Kittens often entertain themselves with each other, but their fun sometimes escalates into real fights. Observing kittens at play, one can notice that distinguishing between play and fighting can be quite difficult.
Researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice and Lincoln University decided to find out which behavioral signs help distinguish playing kittens from fighting ones. To do this, they analyzed 105 videos of kittens on YouTube (such work is certainly something everyone could wish for).
The article published in the journal Scientific Reports describes several groups of behavioral characteristics that allow us to understand what exactly cats and kittens are doing with each other. First of all, they may simply do nothing: a cat lies or sits still. Or a kitten may be occupied with itself: grooming, moving around the room, or playing with toys. However, when interaction begins between the cats, it can escalate into a fight: one kitten grabs another with its front paws and pulls it in to bite and then release, or to kick with its hind legs, or to do something similar. The interaction may be less active when a kitten simply stretches and reaches out to another kitten. They can also chase each other. All these actions may be accompanied by – or not accompanied by – various sounds: meowing, purring, hissing, etc.
In general, it turned out that when kittens are fighting each other, it most often means play – harmless bites and light physical maneuvers. It is important to note that playful fighting should occur in silence. If meowing and growling start to sound, this is already likely to indicate aggressive conflict. Similarly, aggression is often accompanied by chasing each other. But kittens also have intermediate forms of interaction, where it seems to be both play and fighting at the same time – they may chase each other but without malice, and make not too loud sounds – those who have several kittens have surely observed this multiple times.
