When I got home yesterday, my niece flung herself at me in tears saying, “Aristotle hates Plato! He hates him!” At first I had to stifle a laugh at how unintentionally poignant the expression was, in philosophical terms, but it was only seconds before I realised what she was talking about.

You see, Plato and Aristotle are my two cats, who had had been ‘fighting’ whilst I was at work – much to the horror of my brother’s 7-year daughter. Although I managed to comfort her at the time, by telling her they were “only playing”, it wasn’t long before they were at it again. Luckily, it turned out I was right – they were only playing! So today I thought, in case this happens to you, here is how to tell whether your cats and fighting for real or just playing.

1) Noise. When cats fight, you know about it – hence the term ‘catfight’ I suppose. They yowl, screech and hiss enough to literally wake the neighbourhood! If there’s not much noise and only the occassional hiss, they’re probably just playing around.

2) Behaviour. When playing, cats tend to take turns attacking and defending; when they’re done, it’ll be like nothing ever happened. If it seems one-sided or they avoid each other afterwards, they’re probably fighting and you should think about keeping them apart for a bit.

3) Results. When playing, cats shouldn’t get hurt, unless it’s by accident.

It’s quite obvious, but it’s best to be certain!