Are My Cats Starting To Play, Or Are They Becoming More Aggressive?

[Vyscaria]

I brought a new cat into my home last week, and my old cat was pretty upset about it for a few days. Lots of hissing, swatting motions, won't even be in the same room, etc. Some of you helped me out a lot on that, thank you Though I certainly ended up not following the way of introducing cats gradually like I'd planned to, luckily they have made a lot of headway since then, and can now tolerate each other, but they don't try to get close to each other at all. I know this will take time so I am just glad they can share space. When they do get too close physically (swatting distance), old cat gets upset. New cat doesn't really react most of the time. I think new cat is socially awkward? She doesn't know how to respect old cat's boundaries, sometimes jumps or walks too close to her and gets a face full of hisses and swats.

Recently I've been noticing them stalking each other and running at each other at full speed, chasing each other around or running full-on at each other. I sometimes hear hissing from both parties when this happens, and old cat is jumping onto walls and pouncing around randomly, which makes new cat run at her and chase her. But when they catch each other, they paw at each other and one cat is cornered. I can't tell if claws are out, but I have not seen injuries yet. Then the other cat turns around and runs, and the cornered cat chases. This is really confusing me, since I imagine that hissing = not playing. Maybe I am wrong? I would separate them without hesitation if one cat was exclusively chasing the other, but they both seem to be instigating. And when I walk over to the room to see if they are alright, they just walk back out like nothing happened.

Both cats still seem to be sharing space fine, except for the weird bouts of chasing...

Should I intervene or let this play out? I'm new at owning more than one cat so I don't want them to hate each other or get hurt! :O

 

[daisyd]

It's sounds like they are playing or seeing which one is top cat ! I wouldn't go out and leave them in the same room yet however when you are in keep an eye on them as you are doing

 

[duncanmac]

I found cat-to-cat play wrestling unusually aggressive. These were my first cats, and they went at each other hard. But what I gleaned from other posts, videos etc. was that if it was relatively quiet then it is mostly play harmless. There might be a meowch here or there or a hiss. IF there is screaming or alley-cat kind of noises you should break it up right away.

 

[kissthisangel]

I too was a little shocked by the chasing and play with my two (also first cats) I agree with Daisy, don't leave them alone unsupervised, but swatting and hissing is fairly normal to figure out who is the leader. My two still have a little spat now and again, normally over attention or the best sleeping area. It's quite odd to watch because they don't really want to hurt eachother so they sort of just lay their paws on the others head until one walks away. It's kind of like a slap fight.

It might be a good idea to minimise the spaces that either cat can be cornered whilst they are still so new to one another just so there are fewer hotspots for possible aggression.