It's a good thing they were just playing, or that ferret would have likely torn open the kitten's throat.

Do not -- repeat: DO NOT -- try this at home lest you find yourself the proud owner of a ferret and a cute, furry pile of kitten meat.

I think we're missing a few tags here:
white, wall, carpet, camcoder, video, youtube and funny.

my girlfriends ferrets arse is balding...

That ferret was getting his butt kicked . . . which is why he ran. Face it people, the ferret got his balding arse kicked . . . . lol

Ferrets are like dogs. When fighting, they only have one mode: KILL. If they can't do that, they're sort of at a loss.

That's why you see cats beating up on dogs. The dog knows he can't just grab the cat in his jaws and shake it to death as he naturally would, so he doesn't have a lot of options. Sort of lucky that dogs and (this particular) ferret are smart enough to know they're just playing.

Cats have a whole assortment of non-lethal fighting methods to fall back on. They can be pretty vicious too though. If a cat wanted to, it could sink it's teeth well into your (or another animal's) bone. Causes nasty infections.

I think that's what makes the whole play fighting thing so interesting. They just instinctively know how far they're allowed to go.

Well, since people are speculating on cat vs ferret cage matches, I'd definitely put my money on a cat. That's not really fair since most cats will weigh twice as much as a ferret.

But pound for pound, it's still hard to be intimidated by ferrets (and I've had one draw blood attacking me). They're mostly slinky. They can't use their claws for a whole lot. They're clumsy. They're about as stealthy as a lawnmower.

As for dog's vs cats, again, dogs tend to be bigger so it's not usually fair. But pound for pound I'd have go with the cat again. Cats can rotate their wrists to grapple, dogs can not.

It seems to me that ferret's are niche hunters (that niche being places slinkies can go but not cats, such as tunnels or small openings to hen-houses). Cat's are (usually) solo, ambush hunters. They often fight, by themselves, prey that is near full strength (although surprised). Dogs are pack, endurance hunters. They'll track, chase, and encircle prey across many miles. They hardly have to kill their prey after many chases because the animal has nearly run itself to death.

So if it's a cage match, I put my money on a cat. If it's a cross country, 10v10 deathmatch I put my money on the dogs. If it's a fight in Madison Square Garden's sewage system I put my money on the ferrets.

Disclaimer- I love all these animals and would hate to see them actually fighting each other.

halle berry vs. ?

haha rychan.

I say, we need computer simulations.

if the cat had engaged in actual hostile behaviour (e.g. spitting and showing teeth) the cat would be dead. and it wouldn't be pretty..

Many years ago on some wild life documentary I saw a weasel kill a feral German Shepard. With this image in mind, I maintain that things would get very ugly for that kitty very quickly.

I'm guessing the cat was de-clawed.

Sorry Ant, I had to...just once.