Hi - remember me? I have some questions!

Hi - This is Holly. I posted a couple months ago about my cats Birdie and Homer. Still haven't taken any photos of them I can put here (sorry - they are quite adorable, as you can only imagine!), but I have some questions. We have had Birdie for 5 years and just about 3 months ago or so, we got Homer to be her "brother." Well, it didn't take them too long to get used to each other and they get along fairly well, but they have their episodes when they do what I call "play-fighting." And, I can't tell which it is! Can anybody give me some information so I can figure out if they are just playing or if they actually are fighting? Yelling at them to stop doesn't seem to help - they quit when they are ready to. Sometimes, one of them will just stop and walk away, but a lot of times, they chase each other around. There is hissing, spitting and loud meowing involved sometimes, but other times, they are quiet! Then, at the end of the day, they sleep (sometimes side-by-side) with us in our bed and are just so peaceful and sweet. Oh - another thing is that these "episodes" start with one of them licking the other on the head! Which is cute and sweet, but it always deteriorates into more roughness.

Oh - the reason I haven't posted til now is I forgot my password! Any help for the above situation would be appreciated and I'll work on getting some pics here for you all to see. Thanks! :)

I'm def. no cat expert but I did read in a post somewhere along the line that it would be a good idea to shoot the cats with a water bottle when they fight too rough. I guess that makes sense....eventually they'll make the connection that if they fight, they'll get wet. OR, they'll learn to fight when no one's home! LOL

Holly, welcome back.:) What you're describing is typical cat behavior. My cats will do the same thing. They'll start licking each others heads and it looks all cute and innocent and then one of them will bite the other one and then this turns into a boxing or wrestling match. They'll also put their ears back,airplane ears, and look very mad and irritated.

I wouldn't be too concerned unless you notice that one cat is hurting the other one. I'll sometimes break it up if I notice that one cat is hissing or growling and the other cat keeps on chasing them or acting too rough with them. Sometimes they get overstimulated so they don't know when to stop. I hope that this information helps.

Thanks to all who responded with their experiences with their kitties! I am not at home during the day now (am in school, away from home during the week and my husband works full-time), but I'm home on the weekends, so I guess they will just have to fend for themselves and work things out while they're alone! I hope they come to an "understanding" soon and decide to take it a little easier on each other now. I really miss my kitties when I'm gone, but I know my husband takes good care of them before and after his workday.