl whenever I feed them and he just walks away and won't eat again till she gone. I'm perplexed by all this....help

Note: both cats have been fixed.

Any advice would be appreciated.

It is a dominance issue. Either Baby has some alpha tendencies that Ricky wants to quash, or he is just overly alpha. If he is not hurting her- biting her aggressively or scratching and drawing blood, I would just distract him with toys or food. Don't punish him, for he is acting on instinct alone and nothing else and will be confused as to why he is suddenly isolated from the humans he loves.

A time-out of a few minutes is useless. A cat can take 24 hours or more to calm down after an aggressive episode. But I don't see anything in your description of events to warrant that action, anyway. It sounds like a normal working out of their relationship.

Don't punish him for acting on instinct - just distract him with some toys or something else.

A lot of cats LOVE to rough-house - and your boy might just be trying to establish his dominance and have a play at the same time.

As long as there's no biting or clawing, they should be fine.

Sunday and Sashka still wrestle like mad whenever they can - and Sunday is literally twice Sashka's size! It's very funny to watch - and they just love it!

Originally Posted by KitEKats4Eva!

Don't punish him for acting on instinct - just distract him with some toys or something else.

A lot of cats LOVE to rough-house - and your boy might just be trying to establish his dominance and have a play at the same time.

As long as there's no biting or clawing, they should be fine.

Sunday and Sashka still wrestle like mad whenever they can - and Sunday is literally twice Sashka's size! It's very funny to watch - and they just love it!

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Thanks everyone ;-) I've stopped putting Ricky up I just keep a sharp eye out. Baby is the one that really amazes me. She's 3xs smaller then Ricky but doesn't seem to be afraid of anything even him. She just stays still and ignores him when he get agressive.