I have a video of my cats having a little mini-fight, and I'd appreciate anyone who is willing to look and give some advice.
These two have known each other for about 6 weeks, and they are most definitely NOT friends yet. The older cat (2yrs) is finally at a point of tolerating the kitten, and even playing a little bit, but mostly she wants to be left alone. When they're both relaxed, the kitten will come over and try to cuddle/groom, but the older cat hisses and swats at her, then leaves.
The "fights" always start out with the kitten attacking and the older cat trying to get away. Eventually it gets to the situation shown in the video, which doesn't look too bad to me, except for the noises, but it just keeps going like this and escalating. I don't want to interfere if this is a dominance issue, but whenever I let it go too long there are some horrible screams and fur starts flying. No bleeding yet, though. And the kitten always comes back for more.
So I'm wondering how long I should let these little battles go before breaking them up? Do you think it's just playing, or a power struggle? The neck biting really freaks me out, and sometimes it looks like the bigger one might suffocate the other accidentally. I really wouldn't be concerned if they seemed friendly when this wasn't going on, but that's not the case.
The video:
Any thoughts are appreciated - thanks!
These two have known each other for about 6 weeks, and they are most definitely NOT friends yet. The older cat (2yrs) is finally at a point of tolerating the kitten, and even playing a little bit, but mostly she wants to be left alone. When they're both relaxed, the kitten will come over and try to cuddle/groom, but the older cat hisses and swats at her, then leaves.
The "fights" always start out with the kitten attacking and the older cat trying to get away. Eventually it gets to the situation shown in the video, which doesn't look too bad to me, except for the noises, but it just keeps going like this and escalating. I don't want to interfere if this is a dominance issue, but whenever I let it go too long there are some horrible screams and fur starts flying. No bleeding yet, though. And the kitten always comes back for more.
So I'm wondering how long I should let these little battles go before breaking them up? Do you think it's just playing, or a power struggle? The neck biting really freaks me out, and sometimes it looks like the bigger one might suffocate the other accidentally. I really wouldn't be concerned if they seemed friendly when this wasn't going on, but that's not the case.
The video:
Any thoughts are appreciated - thanks!