posted 09-16-2003 10:21 PM         

Those short periods, though, have been eventful. They toussle and chase each other around quite a bit, tangling up while licking/biting each other. It doesn't seem mean spirited, though they do hiss a bit if it goes on too long. We haven't seen them openly attack each other with claws or swipe at each other, but this behaviour does seem a little mean. We're just not sure - all of the materials we have been provided say that some amount of biting and hissing is natural. But we can't tell if this is fighting or playing.

Some notes:

Sometimes they do sit or lie a foot or two apart and just groom or play with toys.

However, when they do start tangling, they tend to tangle and chase each other for quite a while.

posted 09-17-2003 04:29 AM         

My two cats are litter-mates and play quite rough. However, I intervene when one is bullying the other and I hear hissing/yeowling - like when you put them in the carrier and they want out! Not because they can't defend themselves but I they tend to pin each other in positions where the pinned kitty can use her hind claws. I don't know if you have been scratched by a 14 lb kitty's hind claws but they have power and can dig deep. So, I try to stop any fights that look like could end with a scratch to the other kitty's face or eyes.

If you look back at a few other posts, there are others here who describe fighting between cats that isn't playful and maybe that will give you a better idea of how your cats interact together.

Good luck.

posted 09-17-2003 06:22 AM         

Sometimes one of them starts to get the best of the other and then there is some hissing or yowling, at which point I break it up. I just clap my hands and make noise and chase them away from each other, and then they look at me like I have 6 heads.

I have occasionally seen one cat with a little tuft of fur gone or the skin looking a little raw, but nothing I have ever needed to tend to. That's why I break them up, though.

posted 09-17-2003 11:47 AM         

Kitten actually learn how to fight through their play. Through play fight when they are young, they learn how to defend themselves if they have to when they are older. They have the same actions as they would if they were fighting for real, but they are much gentler. That's why you haven't seen them use their claws. They also learn how to be gentle in their play through experimentation. If they get bit and it hurts, they learn not bite so hard in return.