Play or fight

[gosha]

Hello guys, this is my first time having 2 cats at the same time and I'm a little confused. My older cat is a bit rough on a little one. I'm not sure if they are fighting or playing. No growling or hissing from both sides, little one squeak sometimes, he has no scratches or bite marks and he is not scared of the big one. Gosha, the older cat, huffs and puffs sometimes, which I read somewhere is sign of being annoyed. Could it be he is a bit jealous of a baby? I tried to feed them together and praise both for good behavior, I alsolet them both now to stay in my bed, however Gosha doesn't want to come for rubs when I have a kitten and kitten is just like a real baby, always wants to be on me. I made a 4 mins video, this is basically how they interact now. So what do you think this is? Should I separate them again?

You Tube

You Tube

[Catmamma]

Is Gosha a male and Baby a female? Perhaps Baby is beginning to mature. Are both spayed/neutered? I unsuccessfully had two cats. Due to various circumstances, the younger cat went into heat and did I have a problem with both cats! Hindsight shows me the problem started at least two weeks before when the older cat would chase down the younger and rough house. I hope that isn't the reason for you. Gosha is rather rough with the Baby, I think. If Gosha does this while you are there, what does he/she do when you aren't?

[Blakeney Green]

Likely playful, IMO. Cats play pretty roughly with each other.

With my two, I can tell when they're playing versus serious by their sounds; when they actually get angry with each other, there's quite a bit of hissing, growling, and fussing, but when they play they're mostly quiet. Their play is just as ferocious as their squabbles. When they do vocalize or hiss during play, it means "You're going too far now" and the other cat knows to back off.

Personally I would not separate them. The kitten is holding its own, no one seems to be getting bullied, and they don't seem too upset. Cats need to work out their own dominance, and sometimes it looks very rough by human standards - but as long as there are no injuries, it's probably okay.

It's possible your kitten is annoying Gosha, but that's actually not necessarily a problem - when Gosha responds negatively to something, the kitten learns appropriate boundaries. Cats can actually do a pretty good job of teaching each other to play nicely.

[gosha]

Originally Posted by Catmamma

Is Gosha a male and Baby a female? Perhaps Baby is beginning to mature. Are both spayed/neutered? I unsuccessfully had two cats. Due to various circumstances, the younger cat went into heat and did I have a problem with both cats! Hindsight shows me the problem started at least two weeks before when the older cat would chase down the younger and rough house. I hope that isn't the reason for you. Gosha is rather rough with the Baby, I think. If Gosha does this while you are there, what does he/she do when you aren't?

They both are neutered and both are males. Gosha is a rather timid cat and I didn't expect him to be fighting. They are not together all the time, when I leave the house I lock the kitten in the spare room and only let them out together when I'm watching. I didn't let them see each other for about a week since we got the kitten, then I let them out and they were pretty cool and even played the toy together, which is why I decided I would let them hang out more, and for the ast 2 days this is what their interaction looks like. I tell Gosha "No" and he leaves kitten alone.

[Nell]

That's play, for sure. Some cat's do play pretty rough, and sometimes one of the cats will get tired of it before the other, or they may get carried away. If you feel that they may be getting too rough, perhaps separate them for 20 min or so and give them a chance to calm down.
When Cheddar was a baby, he liked to play rough (and sometimes still does), and he didn't quit when it was no longer fun for both, so I would often give him a 20 min time out in the bathroom so he could settle down.

[marie73]

Definitely play. Gosha seems to be quite gentle, in fact. You wouldn't need to ask if they were fighting, believe me.

[Blakeney Green]

Originally Posted by marie73

Gosha seems to be quite gentle, in fact.

I agree - it seems to me like Gosha is taking on the older sibling role quite well.

[3furbabies]

Definitely play! My bonded younger two wrestle often and boy do they play rough sometimes... Sometimes they make each other squeek too. An easy way to tell if its a fight is lots of horrifying noises, hissing, biting, growling, swatting... It would sound like they were trying to kill each other. I witnessed it once when I let an abandon cat in my neighbourhood come in. One of my girls hates males and tried to kill him, got chunks of fur out of him and I have never heard such noises. Very scary.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App

[grrawritsjordi]

That definitely looks like play to me. Moosey is a very rough cat and frequently goes way too far. Sometimes I think that Ziggy now hisses every time Moosey tries to play, out of habit.

Ziggy just got spayed and she is getting bigger, so I hope they can finally play.

As stated before, Gosha is being very gentle. If you were to see how Moosey and Zigglebean play, you would think Moosey was a demon (the jury is still out on that. Just kidding )

[Blakeney Green]

Originally Posted by grrawritsjordi

If you were to see how Moosey and Zigglebean play, you would think Moosey was a demon (the jury is still out on that. Just kidding )

Haha, I hear you! When my parents first saw Zephyr and Maisie play-fighting, they were very worried about it, but I said, "No, they're fine, five minutes from now they'll be curled up 0n the couch together."

Five minutes later. Couch. Called that one.

I think when people aren't used to being in a multi-cat household, they tend to be pretty surprised by how rough normal cat interaction is. You get used to it.

(By the way, off topic but one of the main nicknames I call Maisie is Moosie, so when I read about your Moosey it makes me smile. Probably pronounced differently, but they're close.)