Old girlcat likes it occasional and exclusive, with lots of vigorous petting, and bliss for her is a long rub from a bare foot on the kitchen rug.

Young boycat does not accept that kind of intensity, but needs smaller doses more often.

When they’ve had enough of that human attention, they have each other. Sometimes that means curling up intertwined peacefully. Pretty often it means scrapping and sparring and stalking and pouncing and clawing.

And those things frequently lead to noises that are appalling to the human ear. Growls, hisses, deep long protracted screaming that seems to indicate serious pain or serious fear or a life and death struggle.

Seems.

When it gets really loud and I get up to check, the typical response is for them to stop with their paws and claws still stuck in each other and look up, like: What? What?

Just checking darlings.

This morning I said to them: You guys sure have some odd ideas about fun and play.

But then I realized the pot was very much calling the kettle black.