I apologize right now for the amount of times I'll use the word "humping" 
I did a search on this site - and haven't seen this exact behavioral question - and our vets are stumped, thought I'd give my favorite site a try to see if anyone else has thoughts on it. I keep telling myself to not be embarrassed about it...or bothered...but it is driving us a tad crazy - and hoping nothing's wrong.
Jo - our 14-year-old cat - has begun humping anything and everything in sight!!! And I don't mean just a minute of humping - I mean major, intense humping sessions. He'll even continue humping as he lies down to sleep - humping while he's laying on his side?!?! He's almost 14 and was neutered as a kitten (not an 8-week "early" neuter - he was around 4 months if I remember right). He's a failed foster that we've had since birth (his mom gave birth at our home - so I'm very aware of his history from day 1). We have three other cats - all fixed - and they all get along very well. He had a brief period at around age 4 where he did this (although not NEARLY this intensely/non-stop) - and at that time, it seemed centered around one very fluffy blanket when I had it on my lap. We talked to our vet about it - and he said it does happen, and he'd usually found it was a stress-reliever during times of major anxiety and that it would probably go away eventually. We'd had no change that we could think of that would cause him major anxiety - but I know cats often have their own reasons that we'll never understand - part of the joy of kitties The vet did a full exam - double checking to see if there was any medical reason - like a screwed up neuter - but he found nothing). It actually did stop in just a few months (I also ruined the blanket in the wash and had to toss it - so maybe that's why he stopped then) so we never gave it another thought.
Recently, Jo developed something similar to megacolon. It's pretty under control with daily medication and close monitoring, but I'm sure the twice daily multiple medications are a new stressor. Right when this developed - he started the humping again. With a vengeance! Anything remotely soft and fluffy is humped non-stop..my slippers, our other cats (although they put him in his place if he tries), blankets, toys, my foot, and today - a post-it - - all targets. As I said - he'll even hump lying on his side! If he's humping something - and another cat walks into the room - - or he spots something across the room - - he actually walks to it, humping the whole way. Last night I watched him try to eat and hump at the same time. (I really HAVE overused the word humping in this post!).
Anyway - bottom line - - has anyone else had this issue? I certainly don't want to seem like a prude If it is just a self-soothing process - - I hate to stop him. Obviously, with all of these meds now - he's got to be more stressed than he's been, and if this behavior helps, I hate to stop him. But at this point - aside from being a little embarrassing when we have company - - we're worried that it's SO obsessive it's not good for him!!! And the behavior is definitely effecting the other kitties - when he's in the room, they always seem to be "on guard" for the "stalking lothario." He's due for a vet visit in a few weeks (and this is a different vet than the one we talked about this with when he was much younger) - - and we'll definitely talk to her. But I've found that SO many people on this forum have SO many real-life helpful experiences - thought I'd see if anyone else had faced this and had any helpful suggestions.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? Things to try? SO thankful in advance.....and I promise not to try to use the "h" word again this week
I did a search on this site - and haven't seen this exact behavioral question - and our vets are stumped, thought I'd give my favorite site a try to see if anyone else has thoughts on it. I keep telling myself to not be embarrassed about it...or bothered...but it is driving us a tad crazy - and hoping nothing's wrong.
Jo - our 14-year-old cat - has begun humping anything and everything in sight!!! And I don't mean just a minute of humping - I mean major, intense humping sessions. He'll even continue humping as he lies down to sleep - humping while he's laying on his side?!?! He's almost 14 and was neutered as a kitten (not an 8-week "early" neuter - he was around 4 months if I remember right). He's a failed foster that we've had since birth (his mom gave birth at our home - so I'm very aware of his history from day 1). We have three other cats - all fixed - and they all get along very well. He had a brief period at around age 4 where he did this (although not NEARLY this intensely/non-stop) - and at that time, it seemed centered around one very fluffy blanket when I had it on my lap. We talked to our vet about it - and he said it does happen, and he'd usually found it was a stress-reliever during times of major anxiety and that it would probably go away eventually. We'd had no change that we could think of that would cause him major anxiety - but I know cats often have their own reasons that we'll never understand - part of the joy of kitties
The vet did a full exam - double checking to see if there was any medical reason - like a screwed up neuter - but he found nothing). It actually did stop in just a few months (I also ruined the blanket in the wash and had to toss it - so maybe that's why he stopped then) so we never gave it another thought.Recently, Jo developed something similar to megacolon. It's pretty under control with daily medication and close monitoring, but I'm sure the twice daily multiple medications are a new stressor. Right when this developed - he started the humping again. With a vengeance! Anything remotely soft and fluffy is humped non-stop..my slippers, our other cats (although they put him in his place if he tries), blankets, toys, my foot, and today - a post-it - - all targets. As I said - he'll even hump lying on his side! If he's humping something - and another cat walks into the room - - or he spots something across the room - - he actually walks to it, humping the whole way. Last night I watched him try to eat and hump at the same time. (I really HAVE overused the word humping in this post!).
Anyway - bottom line - - has anyone else had this issue? I certainly don't want to seem like a prude
If it is just a self-soothing process - - I hate to stop him. Obviously, with all of these meds now - he's got to be more stressed than he's been, and if this behavior helps, I hate to stop him. But at this point - aside from being a little embarrassing when we have company - - we're worried that it's SO obsessive it's not good for him!!! And the behavior is definitely effecting the other kitties - when he's in the room, they always seem to be "on guard" for the "stalking lothario." He's due for a vet visit in a few weeks (and this is a different vet than the one we talked about this with when he was much younger) - - and we'll definitely talk to her. But I've found that SO many people on this forum have SO many real-life helpful experiences - thought I'd see if anyone else had faced this and had any helpful suggestions. Any thoughts? Suggestions? Things to try? SO thankful in advance.....and I promise not to try to use the "h" word again this week
