Cats are chasing each other, is it just play?

[iceangel]

my boy cat mickey every now and again likes to chase my female cat Charli, i assume they are playing, but sometimes when he does it he will jump on her and she will hiss and and attack back.

I think charli is a bit wary of him, cuz they have never been 'close' as in mutual cleaning or sleeping togeather. so when they chase each other is it still play even when charli ends up hissing at him? it seems a bit violent!

 

[hissy]

Are you cats fixed? Spayed and neutered, if so, then it is harmless play, if not, it could result in a whole passle of kittens. Hissing and playing is really quite common, it could be a heirarchy upheavel is about to occur, but as long as they are not locked and and rolling and fighting that way, it is just cats being cats.

 

[iceangel]

yes they are fixed. when u say heirarchy upheavel could that mean the chaser or attacker is trying to dominate the other one in the hierachy?
thanks for your advice, i was just worried because if she was hissing, maybe mickey was hurting her! i didn't know if i should intervene or not!

 

[angelzoo]

Yes, cats like to have an order of the house just like a dog will, there can be an alpha cat if you will.

Normally for cats who feel they need to assert their dominance over another they will mount them, and bite the back of their neck. Some will bite ear's and such however.

Out of my 3, my Asim is the alpha here.

 

[iceangel]

out of curiosity, besides neck biting (i haven't seen my two do anything like that yet, least when i'm around

is there any other behavioural signs that show which cat is domiant?

 

[xastion]

When I first got my two cats - I bought them at the same time - one of my friends told me that cats had no territorial instincts and no dominance issues. I have learned quite a different story since.

Niko is my alpha here. Whenever Mischief gets special attention Niko will come right on over no matter what she is doing. If Mischief is playing with a toy, Niko puts herself in front of Mischief so she can play with the toy all by herself. We recently bought a three tier cat tree. I thought they would love it, and they do. The most funny thing is that Niko has claimed the top. If Mischief decides she wants to lay up there Niko will immediately try to displace her by pushing her way up there and dragging her sister down. Mischief accepts this to the point that she rarely tries to go up there only when she's in the mood to provoke Niko into playing.

I wondered about the hissing too before. Mischief always hisses when she plays with Niko, while I have only recently heard Niko hiss and that's only at the kitten. At first I thought it was a sign of Mischief not wanting to play with Niko and I think Niko thought the same. Mischief would hiss and after a bit Niko would back off. Then Mischief would go up to Niko wave her paw in front of Niko's face and hiss again. They are funny creatures.

 

[angelzoo]

With some cats that feel they need to prove their dominance, a perfect example of what happens here, I will have a cat sitting in my lap, and Asim comes along and decide it's HIS lap. And he will fight them for it and generally wins.

The cats who want to eat first are normally the more dominant one... but that can be tricky. As Asim thinks he's lord of the house, Tage has posession/agressive issues around food, towards other cats, and most other people. So if they fight over food, Asim and Isha will generally back down, and let Tage have his way. But when it comes to anything else, Asim is first.

You can think of them a little like dogs, they aren't as different as some people think they are in all aspects. A lot of people understand that dogs have pack orders in their households, but never consider cats to be that way. Which is actually quiet the opposite.

 

[iceangel]

see the confusing thing about my cats is that when mickey chases charli , its charli that will hiss at him if he plays too rough, and then with the cat tree, both seem to take turns siting on there, and i've never seen them try to push each other off it at all...
they both get fed at the same time, but i noticed charli tries to get her head in first to the food..

when we play, charli is the one who plays the most and mickey will watch, but when mickey plays charli will watch, so its not like they are pushing each other ot of the way to play...

if mickey is getting pats, charli doesn't really care usually, ocassionally if i'm patting mickey at the scratching post charli will come up and rub against my leg (but shes not a very affectionate cat in general)

usually it is mickey who initiates the chases or play fights, then after they play fight they calm down a bit and stare at each other, charli will then try to snap at mickey if he looks away

i had charli first before mickey( i got mickey when charli was 4 months old)...i don't know... i can't seem to tell whos the dominant one !!
any one have any ideas? does it sound like any one more is dominant? does it sound liek charli is more dominant?

 

[xastion]

Yea, it kinda sounds like charli is more of the alpha kitty. She sounds like she just enjoys overseeing everything and only deems to assert her authority when she sees the need.

 

[angelzoo]

Not all house hold kitties will be extremely dominant or territorial, just consider yourself lucky.

It's funny here... if Isha and Tage are playing, while Asim is trying to nap, he will wake up and go beat them both up until they run from him and hide, and then he goes back to sleeping.

 

[rakka]

We have 2 kittens, both around 7 months old. They play with each other, they eat out of the same bowls, they poop in the same litter tray but they don't sleep near each other.. But they loveeeee to play with each other..

Yes i think it is normal for cats to chase/play/be rough with each other cause i know when my do they love every second of it. They are both desexed and are very happy. When one starts to get too rough, the other one lets them know it, and yes they can be VERY rough at times..

 

[jobe]

So we've recently introduced a new kitten into the household. She is 2 months, fairly small, very confident, wanders the entire house, just a little explorer.
The old (4month) kitty, is how should i put it, psycho, due to my roommates wonderful training. The 2 cats will eat side by side with no concern for each other, and the littleun will even decide she likes the other food better, and push old guy out. However, the second they finish eating, oldy decides he has a new chase toy and proceeds to beat the crap out of the little one. at first he just chased her and knocked her over, now he's proceeded to jumping and pinning her on the ground and biting her....now.. how far should this be allowed to go? i wouldn't be as concerned if they were roughly the same size, but there is a slight disadvantage of a few pounds at least.
thanks.

 

[crazy-cat-lover]

I am owned by 10 cats, and Peppurr is the alpha. He always gets to eat first. If another cat goes near his food bowl, he will grab their heads and push them away. He is the heaviest, but not the oldest. Twinkles, my 10 year old female, used to be in charge. Now that Peppurr lives here, all of the other cats back down! All of the other males run when Peppurr hisses!

Here's Peppurr!

 

[iceangel]

aww Peppurrs' a cutie, looks like my boy kitty Mickey
i don't have a recent pic on the computer yet, but heres a pic of Charli (the suspected alpha cat- i can't really tell!!

and Mickey when he was only 5 weeks old - hes a tuxedo too!

yeah charli and mickey don't seem to have many dominance issues, they don;'t really try to push each other out the way much (if they do i don;'t see it!), but now i think about it charli does seem like shes a wee bit more dominant (hard to tell though!) i know for sure my two are more dominant than my flatmates kitties they hardly ever leave the laundry!

 

[crazy-cat-lover]

Your kitties are so cute!

 

[systemxpert]

Some cats are just different....

In my pack of 5, I have some cats that like to play chase and others that prefer to roll around and wrestle together. My oldest, Robin, is 7 years old and likes to chase and be chased by the younger cats. However, she gets mad if one of them decides to tackle her. One of my younger cats, Gus who is 3, prefers to lie on back and tawnt the others into jumping on him.

As long as their fixed its probably just harmless play.

 

[angelzoo]

Jobe: If your new kitten didn't like this type of play, he would make it known, either with desperate attempts at escape, consistant growling, or exspecially hissing, some will even give loud yowels if another cat bites them too hard, or they are really peeved, etc.

But a couple little merps here and there while they are tumbling can be perfectly normal, some play completely silent.

 

[iceangel]

thanks everyone for your input!!

i've decided that charli is the alpha cuz when i give them treats or food, she always tries to steal mickeys share and mickey lets her without any hesitation. and even when im playing with mickey he will always let charli play when she come into the game and he will sit out.

but as Xastion said

She sounds like she just enjoys overseeing everything and only deems to assert her authority when she sees the need.

i think that sounds like charlis' behavior in a nutshell!