i've just recently moved property & i have a cat. the house that i have moved in to used to be my mother-in-laws. when i came visiting i noticed a kitted wandering in the garden, my M-i-L told me that it was the neighbours cat over the road.

i moved in two weeks ago & have been letting my cat out when i have been out in the garden for short periods of time. i have been extending the periods longer & longer.

on saturday night i went to the kitchen & saw my cat sitting by the back door & the kitted sat outside, they were stairing at each other. i decided to open the door & let my cat out. obvioulsy the kitten was startled & ran further up the garden, & then hid behind my fire bin. my cat went out & sniffed where the kitten had been sat. they kept staring at each other & moving closer to each other very slowly.

when they were very close together (but not touching) my cat layed on his side & kind of rolled over on his back & then they both ran, my cat into the house & the kitten up the garden.

my cat stayed in the kitchen & the kitten tryed to come in to the house. my cat kept doing the stalking thing where they get close to the floor & stick their bum up in the air & wriggle it then pounce & chase. my cat would chase the other cat out of the house & then run back in & it would start again. my cat then stayed outside the house & they kept chasing each other. this was going on for a good hour or so.

non of it looked agressive at all but i can never tell with cats.

can anyone give an insight as to this behaviour. are they just playing & being friendly or will they eventually end up fighting?

They sound like they're having fun, the wriggle thing is usually a sign of playing. If they were fighting there'd be a lot of hard staring and yowling and a lot of fur flying. When cats don't get on then they tend to make a hell of a noise about it. Adult cats are usually a lot more forgiving towards kittens

That sounds very much like invitations to play and playing to me.

What noises were they making? It is was miaows, prrrps or hisses then it was probably two friendly cats introducing each other and having game, if it was growling or spitting then they may have been the first steps towards a territory dispute.

A lot can be told from body language and what their fur and tail are doing too. A defensive or scared cat will usually fluff up their fur and turn side on to the thing they of which they are afraid (doing everything to make themselves look bigger to their opponent). Their tail will be held rigid and their mouth is usually open in a sort of quiet miaow or with a quiet distress moan.

Aggressive cats do a lot more of the fluffing up face on and with the spitting and growling, which are much more 'gerrof moi land' noises.

If they didn't fluff their tails and hackles up, or they had soft and fluid tails, especially if their tails were in 'hello' position (up, with a soft tip and raised gracefully above them) then they're saying nice things to each other and the running away is an invitation to follow and play.

The offering of the tummy is a really trusting thing to do, usually offered only to trusted humans, feline family members or kittens, so either your lad knows that the kitten is a baby and you play with babies (even in the cat world this is true, even if the kitten is not your own) or he's entire and she's coming up to her first season ;)

my cat has been 'done', the kitten i'm unsure, i dont even know if its male or female as it is quite furry.

they wernt really making any noise, they just kept getting closer & closer to each other. they were sat on their legs if you can get that, where they just lower their bodys down on their legs. they kinda kept looking at each other then looking away again, no hard stairing or anything. the tail was around the body. but when my cat was chasing the kitten out of the house his tail wasnt upright but wasnt down either.

he was actually letting the kitten through the door & in to the kitchen before chasing it out.

the only time he fluffed up his tail (& it was only slightly) was when the kitten first came in the house but if was only for 15 seconds max. both my cat & the kittens ears were up in allert position, thats good isnt it?

i didnt know what the showing of his belly ment. i have never been able to watch him interact with any other cats before because of how our house & garden was set out at the old house. now we have big windows & patio doors which overlook a huge garden so its been fasinating to watch.

Sound like playtime to me too! My cats do that when they play, the lying on the side thing is submissive isn't it? are you going to let them out to play again??