In the world of pet play there is differing levels or let's call them degrees of pet play, I've seen it go on in the puppy and pony community as well but given I'm a kitten and spent the most time with that immediate community, I wanted to share a lot of things.
Now I'm by no means an expert but this is just things I've seen or otherwise observed over the years.
For sake of simplicity I'll use the term "levels" to help navigate the kitten insanity lmao
Level 1 - This would be people who dress up in kitten gear but aren't taking it very serious, a tad more serious than just dressing up as Catwoman at a Halloween party but not by much. So let's say this is one step above just dressing up for Halloween.
Level 2 - A bit more serious, maybe they like wearing the chokers, gloves, lace or other accessories for the aesthetic, but still, not taken very seriously, just a casual appreciation for the aesthetic
Level 3 - More serious, this would be the more common kittens who dress up regularly and preform in the context of a scene or just for their Owner or something, taken seriously but still fairly casual and has a defined time and place
Level 4 - More serious than the previous level as these kittens are in "cat mode" on a regular basis regardless of scene or people around, the severity of "cat mode" depends on the person and there's low severity to extreme if not boarding on Therian overlap
Level 5 - Therian overlap, a Therian is someone who feels like an animal on a emotional, spiritual or mental level due to a form of escapism from trauma, but they can also come from certain religions backgrounds that animals are very important in their religion and so on, it can be a very deep and meaningful thing for people to feel like an animal or express their more inner animalistic urges (think the Hunter and Prey community taken more seriously)
For kittens in this level, we have our own higherarcy and side stuff that goes on
There's the domestic cats (like me, hi, hello, I'm a maincoon) or there's the wild cats (lions, panthers, leopards etc)
Domestic cats listen to the wild cats but they don't often get owned by each other (think, glorified baby sitter / community protectors) I don't fully remember the whole breed higherarcy these days cause it's been a while since I've run into those people but I at least would respect or listen to any wild cat that was looking out for me or trying to help or something. (I remember that most wild cats aren't into being owned or it takes a big time sadist or Dom to own them properly and correctly and actually make them happy, they're definitely loners more often than not.)
(I heard similar stuff goes on in the puppy community between the domestic puppies and wolf community)
From my time when I was getting into kitten play and all that, we used the term "Neko" ("cat" in Japanese) as there is a lot of cat girls in anime and they looked or felt like what we did, a dip into Therian for sure, we know we're people but deeply still feel like cats and it's just always been that way (even I remember acting like a cat as a small child whenever I was stressed out)
For a lot of people, pet play is casual but it can also be a deeply therapeutic thing and escape from a traumatic time or experience
But no matter what kitten you are, you're all valid and I'm happy we have the community we do
From the lingerie models to the people fighting for human rights and everything in between, we're a lovely community and I'm happy to share my knowledge any time.
