Guides for Real Play

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How can we tell if our cats are having a friendly tussle, or a real battle?

Do cats hold grudges and bear ill will towards each other?

Is it wrong for our kitten or cat to fixate on certain toys?

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Cat play can look very serious. Intimidation can look like play. What are the signs of trouble?

No one else is having fun. No matter how merry our kitten might be, their target could be unhappy. If a cat is being avoided, or we only see certain cats when the problem cat is not active, the home’s harmony is being disturbed.

Quiet cats are happy cats. If the aggressor cat is not paying attention to the criticism, or not picking up on the victim’s body language, we might have to step in and remind the rowdy one that Ms. Powerpuff said no.

Too much is not always too much. If our kitten spends an hour on one toy, or our teenaged cat runs flat out much of the day, this is not a cause for alarm. This is normal behavior. We have an active cat and they need to expend this energy.

Watch for “stalking.” If a cat is approaching another cat with a stiff-legged slow walk, especially if they are being loud and vocal, this is a cat throwing a tantrum, probably at another cat. Break up the impending incident by hustling the stressed attacker into another room, where they usually calm down.

Call out infractions. Sometimes a cat will act up and get a lot of attention, even unhappy attention, because we are paying attention to another cat. Put the offending cat into a time out in a room alone, because we cannot reward bad behavior.

Engage all the cats in turn. Cat conflicts can occur if we have more than one cat, and each cat feels attention is in short supply. Taking a moment to spend with each cat in their favorite way makes them all, special.

Creating and supporting group activities, encouraging them to share the good times, and saying nice things about the other cats when we are speaking to one of them; these are all ways we can all get along.

Explore proper cat discipline with related articles on these concepts: Boss of Cat Town, Policing, and Why Cats Fight.

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