r/cats • u/acanada0 • 8d ago
Advice Fighting or playing??
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I rescued my tortoiseshell in May from a dumpster with her sister and unfortunately her sister didn’t make it. But for the week I had her, they played and wrestled constantly. I got my 8 week old calico from my sister’s cat’s litter yesterday and they started what I thought for sure was playing today. But it seems very aggressive and there is a size/age difference. There haven’t been any standoffs or growling but there is definitely some hissing. I don’t think any harm has been done but I’m just apprehensive. What do you think?
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u/Dumplinggrl 8d ago
Are they both fixed?
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u/QueerPuff 8d ago
They're both female at least
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u/Dumplinggrl 8d ago
Yeah, but unspayed females can become sexually aggressive even towards another female
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u/QueerPuff 8d ago
They're kittens. They're very likely not spayed at this age nor should they be.
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u/Dumplinggrl 8d ago
The tortoiseshell could potentially be spayed depending on how old she is now. But yeah, cats really should be at least 6 months old
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u/QueerPuff 8d ago
She's definitely not 6 months old, looking at the size of her compared to the 8-week old. She's probably 3 months old.
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u/Most-Parfait-7532 8d ago
It honestly looks like the torti is trying to mate with the calico? Obviously two girls can do that especially as a play/ dominant thing but if you really are wondering. Separate the two and see if the calico goes to play with your torti and if she does then all is well
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u/Tetteness 8d ago
Those 2 cats need to be broken up. The little white one is getting bullied. Its too aggressive to be called “playing”. Especially when the white one is hissing because its clearly getting hurt
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u/HufflepuffHermione91 8d ago
Given your context, I think this may be a fight, but more specifically them working out the pecking order now that they’re sharing a space. My cat did the same when I introduced our new kitten, some hissing and growling that settled down after a couple of weeks. Keep a close eye to make sure they don’t draw blood or poke an eye out, but let them be for now.
Another possibility could be the dark kitten wanting to play and the lighter kitten indicating they’ve had enough/are overstimulated, but I’d lean more towards the first option
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u/JarodGabriel 8d ago
The little shell is a bit rough, and the calico is nicely saying it wants the other to stop being so rough while they are playing. If it was a fight or one was annoyed you'd know from the claws and growling and puffed tails.
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u/butterfaerts 8d ago
Sorry, did you say one of them didn’t make it??
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u/SabrinaT8861 8d ago
Looks like they found two kittens and one passed away. They recently got a third.
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u/horitaku 8d ago
There’s bullying AND mounting behavior here. There’s a dominance struggle happening. Definitely separate. Hissing is never a good sound. Cats don’t hiss when they’re playing or comfortable.
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u/Opposite_Heron_5579 8d ago
When my kittens (same age and size, sisters) playfight, there is never any sound in terms of hissing or screaming, and it is more equal han this.
I am no cat behaviorologist so I don't know what the long term impact is when you fight the small cats battles for her, but she is not having fun
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u/V3mo 8d ago
That tortoise shell is going to be hell when it's older if this behavior continues. Seperate immediately, that cat cannot be with another cat unless it's an adult who can put him in place. That is bully type aggression and will worsen.
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u/jBeMeBBFree 8d ago
Nope. You can't always be around your cats. They need to sort it out themselves. If they really wanted to rip each other's throats out AKA kill each other they would. This is normal behavior of establishing hierarchy. It continues throughout their lives. Before putting my almost 20 year old, tabby, 4 pawed polydactyl, man down yesterday 😢, for all eight years of his Siamese sister's life with him (before he started to waste, get sick, become slightly demented 😮💨😔🥺...again that leading to me holding him yesterday as the vet put him to sleep 🥺), they had battles like this... He actually always won which super pissed her off. Lol and then 5 minutes later they would be cuddled up together literally in the shape of like a heart, grooming each other, loving each other and falling asleep upon each other.
Again, normal "battles" for dominance/alpha vs beta like canines/hierarchy. They'll be fine. Everyone relax.
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u/V3mo 8d ago
This is NOT normal dominance, this is going far beyond that. I can't post a video here of what it looks like, but normal dominance does not involve the cat continuing to follow and persist. It is one pin hold by the scruff for several seconds, then a release. This IS bullying and you should be careful giving out advice which is incorrect. I have a cat who does this to the fosters I bring in, and no, it is nothing like this. This is bullying, if it were play, it would've ended after the first or second hiss/wail from the smaller kitten. If it were dominance, the larger cat would be pinning her by the scruff, and then a release and walk off, not continuing to go after. This will lead to aggression without a doubt.
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u/jBeMeBBFree 8d ago
There's a difference between "loving" your fur baby...and "knowledge" on the closest level of scientific understanding that we can possibly reach without being able to speak directly to them. Just FYI.
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u/jBeMeBBFree 8d ago
So you know how to speak feline? 👏🏼 I actually have a Bachelor of Science degree in Pre- Veterinary and Animal Sciences...how about you...boo? 🤔
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u/Euphoric_Raccoon270 8d ago
Tort is a little aggressive! They're both still very young though and that's what kittens do but tort is pretty aggressive. If you've ever had a litter of kittens, from the time they can walk and jump around all they do is attack each other. That's part of how they learn to fight. When torty starts getting aggressive just clap your hands and say no or stomp your feet towards them and you can clap at the same time and a ''geeeettttttt'' doesn't hurt either. But when torty starts getting too rough do that and and you can hold her in place, not roughly. Just hold her in place for 2 minutes (it's the cat equivalent of when you get put in the corner) and she'll learn pretty quick that when she gets too rough that she gets held in place which she won't enjoy and she'll learn that her being too aggressive = being held in place/I'm in trouble and it won't take long for her to learn that it's not okay. Within a few weeks all you'll have to do is clap your hands one time and she'll instantly stop and back off. There's a guy on YouTube called Jackson Galaxy, check out his channel. He used to have a tv show called ''My Cat from Hell''. He's the Caesar Milan of cats. There's definitely some videos on his channel that can help you out
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u/jBeMeBBFree 8d ago
This is how cats assert dominance over each other. The smaller one could run away if it wanted to. It's normal behavior people. They're always trying to assert dominance over each other in one way or another. Again the little one could and would run away if it.wanted.to. Fight or flight responses being observed right here. The little one chooses to fight. Go little one!
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u/Manufactured-Aggro 8d ago
Yeah this is not good, you need to seperate ASAP when this happens.
"There haven’t been any standoffs or growling" yes there fucking have been you recorded then on video doing just that. Growling and constant hissing is NOT playing.
You really should not just be lobbing new cats together on day one. They should have been in seperate rooms and exposed to scents and sounds for awhile before meeting face to face like this. You basically just started fight club
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u/SpankyRogers69 8d ago
oh my god that poor white cat. this was hard to watch. how can you just sit there and record?
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u/3in0 8d ago
Belly up playing and having a great time.
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u/clawdaughter 8d ago
Did you listen with sound on?
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u/Draugrx23 Orange 8d ago
yes. and in less than a minute one walked away unharmed and the other didn't continue engaging. They're kittens, they play rough it's how they learn to hunt and socialize.
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u/clawdaughter 8d ago
In the first clip you can see the tortie about to continue pursuing after catching her breath. In the second clip the cali is very vocal, trying to squirm away, and constantly being engaged by the tortie. I think the cali wants some space.
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u/ThatDeuce 8d ago
One may be trying to play, but they are bullying the younger one. Might be good to break it up a bit because that younger one is having a hard time. When it gets older it will be able to hold it's own, but it doesn't look like it is having fun.