Are These Cats Fighting Or Just Playing?

[boyjenius]

A few months ago my wife and I moved in together. with that we each brought our cats, one of each. we very slowly introduced them to each other and they started getting along.

I kept noticing one of our cats, Chivas being very antagonistic. he is always chasing my cat, Venus around a lot. it is always one sided. he pounces and sneak attacks her.

every morning you can hear the cats from the other room flipping around and making noises and running after each other. My wife is fully convinced they are just playing around. just a few days ago i woke up out of bed because i heard them fighting. i go out to break them up and Chivas, the seemingly antagonistic cat had Venus' hair in his mouth, clumps of hair on the ground.

my wife is still fully convinced they are just playing, or that he is just being the dominant one. I hate feeling like my cat is being tormented every morning. she is a very timid cat but she doesnt seem scared of him unless he is chasing her.

I hardly ever see the female cat, Venus chase Chivas. one time we came back home a few weeks ago and Chivas did have bloody scratch marks on his ear. but she minds her own business and when Chivas gets bored, he pounces. what are your thoughts?

I am keeping them in separate rooms until we figure something out

are they fighting, playing or something else? what can we do to stop this because it is really bugging me. and it bugs my wife that it bugs me because she thinks i'm just making mountains out of mole hills.

 

[abyeb]

Hi there! Welcome to TCS! It can sometimes seem hard to tell the difference between playing and fighting. We’ve had a few threads on this topic before, but here’s a fairly recent one, with a lot of great advice: Are These Kittens Fighting Or Playing?

 

[ArtNJ]

Clumps of hair usually means really fighting. However, you also said that she doesn't seem scared of him unless he is actively chasing her. That usually means that things aren't particularly bad. If she was being hurt, she would likely actively avoid him and hiss at him regardless of whether he had initiated chasing.

So kind of mixed signals. On balance, if its only at morning, and she doesn't seem stressed by him if he isn't chasing her, and there are no wounds, I think you can probably let them be together if you are home. I would not leave them alone together if you aren't home.