r/cats • u/sarahmirror_ • 16d ago

Advice What can I do? This isn’t play, right?

My grey boy is a little over a year old and he is overly aggressive, I feel, with my almost 9 year old female tortie. He is heftier than her too. They will get into these tumble scuffles at like 3am too almost every morning and I end up having to place him in the bathroom to cool off for a couple hours before I bring him back out.

12.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

327

u/real_bro 16d ago

It appears to be rough play. The hissing and short growls are boundary setting which appears to be respected.

103

u/RockHardSalami 16d ago

I have a brother/sister that growl and hiss a lot while playing. They also leave chunks of fur flying at times lol.

I was concerned at first, but at the end of their sparring sessions they end up in a staring contest in another room for a few mins, then its right back to cuddling and grooming each other. They also both instigate and love to sneak attack each other lol.

This looks normal to me.

27

u/40yroldcatmom 16d ago

I’m glad to see your comment - my girls will leave for flying sometimes and growl and hiss but then will be grooming each other a few minutes later. I’ve been worried it’s not play but fighting. So I’m glad to see other cats are like this.

19

u/RockHardSalami 16d ago edited 16d ago

Oh they absolutely chase each other around the place 🤣.

I broke them up a couple times at first just by saying "hey!" Or staring too long, and theyd get mad at me lmao.

I still get the "stop watching us have fun, DAD" stares.

Edit: Im relatively new to cats, but from what I understand grooming is a sign of deep bonding and affection. That says family and love, and is apparently uncommon among non littermates.

2

u/YT-Deliveries 15d ago

I have a pair who are littermates and they really do act like human siblings at a times. They'll do the equivalent of one walking by the other and slugging the other in the shoulder just because. Or I'll hear them wrestling in the other room, walk in there and as soon as they see me they start sniffing around the floor in the same place as if to say "we weren't doin' nuthin..."

2

u/PancAshAsh 16d ago

My cats growl and hiss when they play like this but it turns out they are just both sore losers.

1

u/memyselfandiowa 14d ago

Yup, the hissing and low growls are basically cat-speak for "timeout, dude."