Cats fight, or so I’m told.
Our cats certainly do. They’ll seemingly randomly and suddenly go at each other with no real signs of aggression. No arched backs, hissing, flattened ears.
It’s like if I was eating lunch with a friend of mine, calmly eating my sandwich, looking at him a bit curiously, then suddenly jumping over the table and tackling him.
Our cats then tend to both use the same set of moves, though Princess (using her bulk and laziness to her advantage) tends to be more defensive. The fight will usually commence with Daisy either jumping into Princess, tapping her with an outstretched paw, or attempting to bite one of Princess’s limbs. Princess will usually respond by swatting Daisy away.
Sometimes, though, they’ll just entangle. Daisy will jump on top of Princess and wrap her arms around Princess’s head. Princess will similarly attempt to put Daisy into a headlock. The two will sit there, heads bobbing in an attempt to bite the scruff of the other cat, hind legs churning against the other cat, fur flying into the air. Then, after a few seconds, one of them will let go and they’ll separate, like boxers recovering their breath.
Princess will flop over and look suspiciously at Daisy. Daisy will back up a few paces, still no signs of aggression and either pounce on Princess again or begin licking and grooming herself.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a clear winner in these fights and I’m also unsure if attempting to startle or separate them during a fight would help. They don’t seem to be doing any physical harm to each other and their behavior outside of the fights hasn’t changed.
Are they just having fun, like young siblings that beat each other up for the heck of it? Female roommates solving a temporary territorial dispute? Most of the time they tend to ignore each other, although Daisy has always been a great fan of sniffing Princess’s butt.
I think this is just normal, but what do I know about cats?