Cats fight for many different reasons:
- aggression
- defend themselves or their territory
- playing
When cats do not know eachother and they fight, it is most likely that they are demonstrating aggressive behavior. Cats are very territorial animals and they will fight other cats to protect their territory. Cats generally don’t like sharing their territory with other cats, especially if the cat is unknown to them.
When cats who live in the same household fight, it is often very difficult to tell whether they are playing or being aggressive. For example, the three cats in the following video have lived in the same household for many years. However, they still fight once in awhile.
Are they playing or being aggressive? What do you think?
When cats fight, they will often try to seek higher grounds than the other cat. Cats will sometimes jump on top of things after or during a fight. In this video, Peanut gets onto the Wii balance board in order to maintain higher ground than the other (larger) cat.
Are these cats playing or fighting?