How can you tell it's playing and not aggression?

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Governor George Liquor - 19 Sep 2003 15:34 GMT

Jack and Rizzo have, to my mind, have always gotten along well. Their play
is rough-and-tumble, but has never been marked by hissing, growling, or
injury.

Last night, Jack comes tearing into the living room with the fur on his
spine standing up and his tail puffed out. He is quite obviously upset with
Rizzo, as he is giving him a wide berth and watching him intently. He sat
by himself for some time and didn't want to be touched or petted. I don't
know what transpired, as they were out of might sight in another room
beforehand. I didn't hear anything untoward, at least.

When Jack and Rizzo play, there's the usual wrestling and paw-swatting, but
they do bite each other's ears and necks, and quite frequently rabbit-kick
each other's heads. They never draw blood, and neither seems particularly
injurious in intent, as I've watched this "fighting" close up and the
claw-use is minimal. As I said before, there's no growling or hissing, but
they do lash their tails and their ears do back. They will chase each other
full-tilt around the house, and very often hide in ambush of each other, but
Jack is just as likely to initiate the chase as Rizzo, and neither hides
from the other. While they don't eat from the same bowl (Rizzo, who inhales
everything put in front of him, will bump Jack aside), they do eat
peacefully side-by-side, and they share litterboxes with no trouble. Both
are neutered.

This morning, everything seemed back to normal. There was a long
mutual-grooming session which dissolved into wrestling and then chasing.

My vet said when I first got Rizzo that this is all just boys being boys,
and it's natural for two young and energetic cats. I'm inclined to still
agree. I'm just concerned what to watch for to see that they're not
becoming mutually aggressive.

There are also pictures, after a long absence. The first came by sheer
coincidence, when I recently found Rizzo in the same post as the day I
brought him home. By chance, I was shooting from the same distance and with
the same focal length, so that putting the two pictures side-by-side clearly
shows how much he's grown in the three months he's been here:
http://home.swfla.rr.com/z28racer/rizzo/little_and_big.jpg

These are a series I took when Rizzo was very enthusiastically jumping for
the crazy feather. Juggling a cat toy, a spastically jumping cat, and a
digital camera with a pronounced shutter lag was no mean feat:
http://home.swfla.rr.com/z28racer/rizzo/jumping/
And yes, there are stains on the carpet in the background of the jumping
pictures. They were original to the house (which was my grandmother's, and
there didn't seem to be a square foot of carpet that she didn't bomb with
toxically strong instant coffee) and indelible. It is being replaced with a
decadent saxony that has already met with Jack-and-Rizzo approval.

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kaeli - 19 Sep 2003 15:51 GMT

> Last night, Jack comes tearing into the living room with the fur on his
> spine standing up and his tail puffed out. He is quite obviously upset with
> Rizzo, as he is giving him a wide berth and watching him intently. He sat
> by himself for some time and didn't want to be touched or petted. I don't
> know what transpired, as they were out of might sight in another room
> beforehand. I didn't hear anything untoward, at least.

Rowan and Isis get into a spat on occasion. As long as there's no blood
or stalking behavior, I let them alone.
If I see one cat not leaving the other be (usually Rowan), I separate
them for a short while to let them calm down.

> This morning, everything seemed back to normal. There was a long
> mutual-grooming session which dissolved into wrestling and then chasing.

They're fine then.
Possibly something spooked one or both while they were playing and the
fear aggression transferred. That can happen.

> My vet said when I first got Rizzo that this is all just boys being boys,
> and it's natural for two young and energetic cats. I'm inclined to still
> agree. I'm just concerned what to watch for to see that they're not
> becoming mutually aggressive.

You'll know. When there is real *aggression*, they don't go back to
normal, grooming and playing, within a day. Usually it keeps up with one
cat looking for opportunities to stalk and harass the other. At least
IME...

<pictures>
Cute cats, and still quite young. Rowan and Isis play pretty rough still
sometimes, and they are over 3 and 2 years respectively. Rowan is
especially active and a troublemaker, and she's my oldest. She'll be 4
in a few months.

-------------------------------------------------
~kaeli~
Hey, if you got it flaunt it! If you don't, stare
at someone who does. Just don't lick the TV screen,
it leaves streaks.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace
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JM - 19 Sep 2003 16:07 GMT

>Last night, Jack comes tearing into the living room with the fur on his
>spine standing up and his tail puffed out. He is quite obviously upset with
>Rizzo, as he is giving him a wide berth and watching him intently. He sat
>by himself for some time and didn't want to be touched or petted. I don't
>know what transpired, as they were out of might sight in another room
>beforehand. I didn't hear anything untoward, at least.

Sounds to me they are doing fine. What happened is probably like it
happens with human kids; in the heat of play Rizzo poked Jack in the
eye or something. So Jack will have been taken aback for a while...

I would check them for nicks and little wounds from time to time.
Check their heads and neck. If one of them has wounds all the time, he
is being beaten up by the other. Wounds in the back of the neck mean
he gets swatted while running away, a sign of defeat.

Regards,
JM

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Priscilla H Ballou - 19 Sep 2003 19:32 GMT

Rizzo looks a lot like my Benjamin.

It sounds to me like they're just playing, but it got a little out of
hand. My two boys wrestle and play-fight while I get their meals
together, and every once in a while Sebbie goes too far. He's bigger than
Benjie and definitely the third cat of the three, and sometimes he cops an
attitude and starts throwing his weight around. Benjie is a total wuss
and starts crying for his mother, so I speak sternly, they step away from
each other (read: Sebbie gets off Benjie and lets him go), and they eye
each other from a distance until their meal is put down.

Boys. That's all it is.

Priscilla

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Rene - 19 Sep 2003 19:52 GMT

> Jack and Rizzo have, to my mind, have always gotten along well. Their play
> is rough-and-tumble, but has never been marked by hissing, growling, or
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
> {snip}

This play sounds normal to me, and whatever happened to your two has
passed. This play sounds exactly like my Tucker and Benny. Another way
that I know it's not aggression is that the cats seem to take turns
"attacking" one another.

Rene

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Kalyahna - 20 Sep 2003 02:25 GMT

> Jack and Rizzo have, to my mind, have always gotten along well. Their play
> is rough-and-tumble, but has never been marked by hissing, growling, or
> injury.

[much snipping]

In my experience, aggression is pretty tell-tale. Growling, hissing, or
screaming are all signs of aggression, whereas quiet wrestling is the same
sort of thing that kittens engage it, sounding off only when their
littermate or friend goes a little too far, and then the crying is simply to
tell them so.

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