Fighting Or Playing?

[lerrpurr]

Hello everyone!
I got a question on cats' relations.
The black one is mine, and the other one I took for a month (bc the owner is on the vacation). He's been with us for 5 days now. So, they don't hiss or growl at each other, neither do they cuddle or groom each other though. I'm hoping they're playing but just wanted to make sure. Once I heard mine meowing and that time their actions looked kinda rough to me, so now I'm a little concerned if what they're doing is okay and safe or it's a beginning of a fight. Would really love to hear some opinions.

 

[Hellenww]

I'd say play. No fur flying. Ears mostly pointed forward. Visitor feels safe enough to roll around and expose their belly. Does your kitty normally have an active tail? That black tail was moving in a way I'd read as aggressive and it did puff up.

Are you keeping them separated when not there to supervise? Keep something nearby the place between them if the fur starts flying.

For grown cats that only met 5 days ago it looks pretty good.

 

[lerrpurr]

Thanks for your reply!

Does your kitty normally have an active tail?

Oh yes, and when playing with people she often has her ears pointed backwards and shakes her tail like a rattlesnake, but that's really just for playing, not a real agression, she's very chill.

 

[ArtNJ]

I don't think too many experienced cat people would be willing to take a friend's cat for a month because normally there would be lots of unpleasantness and by the time you get a handle on it the month would be over. Heck, even if you have a spare room for the newcomer and don't integrate them stress is still common. But these guys have instantly made friends. (Many cats make rough housing buddies not cuddle buddies.)

Are these guys under 2? If they are older, you got really lucky. This is an unusually good result even for young cats. Don't do it again with a different visitor and expect the same result.

 

[lerrpurr]

Yup, they're both about 1.5.
Wow, I didn't realize there could be such difficulties. Thanks for the advice! I guess I should really take this into account in the future

 

[ArtNJ]

Yeah, the age isn't a surprise. There is no magic number, all cats are different, but it does seem like cats under 2 just do better with this.

If your thinking about adding another cat, you have pretty good evidence that yours will be cool with any non-hostile cat, at least if you act in the near future. If you wait a bunch of years, I wouldn't assume anything.

 

[jen]

I didn't even have to press play (although I did) to know they are playing just by their posture alone. I watched them to confirm. Play play play. Cats can be ROUGH and this is ok. They need somewhere to take out their crazies. They also will vocalize during and when one has enough it will likely his or growl or swat the other to let it know. Let this happen! It is important they learn each others boundaries without you interfering. As long as no fur is flying and there is no bloodshed.

 

[duncanmac]

Seems like the original poster got the answer, so . . . .

Every couple of weeks another thread starts with "Playing or Fighting" or something similar, and I have noticed that if the message doesn't start with "I'm taking one of them to the vets" then they are playing.

My cats were my first cats ever and when we introduced them, there was quite a lot of posturing and wrestling and boxing. And play fighting. Holy crap you'd never guess that two cuddly balls of fluff could play so rough.

 

[vince]

The two cats in the original posting actually aren't playing that aggressively. My two sound like a WWE match. They thump into the walls, yell and complain and throw each other around. Yet, it's still play and they are closely bonded.

Look that their ears aren't folded back, nails are retracted, play is relatively quiet, no fur or blood, and that the play is episodic and they take turns, although not all the criteria always will be met if it's play. The only one that should never happen is blood and/or fur.

 

[1 bruce 1]

for the record..a cat fight.
(Not my video and probably not kid friendly. You can see the difference...loose body language...rolling around, etc. in your video vs. this tense stand off with vocalizations, etc.)

 

[Daisy6]

And hissing or growling.

 

[qissycat]

My two girls play love to rough-play like that. I too worried that they were fighting at first because they'd be body slamming and crashing into things. But that's just how they play. Other times they groom each other and sleep together. And there's never been blood or fur flying.

I think you'd know if it was a real fight because it'd be so much more aggressive and scary.

 

[Daisy6]

This was how my cats played at night:

1. Stare at each other in the same sitting position, tails wagging slowly.
3. One cat jumps on the other and tackles her. Wrestle match ensues.
3. They chase each other around the house, sounding like a horse race.

 

[lerrpurr]

Thank you all so much for your comments!
I don't have much expierience with owning more than one cat so really wanted to double check. Now I'm a little more educated on cats' playing C: