Cats "beating each other up"???

Hi everyone,

New member here (just discovered the site) and I was wondering if this has happened to anyone here before.

I have two cats, both are male and usually they are "thick as thieves" and stick to each other like glue. They lay down on each other, sleep side-by-side, etc.

Sometimes I notice that they seem to get into a "fight" where they wrestle around until one hollers. Usually it's my older one pinning the younger one down, but I notice sometimes the opposite is true.

Are they fighting for "dominance"? Are they even fighting at all and this is just the way they play?

I've always been curious about this because 99% of the time you can't keep them apart.

Thanks,

Wade

Sounds like a dominance thing to me.
My three boys all take turns being bullies to see who the top boy is.
Funny though, if they try to bully any of the three girls they get smacked down and put in their place pretty quickly.

Unless fur is flying and blood is flowing, I wouldn't worry too much.

Welcome to you & your two gentlemen!

I don't know what to tell you, other than Twitch & Lily do the same thing. Twitch is 3 & Lily is 6 months. Lily makes Twitch scream all of the time. I usually look at LIly & ask her to stop(call me crazy) & she does. Mainly because Twitch is a lot more defeneseless.

I am sure someone else will come along & offer more advice. Oh yes, and we would love to see pictures of your fur babies!

Unless somebody is being injured, I look on it the same as I would any other two "kids" who normally get along: every so often one gets on the other's nerves and has to be "told". When mine get like that, I usually just tell them I don't care who started it, everyone stop -- NOW! and usually they do --often with a "meany!" look at Mum.

Originally Posted by Wade1972

Sometimes I notice that they seem to get into a "fight" where they wrestle around until one hollers. Usually it's my older one pinning the younger one down, but I notice sometimes the opposite is true.

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It's rough play.

Our 2 (boy and a girl) do it all the time. They are brother and sister (both neutered) and 10 months old. Usually Merlin will instigate it and start rolling around the floor with Freya. She'll play along for so long letting him "pretend" to beat her up, and when she's had enough.................... she wipes the floor with him and sends him scampering under the sofa for 15 mins or so.

The fur flies, there is hissing, spitting and growling, but within 30 mins they are snuggled up on the sofa purring away. It's a nightly occurance and just rough play They love each other really and can't bear to be apart - we just let them get on with it.

My cats fight all the time too. Gary is trying to play but Grace gets really upset and hisses, growls, you name it... I've never seen them really hurt each other...

It's actually kind of cute because Gary will attack Grace then he'll lay down on his back with his belly exposed and continue the 'fight' that way! If his intentions were to truly fight, he wouldn't lay in such a vulnerable position.

Originally Posted by MrsMeowgi

It's actually kind of cute because Gary will attack Grace then he'll lay down on his back with his belly exposed and continue the 'fight' that way! If his intentions were to truly fight, he wouldn't lay in such a vulnerable position.

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Actually it's a misconception that this pose is a vulnerable one. Cats can hurt the attacker more this way. All claws of all four legs become formidable weapons.

It's very ineresting to see all the comments about "fighting" cats. I guess it's a cat thing..... and we shouldn't worry about it so much. My two cats used to fight like crazy and then when one of them died, the instigator who I thought wanted to be the only cat, meowed constantly for two months until I got another cat.... now he's getting "beat up" all the time!! Go figure. But no more meowing!! Guess that means he's happy anyway.

Originally Posted by yayi

Actually it's a misconception that this pose is a vulnerable one. Cats can hurt the attacker more this way. All claws of all four legs become formidable weapons.

Click to expand...

Cats certainly can do a lot of damage in that position but when Gary's laying on his back, he's definitely vulnerable!!!! He doesn't claw Grace at all or even kick his legs... he just lays there with all fours stretched out and lets her bat at his face until she gets bored and walks away.


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b297/FrankRizzoSizzleChest/03fab8e1.jpg
(If posting pics outside the pic forum is a no-no, feel free to remove! )

Thanks everyone for the replies. My two boys are a real pair let me tell you. I've noticed this happening every once in awhile and at first I was horrified that the older one, Murphy, was being a bully. I had visions of Luke being a poor victim and such until Luke started to kick Murphy's butt.


Thanks again everyone.