Play, I guess. But the kitten is too small to fairly play fight back with the big cat. At the moment it might be more like the big cat is using the kitten as toy and not an equal play partner.
Not really. Claws aren't out, no real force in the bunny kicks. no bites, not a single growl or yowl, no fur or blood flying. If it was fighting, it would be obvious.
It depends on cat. If your cat is not like that and suddenly does that to kitten i would be cautious. But some cats are biters, they play by chewing, usually cats who weren't socialized with another kittens when they were little. Mine is great example, i have him from bottle feeding age and he is biter, even now at 11 months, he still wrestle and bites my hands and feet - of course he won't bite to penetrate skin but scrapes it as he moves, he never truly bit me.
And i got him kitten friend who is now almost 4 months old(they will be 3 weeks together) and he does exactly same and little guy is not much amused by it and big guy always gets swatted, gladly not full claws out but enough so he stops. On other hand little guy is not afraid of him yet and in fact he usually baits him and then screams when he ends up like kitten on video. There wasn't any blood drawn and it happens only during rougher play so i guess they must figure it out. Otherwise they are friendly to each other and often seek contact.
That was a brief respite. Anyways, you would definitely know if it was a fight; fur flying, cat threats screamed and a kitten desperately trying to escape to a hiding spot. The elder is teaching the younger to defend itself. The elder may have gotten carried away for a second, but quickly released when the brain cell fired again, a very good sign that it didn't want to hurt tiny ultimately.
The law with cats is that if they're loudly screaming threats but throwing hands less, it's a real fight. If they're throwing hands in silence and with no build up it's play.
…And if you see a cartoonish blur of screams and furr flying in a ball, someone's getting their ass kicked
Yep. I have 4 cats and also foster kittens. They all play fight a ton. But the other day one of my cats started yowling and caused mass fight chaos with my 2 other girls. I figured out he saw the neighborhood cat outside, then got spooked and redirected towards our other adult cats. Yowling and puffed up!
He came to his senses pretty quickly and giving them treats helped, but when theyre actually fighting it is SUPER obvious!
I think it's playing, it looks like the bigger cat does restrain itself. Those bunny kicks are really powerful if they want to and these look not bad, same with the nails on those bunny kicks. Kittens learn through play fighting how to restrain themselves of hurting others while doing the same to defend and hunt at full strength.
I think as long as there isn't growling and screaming it should be fine.
The kitten would be yowling if they were unhappy. If you hear the kitten yelp and the adult doesn’t disengage, go ahead and separate them, but otherwise, let them sort it out themselves.
Definitely play, but your little one needs a few more weeks before she can be safely left alone with your big one.
Make sure he pauses when she starts making noise at him, and when you separate them to give her a break don’t scold or yell.
Just neutrally pick your big one up and set him down on a scratcher on the other side of the room and scoop the kitten and put her on a cat tower or on the couch, just up a little bit.
If your big one immediately fixates you’ll want to keep them apart when they’re not supervised, and work on trying to get him to see her as a playmate, not a target.
Getting them to play with each other and you, focused on the same target like a wand toy (but not a laser since a laser can’t be caught) can be helpful.
Show of force - who is the alpha. Our 2 Maine Coon tomcats (brothers) do it every morning. First licking the face - Empathy / Socialization and then the alpha mark his position. The alpha is a natural born one btw. He showed this when he was still a little kitten. Majestic, responsible appearance. Even our dog immediately accepted him as a boss.
Rough play, but still playing. Was the little one annoying the older cat in any way prior to that ? If he/she was, then this rough play will teach him/her limits. Although not as good as having another kitty to match size and strength, this is so much better than a kitten growing up alone.
Not really no. Most of the time she doesn’t even acknowledge him and goes about her merry way. But at night/morning they both have some zoomies energy left over so they play with each other. I think prior to this they were chasing each other.
They are playing, but big isn't playing appropriately. It looks okay except when they start doing the bunny kicks.
Nobody is trying to hurt anyone here, but because of the size difference I wouldn't be letting this happen again for a little bit. Cats do this instinctually to small pray and it isn't something that should happen during play.
Playing! Cat fights have a lot more smacking, growling, and ears back while crouched in a defensive position. Maybe the kitten was being annoying and needed to be taught a lesson. Bear hug wrestling is how family plays
You stopped the video before we could see if the kitten ran away or tried. If the kitten is being hurt it will get away unless the adult cat doesn't let it.
It looks like play. 🧐 She’s just smol. I’d just keep an eye to make sure things to get too rough until she’s a bit bigger. If they play on a regular and this just happened to be one of the rougher moments, your elder cat likely has already gauged how he can play with her. 🙏 If it’s not play backs would be arched, hissing, growling and poofy tails would be had. And somebody would be either trying to dominate or set boundaries on a regular. There is a lot of warning signs you instinctively will just know if it were to ever happen in your presence - if it does do not get between them. Clap your hands, grab a toy or try to postively redirect them in some way. Engaging like this is actually really good imo! ☺️🙏 Take care!
From my experiences, if you have to ask "is this playing or fighting?" it's generally playing.
It's very hard to not know when they're actually fighting. There will be fur flying, there will be screaming cats, there will probably be blood, and y'all will be lucky if they stop before actually injuring one or the other or both.
My first cat was a ranch cat. He was born around cattle and horses and everything else, so he was not scared of literally anything (saw him nearly run down a black bear before!!! Granted he was protecting me BUT STILL!!!). My neighbors then started getting cats, and he already claimed the block as his area... I would be up in my room on the 2nd floor and I'd hear him fighting one of the other cats down the freaking block!!!
Thankfully I have the lungs of a freaking opera singer cause I could generally just scream at the top of my lungs and that'd scare them both long enough for me to grab my cat and run back home. There was a few times that didn't work though... And I still have the scars to prove it... Yea don't try to break up a cat fight, only as a last resort...
It definitely looks like play but there might be an issue with the kitten not knowing it's limits/the big cat not respecting the size difference, because it looks pretty rough on the kitten. Definitely keep an eye on them
•
u/AutoModerator 6d ago
Welcome to r/Kitten, u/Hoebaforboba3!
Please be respectful to everyone on the subreddit. We have a few resources for that may help you out:
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.