Black and white cat wins on style points for the dropkick.

0:56 If that spinning dropkick had landed it would have been a CATastrophe

I love that flip at 0:55

Is he doing some sort of ninja backwards kick?

This was actually really helpful. I’ve been trying to determine if my two cats are playing or fighting, as one of them is a relatively new household member. But now I can say that they’re playing!

I used to worry because we brought a female kitten into the home with our adult male once we moved into an apartment where he could no longer go outside and interact with other cats. He’d seemed a little depressed so we decided to give it a try. Day 1 was the expected hissing and leaving the room behaviour by him but then they seemed to get along fairly well, thanks to the persistent affection by the tiny kitten who would curl up beside him when he slept. But when she got larger they seemed to ‘fight’ quite a lot and we were undecided what to do until we started watching how often they would do this, then pause, then begin again, both taking turns initiating it and never with any growling or hissing. And since they still often sleep together and groom one another, it is obviously just play. Big win is the older male is much more lively and I think we may have added years to his life with his new companion.

My two (neutered) tomcats display this behaviour regularly: I call it "all-in cat wrestling". If one gets hurt inadvertently he meows, and the other stops wrestling immediately.

Females become uninterested in this behaviour after 2-3 years of age. 8 year old cat still engages her four year old son like this.

If it was a real fight, that yellow cat would never ignore the other cat and groom. Impossible in a real fight.

Very true about the male vs female desire for wrestling play! I had a 4 yo female (from a shelter) who was always mad at her rambunctious 2yo male (rescued as a VERY feral kitten from my yard) companion. He loved her, but love for him meant wrestling and she had a naturally quiet demeanor. In the end, I got a male kitten (rescue shelter) which COMPLETELY changed the dynamics in the house for the better. The two boys wrestled and chased and had a fantastic time. The kitten was quiet and gentle with the female (a male who could read the room lol) and the kitten ended up being the bridge that turned the three into a happy family.

Obviously it doesn't look like a real fight, since if it was, the fur would be flying everywhere and the motions would be much more forceful and intense.

Our cats did this. Tangled in and out of each other, running from one end of the apartment to the another. Then they would groom each other, and then play and run again. They could do that for hours, before falling asleep together. They were the best of friends. I miss them. 😪

also the grooming is their way of making sure the other cat knows they're not serious!! lovely video!

Once you've seen cats fight, you'd know that not rough at all.

Adorable! I honestly didn't know that female cats stopped playing like this usually around 2 to 3 years. My little Siamese is about to be nine and she plays like this all the time, love it!

I had this concern when I first adopted my second kitten. My vet told me "if you are in DOUBT, then they are probably playing". Meaning you will be 100% sure if it's a real fight, cats can be super loud and messy when real fighting. My kittens (now around 1.5yr old) jump at each other, slap themselves, pin themselves down, wrestle... then pause for water, drink together and snuggle until fall asleep :D

Lol! Nothing more intimidating than when a cat's ears go back and they get that sideways look in their eye... They mean business! Lol!

Excellent information with this great video! Two of my male cats play like this, and I'm glad they do. I suppose it can look a bit rough to people not used to it, but unless there's fur flying and howling/hissing, it's normal. Cats play rough sometimes!

crazy spin kick move at 0:56, definitely has been working on his combos

Great post! Everyone who has cats - or deals with cats regularly - should appreciate this. Thanks!

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Cats) is one hell of entertainment in your home, as long as they keep in on the floor. The umpire (yours truly) must intervene when the chase goes on the dining table or kitchen counter.

Tuxedos are so classy. Just look at that spin kick he tried to pull off!

0:49 He looked back at the camera like “Hey, you filming? Watch me own this fool”

This was so helpful. Thank you! I just got a 5 month old and I didnt know if that was considered play with my 2 year old. But they do exactly what you explained. I've been intervening up until now but I wont anymore.

Bringing back sweet memories of my wonderful friend Molly who loved her sister Gracie so much. They would play like this and Molly always looked out for Gracie especially after her operation. Ive never seen an animal so gentle and caring. Sadly she was killed by speeding car. I still have Gracie but we still miss our Molly.

With some cats my family had I thought they were fighting when it was really play, but I found the difference out pretty quickly. Cats really fighting is a series of the most horrible yowling, growling, hissing and shrieking I've ever heard. When it's over there's fur everywhere and possibly blood as well. I've been woken up in the middle of the night by stray cats yowling and fighting and it's pretty scary.

My 17 year old cat and 10 year old cat do this still! Lol and the female initiates! I always thought they were mad at eachother, guess they're just playing though.

Thank you so much for this video! Super helpful

My 2 females play exactly like this. They are 5 and 2. Sometimes hiss at each other and growl but it’s never too wild. I think they are a love/hate relationship. Had them both from babies but my older cat didn’t like her at first, wouldn’t even be in the same room. Have grown to love each other and have never hurt one another while playing. They seem to get on more with time but it’s been a long process! Makes me happy seeing this video though so I know they are definitely playing and not fighting ❤

Really needed this video. Thank you

I have two male cats... thought they were being aggressive toward one another. Most of the time they're good to each other and sleep together at times... Thank you, for sharing this video now I know it's they're way of play...ruff at times like your cats here 😊... Beautiful cats you have.

Is there also CatTube where videos filmed by cats show how humans interact?

When a cat lies on its back, it's worth remembering that five of its six ends are pointy.

Thank you for this video. I recently got two cats for the first time and I was so concerned if they were being too aggressive with each other. And even though they snuggle and groom each other their fights always seemed so violent to me so it’s good to know that this is normal behavior even though it seems rough to me! Thank you so much!!

This is really informative for people who don't know much about feline behavior. Great video!

Hi Ingrid! We have a 2 year old cat that is super-charged and tries to play with our older cat like this and gets rebuffed. We are contemplating getting a kitten to keep him company and give the older cat some R&R. I've noticed that kittens have varied personalities there are alphas, betas (or sidekicks), and recluses. Any suggestion on what personality type will gel best with a high energy alpha? And do I have to worry about the two year old being too rough when he finally finds a willing playmate? Any insight you could provide would be very much appreciated! (details - all altered male cats in this scenario, and the new cat would come to us as a kitten not young adult)

So I have a question, im cat sitting my friends cat right now, he’s about a year and a half and I have a 3 month old kitten. Both males. They do this most of the time, but my kitten from time to time hates being pinned( at the vet too) and starts to hiss and grow. And the bigger one always back off. And I did the separation thing (and a couple of meet and greets) but they both seem fine for the most part (I separated they’re food, litter boxes and beds) but my kitten still does this? My husband thinks he might just be scared because the cat is much bigger than him. But I’m worried i should separate them all together. (He’s only here for one more week though) but like I said this video shows what they do 95 percent of the time. And they sleep in the same areas.

Thank you... I owned three cats at one tome once... this was normal by at the end of the day they groomed each other and fell asleep with one another. Great post:) Also having multiple cats who get crazy kitty at 2am.... you lose a lot of sleep. They really do sleep all day and by the tome you’re in a deep sleep... it’s “SHOWTIME”!!

I'm more upset that people out there could actually mistake this for fighting.

I've had a new cat for just over 2 weeks now - we are trying the slow introduction with our resident cat by keeping them separated most of the time. Both male and neutered. Our cat is 14 months and new cat is 9 months. They interact a little bit more each day under supervision, they will eat near each other, and tolerate each other for a few minutes but it ends with our cat chasing new cat, who ends up hissing. The new cat is confident around the house, but doesn't like too much petting and doesn't seem too good playing with the toys -- seems a bit under confident. We had the other cat since he was a kitten, but new Kitty is a rescue so we don't know too much about his personality. I want them to at least tolerate each other, as the main aim was for our cat to have a friend to play with because he is SO playful and energetic and affectionate. When he hisses, my cat just walks away, and he has been very tolerant sharing all the litter trays, beds, toys and letting new kitty eat his food so I'm not sure why the craziness. Any advice how to stop the fighting?

My boys play like this all the time. Only cat people will understand.

Nah... I don't know. Play fight with zero aggression here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/j9hoopmk3tuoYok.html

How do I know if my cats are playing or fighting? We have introduced them recently and it went well, they now poke at eachother, but sometimes they fight and i'm worried it might be actual fighting, they do not make much noise and there's trilling noises. They do not growl while doing this, or hiss. She is a kitten, and she once jumped on top of him and tried to bite his scruff. We assume it is play fighting but just to be sure, are they play fighting?

Excellent video! My two neutered males play like that all the time. A little rough from a human POV but perfectly fine for tough toms!

This video helped me so much. I have a 5 month old kitten who I’ve had since he was 13 weeks and I’ve recently got a new kitten who is 9 weeks. They always seem to be fighting and I was concerned they weren’t going to get along but after watching this i know it’s 100% just playing

I need advice! My boy cat is big and rough. My girl cat is small and gentle. Theyr the same age diff litter. Both desexed, been together for 3 years. He sometimes bites her...she growls and doesnt play back. He bites her and pulls fluff out. She hisses, yells at him paws him and growls and he still does it until she can get away or i intervene. 80% of the time theyr fine together. Is this behaviour normal from time to time? Is he frustrated because hes bored? I feel sorry for her sometimes.

"How do you tell if cats are fighting? If it looks like fighting." - credits

My cats always do this and I always thought they were fighting thank you for this video this is exactly how they play

Thank you so much for this clarification. We just recently adopted a new baby girl into our home with our resident two year old (the baby is 1 for clarification). Now that they are free roaming in the house together we saw this a lot and were worried that they were fighting or getting a little too rough.

Thanks! I NEEDED TO SEE THAT ....this is what mine look like....I thought maybe it was over the top because ears were back at one point and they were biting ..rolling etc. My two are new to one another but are starting to sleep and sit together

This video saved me a lot of anxiety, my two male cats (one's a year old, one's 7 months) play fight a LOT at any time of day, and there's never any growling, hissing, or actual injuries, outside the occasional squeak. I was worried if they were playing too rough but I guess Ill just leave them to play with one another

Oh my god.. dey so cuuutee! And this was very educational on cats playfighting, thanks!

My older cat and new kitten chase each other but sometimes the older one growls or hisses..is this ok? She hisses or growls at the kitten any time it tries to play and jump on her when shes calm but when they're both calm there is grooming and cuddling. So is the hissing in this case while mutual chasing ok? Does it just mean the kitten should take it a bit easier on her?

Awww, this is exactly how my two cats play with eachother. I was worried because sometimes my younger one (2) will yelp out, but it's not all the time and it's probably because the older one (7) might just go a little bit hard sometimes lol.

0:56 Did that cat just 🤸🏽

do cats and dogs have common calming signals? i noticed at 1:20 bot kitties wagging their tails and the orange one flicked its tongue. in dogs both would be calming signals to show others present they're not up for trouble

I have a question! I’m looking after a kitten for a friend and I already have a male cat. (The kitten is female). The kitten always goes after my cat and when my cat goes to play back the kitten starts growling, hissing, and sometimes screaming. My cat doesn’t hiss or anything. Any advice?

Is the tail wagging a good sign? My new cat is wagging a lot while fighting with my older cat

thank you for this, this was _EXTREMELY_ helpful. i think my two cats must be playing then. they're both males, one is a year and a few months old the other is a kitten. we got the kitten recently cause our previous cat, who was older than the one year old, was sadly killed by a dog two months ago. it was incredibly heart breaking and sent the family in a downward spiral. i took it rather hard and got drunk the day she passed. but anyway, sorry shouldnt go on about that, anyhow, both the older cat and new cat were introduced to each other yesterday and we've been letting the younger one come out only a couple hours at a time giving the older one a break. ive just witnessed the older grooming the younger just now, but then went back to bitting and kicking at each other, but heard no growls and no hisses, and most the time their ears were up. the little one did make some meows every now and then, it that the older just being a little rough when playing? i s'pose so, im not sure. the deceased cat never got along with the one year old. she wouldnt hurt him but she would growl and hiss. and i think we only _really_ got the kitten because he looks strikingly like her. same colour same fur pattern, only real difference is her has longer socks on three of his legs. she had short socks on all of her legs

@Fundamentally Feline I recently adopted a male kitten, and introduced him slowly to my 6 year old boy cat. They seemed to be getting along well at first, they were rough playing and having fun. But now my 6 year old sometimes hisses during play. Should I be concerned?

ey, that Black Cat's compasso is pretty good! He must be a master of Gatoiera!

Hi,what if they are not that affectionate with one another, not grooming each other and doesnt cuddle, but would sleep close with each other. My cats play like this but sometimes it gets so aggresive one of them had a bleeding nose bc of the scratch. fur patches are coming out. But they’re not hissing or growling and take turn chasing each other. I’m so confused. When not actively playing they get along just fine would eat together from the same bowl.

This was soooo helpful. I took in a stray female kitten almost a month ago and lately she and my 1.5 year old boy started doing this exactly. I was kinda worried bc they’re both really sweet and never fought (mainly bc they stay in separate rooms) so when they’d act like this after feeding time I took it as them fighting even tho there’s no hissing. I’m gonna let them play in the morning and see how it goes

I have a 3 year old male pure bred bengal and just purchased/adopted a little girl from the same breeder, it only took one day for them to acclimatize to one another and all seems to be well, except sometimes during their play fighting I see Apollo (my 17lb boy) biting her neck or kind of.. like laying on her and she makes these little meows, so I’m inclined to separate them when this happens. Do I have to be scared of him hurting her ?

0:57 Hit em with the WOOPAH!!!

Hello I have two torties. The younger one will get over excited when she is playing with the older one. She will pin the older one down until the older one makes a yelping noise. I’m not sure what to do. Any advice on this would be helpful thank you.

we have a 3,5 yo neutered male and adopted around a 4 year old neutered male (feral/stray) a month ago. Our resident was separated too early (he was found in a forest alone w his sister and immediately give to different families), we got him 1,5 years ago. They do this, but the younger cat is bigger and plays rough so the new cat will yelp sometimes. The take small breaks where they groom each other but then they continue. Sometimes the new cat is panting after running around so much! They do bicker about a certain shelf that our old cat sleeps/hangsout on almost 24/7 and they get into slapping matches up there. :( Hoping they'll figure it out, since they've started taking turns sleeping there. They were separated for a bit over a month and when we let them be in the same room the whole day they just played 2,5 hours straight! we tought they were fighting but they also chill out together so I guess they just play rough 😅

Hello you say female cats become uninterested in this play. My male cat keeps following her and it becoms aggressive between them. Coz she doesn't like to play. I was planning to get a male cat to play with him to decrease this problem. Do you have any idea ? Is it a good thing to do? She never likes to play and always they finish by starting to harm eachother...or him super bored.

Ive just rehomed two cats (a 6 yo boy and girl) who I believe are from the same litter. The cat shelter told me that they were brought up together from birth from the previous owner, but every night around 4am(!) I hear them rumbling around and one of them goes into my ottoman bed and starts growling. Are they fighting or playing? Im so confused!

I would love to know more about your statement that belly up is not submissive for cats. What is it? And how do you know for certain? Thanks for the videos!

Thank you!

The tuxedo definitely won on style points alone. Good video, and definitely just play. With cats, if nobody's hissing or screaming, it's probably fine. A bit of hissing (without fighting) can also sometimes be ok, especially with new cat introductions or if one cat is horning in on another's food or something.

i have kittens who do this, but sometimes one yelps. is that an indicator of pain? or are they simply playing? please answer asap

Thanks you this has helped a lot

I have one Bengal/Tabby that's 1year old and a ragdoll kitten. They play fight but it's always the Bengal engaging and wrestling etc or chasing the kitten. At times the ragdoll hides under the table or bed, they never swap, never the ragdoll engaging or chasing. Is it normal that one is more dominant? Doesn't always seem mutual considering the Bengal is way more active.

My cat plays fighting with me sometimes but his bites actually leave marks sometimes even wounds on my hand dunno if it’s fangs are too sharp or it’s actually angry but I know an angry cat should flee not bite but anyway is there away to tell it that it’s hurting me or stopping it from playing too rough?

This is perfect. I'm new to cats, worked with them for years, just never had one of my own. Brought home a kitten, 3.5 month old, that I found in my jobs dumpster. (Likely from a feral cat's litter, not a case of abandonment by humans) This is how him and my 1.5 y.o 25lb poodle pup play. Happy to hear he'll likely play with her like this for quite some time. She loves him to death, and he's more comfortable around her than any human so far. 1 month with us, he's just now starting to purr when I pet him, and has cut back on running away from my family when we approach. He shares a water bowl with my poodle and they eat and drink together, although he has his own food and water, eats her food sometimes. (We place his food up high because she will entirely eat his) He doesn't try to hunt my bunny, but also isn't scared of him. Bunny is fine with him being around. My family swore up and down that they didnt like cats, until I brought him home, now they buy him toys and treats, and take him to vet appointments and make sure he has food and water when im working. Next step is get him neutered.

Our cats an only cat and does this to us.. he’ll stalk us and attack our ankles and he’s really badly scratched up my arm when I was trying to stop him getting my legs.. because he doesn’t have another cat friend to do this with is there anyway to stop him from doing it to us? Any advice would be great thanks!

My female cat's, who are biological sisters, do rough play as well, although it doesn't get this far. They aren't hissing at each other, so I am assuming it is just play? They also chase each other. They are fairly young (19 months old).

we recently got two 8 week old kittens and i can’t tell if they’re play fighting or not? it’s been a few days and they aren’t hissing at each other anymore. their ears are up and both of them take turns to be at the top, and they stop every few seconds or so. but one of the kittens takes her claws out when fighting the other one. even if it’s still play fighting, how do i get her to not scratch the other one?

My 2 year old cat and brand new 10 week old kitten do this except kitten starts growling and hissing and kinda screaming when they do this wrestling. I’ve been intervening and separating them until I noticed kitten is the one antagonizing my cat and teases and riles her up until they end up wrestling. Kitten still hisses and growls and screams even though she doesn’t try to get away and just stays on her back and swats playfully towards my cat when she stops. Is this normal? Kitten is definitely just as much part of it as my older cat. Just don’t know if it’s going overboard you know?

Thank you for this, certain popular self-appointed untrained so-called behaviourists actually don't understand cats as well as they think they do and push all over the airwaves. Also I have so much trouble making people understand that belly up is not submissive and cats are not dogs!

That look they give each other at the end is *_totally_*_ “uhm, we gotta stop, the authorities are filming us...”_

Okay so my (male) cat and (female) kitten love to play exactly like this but sometimes when it’s getting rough the kitten will start to hiss. Should I try to intervene before she starts hissing? Because sometimes the cat is pinning her down but when he is done, she’ll run right back at him and start “annoying” him

I tell the cats, “I heard a ‘yelp.’ Remember, it’s all fun and games, until someone loses an eye.”

You forgot to add - "no clumps of hair flying about"!

my cats (male-female) play exactly like that, but there were a very little frequency of growling and claws out on the female. Oh she sometimes would bite the male as well. Is it normal? :( i really want them to get along calmly haha

I love the way their collars jingle while they body slam each other.

this helped me a lot to understand my kitties

I have one boy and one girl cat. They are 2yrs old. The male loves to be rough and Nala just doesn’t want to anymore. Indy thinks it’s a game while Nala just wants to play with her snake! (Old iPhone cord)

Haha they're both beautiful, the black and white baby is so funny when he does a back kick lol 💗

My cats, Pumpkin and Ghost, were play fighting. This time I think only Pumpkin was yowling and hissing, and he's very vocal, so that's normal for him. They were swatting at eachother, too. But sometimes they would roll over while play fighting, and they would back away, with their ears back, and then resume. Btw, my cats are both males and they are brothers, so this most likely playing. Can you tell if they're playing or not?

Cat owners always think they know everything about cats😂

Thank you for this video, we got 2 female kittens, 11 month and 5 month. They play like this all the time, and at first I was afraid they were fighting part of the time. I’m a first time cat owner, so for a few weeks I was a bit of a helicopter parent.

props for op including the first 30 seconds

i have a mother and son cat. the mother is about half the size of the son and she always starts the confrontation. when the boy fights back the mother growls and spits and howls and then they chase each other around the house. is this normal?

My black cat looks just like that, only hes a lot skinnier. Same white feet. Is that a sprcific type of cat? Or just a mish mosh of cats?

This looks very similar to how my two boys were fighting I was unsure cause of the ears and tail swishing but since there was no growling or meowing/hissing I was just confused

The laying on their back and stretching out their front legs is an "invite to play" signal.

My cat and kitten touch nose which is a friendly thing I think but then my cat just goes for him sometimes darting across to room to hit him or jump and grab him , I never let it go far because I’m scared the kitten will get hurt . How do I know if it’s play fight or not ( btw the kitten hisses when he does this )