{"id":1359,"date":"2018-03-28T18:49:19","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T18:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/?p=1359"},"modified":"2023-03-10T10:10:07","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T10:10:07","slug":"why-cats-bunny-kick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Cats Bunny Kick? Is It Playful or Aggressive?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Easter coming up, we wanted to learn about the pretty adorable, bunny-like behavior cats often exhibit with new <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/#inside\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cat toys<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: bunny kicking! More specifically, we wanted to know exactly <\/span><b>why do cats bunny kick<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the first place. Is a <\/span><b>bunny kick <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">an act of playfulness or a sign of aggression? Let\u2019s hop to it and find out!&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Hang on, what is bunny kicking?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For those who aren\u2019t familiar with the term \u201c<\/span><b>cat bunny kick<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d, is when cats lay on their backs or sides, grab onto a toy, and begin kicking at it with their rear legs. Like this:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1361 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/mama-cat-bunny-kicking-amb.jpg\" alt=\"why do cats bunny kick? \" width=\"600\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/mama-cat-bunny-kicking-amb-300x199@2x.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/mama-cat-bunny-kicking-amb-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><strong>When cats bunny kick, it can be playful!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many healthy cats enjoy the act of \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cathealth.com\/behavior\/how-and-why\/2478-why-do-some-cats-bunny-kick-things\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">play wrestling<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d with other familiar cats, toys, pets, or humans. So, when a cat grabs ahold of their toys or your hand (ouch!) and starts giving it cute little <\/span><b>cat bunny kicks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, they\u2019re likely playing, and not violently attacking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We want to stress, however, that cat parents should avoid letting their <\/span><b>cat bunny kick<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> their hands, arms, feet, or legs and instead try their <\/span><b>cat bunny kick <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on a <\/span><b>toy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Though cats may not mean to harm you, their playful kicks can leave behind painful scratches. When a cat begins to intensely play with your limbs, try guiding them to wrestle a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/subscribe\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cat toy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, instead!<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Bunny kicking can also be aggressive&#8230;<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cats may also use their hind feet to <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vetstreet.com\/our-pet-experts\/why-does-my-cat-kick-her-back-legs\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">kick their adversaries<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> when fighting one another. By lying on their backs or sides, cats can use all four sets of claws and teeth at the same time to fight. A <\/span><b>cat stomping back legs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> against a toy or opponent optimizes the amount of damage it can inflict on its opponent.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>How can you tell when bunny kicking is playful or aggressive?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Body language is key when it comes to<\/span><b> cat bunny kicks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">! If a cat\u2019s ears are back, its eyes are dilated, and the tail is swishing jerkily, then they may feel agitated. In this scenario, we recommend refraining from engaging the cat until its nerves calm down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, if a cat&#8217;s ears are forward and face muscles are relaxed, they&#8217;re probably just being their super playful selves!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Cats can kick cute too&#8230; Just sayin&#8217;.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1363\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1363\" class=\"wp-image-1363 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/@hachi_the_cat-e1521663615517.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"643\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-1363\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p><center>Easter kitty courtesy of @hachi_the_cat via Instagram<\/center><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With Easter coming up, we wanted to learn about the pretty adorable, bunny-like behavior cats often exhibit with new cat toys: bunny kicking! More specifically, we wanted to know exactly why do cats bunny kick in the first place. Is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-facts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Do Cats Bunny Kick? Is It Playful or Aggressive? | KitNipBox<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wondering why cats bunny kick? Find out if they kick their toys and start stomping their back legs in play or aggression.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Do Cats Bunny Kick? Is It Playful or Aggressive? | KitNipBox\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wondering why cats bunny kick? Find out if they kick their toys and start stomping their back legs in play or aggression.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KitNipBox\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-28T18:49:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-10T10:10:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/@love-and-hisses-e1521664190883.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Diana Regal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Diana Regal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/\",\"name\":\"Why Do Cats Bunny Kick? Is It Playful or Aggressive? | KitNipBox\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/@love-and-hisses-e1521664190883.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-28T18:49:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-10T10:10:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#\/schema\/person\/aa2f1a623371001158d513a03ee24f2b\"},\"description\":\"Wondering why cats bunny kick? Find out if they kick their toys and start stomping their back legs in play or aggression.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/@love-and-hisses-e1521664190883.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/@love-and-hisses-e1521664190883.png\",\"width\":1140,\"height\":660,\"caption\":\"Why do cats bunny kick?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Do Cats Bunny Kick? Is It Playful or Aggressive?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/\",\"name\":\"KitNipBox\",\"description\":\"The Cat&#039;s Meow Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#\/schema\/person\/aa2f1a623371001158d513a03ee24f2b\",\"name\":\"Diana Regal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Capture-1-100x100.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Capture-1-100x100.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Diana Regal\"},\"description\":\"Diana is the Manager of Content and Social at KitNipBox. She lives in New York City with her boyfriend and their grey rescue kitty, Baguette. When she's not obsessing over cats, she's cooking breakfast, playing board games, reading, or crafting.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/author\/diana\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Do Cats Bunny Kick? Is It Playful or Aggressive? | KitNipBox","description":"Wondering why cats bunny kick? Find out if they kick their toys and start stomping their back legs in play or aggression.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Do Cats Bunny Kick? Is It Playful or Aggressive? | KitNipBox","og_description":"Wondering why cats bunny kick? Find out if they kick their toys and start stomping their back legs in play or aggression.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/","og_site_name":"KitNipBox","article_published_time":"2018-03-28T18:49:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-10T10:10:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1140,"height":660,"url":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/@love-and-hisses-e1521664190883.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Diana Regal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Diana Regal","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/","name":"Why Do Cats Bunny Kick? Is It Playful or Aggressive? | KitNipBox","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/@love-and-hisses-e1521664190883.png","datePublished":"2018-03-28T18:49:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-10T10:10:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#\/schema\/person\/aa2f1a623371001158d513a03ee24f2b"},"description":"Wondering why cats bunny kick? Find out if they kick their toys and start stomping their back legs in play or aggression.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/@love-and-hisses-e1521664190883.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/@love-and-hisses-e1521664190883.png","width":1140,"height":660,"caption":"Why do cats bunny kick?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/why-cats-bunny-kick\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Do Cats Bunny Kick? Is It Playful or Aggressive?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/","name":"KitNipBox","description":"The Cat&#039;s Meow Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#\/schema\/person\/aa2f1a623371001158d513a03ee24f2b","name":"Diana Regal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Capture-1-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Capture-1-100x100.jpg","caption":"Diana Regal"},"description":"Diana is the Manager of Content and Social at KitNipBox. She lives in New York City with her boyfriend and their grey rescue kitty, Baguette. When she's not obsessing over cats, she's cooking breakfast, playing board games, reading, or crafting.","url":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/author\/diana\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1359"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3223,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359\/revisions\/3223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kitnipbox.com\/meow\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}