Kitten Play

• Energy Release

  Play helps kittens to release pent up energy. Preventing your kitten from releasing energy in more destructive ways (ie: destroying your furniture or keeping you up at night). If you have two or more kittens, it’s a great idea to encourage them to play together so that they tire themselves out at the same time.

• Prevents Boredom
  
  

  Photo by Lachlan Donald @ flickr.com

  Play also stops boredom in its tracks. Even though kittens spend most of their days sleeping, they play a considerable amount of time. Remember that a bored kitten is a kitten with the potential to get into trouble around the house.

• Skills Practice

  Play also encourages kittens to practice skills that they have learned from watching their mom cat. Pouncing, chasing prey, and climbing all cats have instinctually developed to survive in the wild. In addition, most kittens learn how to interact with humans by watching their mom cat play with their human owners.

• Exercise

  Kittens must be able to move around and stretch their bodies. Play provides the ability to move, run, and jump. And it helps to keep kittens in top shape physically.

• Encourages Bonding

  Playing with your kitten helps to develop a deeper and stronger bond between the two of you. During play, you get to know your kitten’s likes and dislikes. They also learn to trust you and see you as a fun friend to play with. Select kitten toys and games that enable you to interact with your kitten one to one.

• Weight Control

  Feline obesity is a major problem in cats. Lack of play and exercise along with eating too much food can lead to obesity. By encouraging play with a variety of kitten toys and activities, you can help to reduce your kitten’s chance of growing into an overweight adult cat. Some breeds are naturally more active than others. So, you may need to encourage your more sedate cat to play more frequently.

Types of Kitten Play

• Jumping
• Running
• Catch and Release
• Pouncing
• Climbing
• Walking
• Hide and Seek

Photo by Putri Regina @ flickr.com

Rough kitten play can look a lot like fighting. However, the two behaviors are really quite different. Kittens often engage in rough play (biting, mild scratching, wrestling, tugging) with each other during early developmental stages with their siblings.

Some kittens may playfully bite or nibble on their owners’ hands or feet. Often, kittens are not aware that this can be painful to their owners. Kittens that have been taken from their mothers and siblings too early tend to play rough.

Kitten fighting, however, is much more aggressive and can be quite violent. Fighting can be a result of territorial disputes and personality differences. Fighting often comes with tell tale behavioral clues. Hissing, arched backs, and defensive posture are noted with fighting.

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