I believe this is actually play. Please note, the mouths are never opened – there is no biting. The hind claws are out for traction but the front claws never unsheath on either cat. This is playwrestling, and adult teaching a kitten to defend itself.
This is the best scene in the entirety of IZ imo it’s literally perfect
according to the staff commentary for this episode, the script actually called for heavy traffic to be rushing past Dib and Zim in this scene, which is why they’re shouting at each other, and you can even still sort of hear the sound effects
but then, for whatever reason, in the finished episode they just
every time I reblog this my sister sends me a message to the effect of “thank u for reposting that cat video on your tumblr i have seen it so many times but it delights me every time because their paws are so gentle and graceful”
And Sometimes a Potato 