Seeing your cat playing is an adorable moment; it is essential to her life as well. Cats start playing from their kittenhood, and they keep playing until they reach their senior years. As the cat ages, her playing habit may change, but her desire to play should remain throughout her life.
If you love cats, you must live with more than one cat. Cats have a good relationship and spend most of their time playing together. If you have kittens, they learn with their playtime, such as biting gently to keep in playtime mode. During their playtime, kittens also learn some developing skills, including chasing, stalking, and pouncing. Moreover, they also learn body language and communication skills while playing with their littermates.
Did your kitten’s playtime ever leave you wondering if they are playing or fighting? If they are fighting, you probably would think about how to stop them, right? Don’t worry, playing is in kitten’s nature!
In this article, we will help you understand your kitten’s behavior so that you may know if they are playing or fighting!
● Observe Their Body Language
Like humans, cats also show some signs of understanding them, and one is their body language! Cats do not show direct fighting indications; instead, their body language says a lot!
The next time you find your cats scrapping, watch their behavior closely. If your feline friends are just playing and mocking fights with each other, you will notice that they often keep their bodies in forwarding position towards each other.
When cats are about to begin a fight, they look defensive and puff out their fur to look bigger with their spine curved and raise their legs to seem taller.
● Watch If They Are Taking Turns
Playful kittens, when playing, often take turns, and chasing each other is a common sign of both playing and fighting. If you find any of your cats running circles around you, observe if one cat is the chaser specifically or is more aggressive. This could be a sign your kitten is fighting rather than playing friendly.
● See If They Are Biting
Sometimes, while playing, cats bite each other over excitement. But if you catch your cats biting each other a lot that is causing harm, they probably are fighting. Biting is rare during playtime; therefore, watch out for their teeth.
● Listen to Their Loud Vocals
It’s natural; when cats fight, they growl and scream. Their vocal is scary when they shriek at each other. It’s common for kittens to make a small amount of noise while playing, but loud interaction indicates a fight between them. Listen out to their vocal because the threatening vocal is common between fighting kittens, and might be one cat is yelping in pain.
● Check Their Claws
Cats have their claws out when they are scratching posts or anything else. But if you find your feline companions having their claws out, they are fighting and defending themselves.
● Look At Their Eyes and Ears
Cat’s eyes and ears can talk! They can tell you whether your cat is happy or not!
When cats play happily, they keep their ears upright forward or slightly. On the other hand, when cats fight, they keep their ears turned back or against their head. Aggressive cats always stare at each other aggressively.
● Look For Any Injury or Scratch
Accidental injuries are very rare between the two friendly kittens. However, if you see your kittens causing harm and injuries, leaving each other nervous and shaken, your kittens are more likely to fight.
What to Do If Your Cats are Fighting?
If it is clear to you now when your cats are fighting or expressing towards you, then you need to follow a few essential rules! You need to take safety precautions to prevent any claw or bite by your aggressive cat.
● Supervise Their Interactions
Before your cats break out of their fights, you need to be concerned about them and their fighting, try to supervise their interaction, and intervene. It is the safest way to keep your cat and yourself from being injured.
● Use Loud Noise
Make a loud voice and try to stop their fight indirectly, such as clapping your hands, knocking two pots, or saying ‘’stop’’ in a sharp or loud tone. If your kittens often fight with each other, keep a party noisemaker to stop them with its noise.
● Hands Off From Them
If your cats are fighting, never try to put your hands around them, and you will end up getting injured or scratched from the speed and intensity of the fighting.
● Separate Your Kittens Safely
Once the cats have been involved in a fight, you can throw a blanket or towel over them to split them up. You can also place a baby gate or barrier between them to not come close to each other for another fight. Once your cats are separated, keeping them in a different room is a good idea until they cool off.
● Do Not Punish Them
After catching your felines fighting, you might want to punish them because dealing with fighting cats sometimes is traumatic and stressful. But in this case, avoid punishing them; your aim should be to separate them quickly and safely. If you punish them, it will only create a negative association with others, or they might end up adopting bad behavior problems for the long run.
● Consider Energy Levels and Personality
One major mistake cat owners make is introducing a new cat to their family without considering and comparing the personality and energy levels with the existing cat. If your current cat is quiet and calm, and your new cat is an active pet, then both cats will fail to bond with each other, and there will be more chances of constant fights between them.
Final Thoughts
If you have never seen a play fighting any cat before, you may become scared when you see actual fighting between your cats. Next time you notice your little cats start fighting, keep the above reasons in mind and deal accordingly with the abovementioned tips!
