Is My New Cat Harvey Weinstein??

apparatchic

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Hello! I have two cats - Rosa (2F) and Jake (1M). Rosa's been with me since last August (you can read about my journey with her here!), and Jake came home about 3.5 weeks ago, both from the same rescue organization. The introductions were slow but went great, and the cats are safely co-existing and maybe even bonding. Or... so I thought???

Last night around 3:30 I heard a bit of a ruckus, and I got up to check on them, since I'm still a bit anxious about the introduction process. What I found was... Jake humping Rosa, lol. More specifically, her lower back, but he had her by the neck and was over her. (I checked on her and there was no broken skin!) In a sleep-deprived daze, I thought... my new cat is a rapist! I finally got the presence of mind to tap him, which surprised him off her, and they separated. Rosa went up on her cat tree, Jake wandered around.

(Both cats are neutered, btw! Rosa was neutered at the appropriate kitten age, but it might be relevant that Jake was only neutered on May 7th after being rescued from a hoarder.)

So my question is... is this okay? Will this harm their relationship, and if so, is there anything I can do to discourage it - like separating them again? Is this going to be ongoing, or is it because his neuter was so recent? :help::help::help:

Some hopefully relevant behavioural notes: During the first stages of introductions, there was some hissing and growling, but by the time they were having supervised visits, they were both super friendly - ears forward, tails up, inquisitive chirps and meows but no hissing whatsoever. They play occasionally, usually in short bursts, and sometimes I hear some louder meows, but neither have had injuries and spats last less than 10 seconds. Rosa will defend her stuff from Jake (including me, if she's getting pats!) but doesn't make physical contact, just sort of hops down and raises her paws, lol. The rest of the time, Rosa is actively trying to scent-mark Jake and does not seem afraid of him or intimidated by him at all.

Physically, Jake has about 3lbs on Rosa at 8.8lbs, but is quite tall and skinny for his size, whereas Rosa is probably 6-7lbs and built like a tiny tank comparatively.

To be clear, I don't think Jake is bad at all for doing this - I know it's just a natural drive and that there's no bad intention behind it! (I am VERY glad they are both neutered though. I do not need kittens!!!) But I do want to know if this is something I need to address, and if so... how??? lol. I did not realize this could be a thing when I got him, so I'm out of my depth here!
 

inkysmom

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I've had a couple of neutered males who were neutered at 5 and 6 months respectively, so at appropriate ages and had never sprayed. One of them tried to hump my large dog when he was 14. They both tried to hump each other and other cats, both male and female, periodically, over the years. Some of the cats I think it was a dominance thing as they especially went after two especially shy very passive cats I used to have, one male and one female.

My remaining cat who's 8 now used to repeatedly hump a much larger formerly feral neutered male that he was very bonded to that I had, Inky. After Inky died of cancer he then started doing it to the other cat I had left who he was extremely bonded to since I got him as a kitten, Lovey. Lovey was far less tolerant than Inky and it would always result in fighting, but never injuries. Lovey would occasionally do it back to him and once tried it with my dog who looked absolutely horrified.
I always stop it right away since usually it causes fights. Inky never looked happy and was older with a lot of health issues. Lovey would actively fight, and he and the other cat would gang up on the two passive cats and mercilessly bully them every chance they got.
I think it takes a while for all the hormones to fully subside after being neutered and he's probably also testing her to see what he can get away with.
Interestingly I saw this behavior the most as both my offenders were older when each of them had health issues and were on steroids for different reasons. The vets confirmed that steroids can increase aggressive behavior.
For your cat it could be hormones and being new and young.
My beautiful Lovey passed away from cancer in March. My other cat was so devastated that I had to adopt a rescue kitten who's now about his size. They play a lot and gave some cute little moments but luckily no humping yet . The kitten was neutered in early April and I didn't get him until the end of April. I kept them separate and locked the kitten in the bathroom for at least the first month with short supervised visits. Now he's free and they run and play and destroy my place knocking things over all night long.

My friend took in an adult male neutered cat who used to hump her pillows so it's a fairly common behavior I think.
 

ArtNJ

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Unless you see thrusting, or his junk sticking out, it is just normal play. In the wild, cats kill their prey via a bite to the jugular. So getting on another cat and play biting the neck is simulated hunting/play with maybe a tiny touch of dominance thrown in. It is totally normal.
 
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apparatchic

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inkysmom inkysmom Thanks so much for your experience - sounds like this can come up in a lot of different ways so I'm glad it's not just my cat being a perv lol!

A ArtNJ I mean, there was definitely humping happening, but if this is just normal play and some dominance assertion then I can definitely live with that. Rosa didn't seem upset at all after it happened - I think I was the only one who was shocked!

The cats are fine today, btw - Rosa is running around playing with the ball in the track toy and Jake is napping next to me, and Rosa has come up multiple times for pats, which is VERY new for us but I don't think she'd do it if she was traumatized.
 

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I came here with this exact same issue and saw your thread. My senior cat, Sir, has been leaping onto my one year old Reese's back when she least expects it. She will be minding her own business, looking out the window or something, and he'll drag her down and start humping her. She let him have it today and smacked him in the face. He also started humping and biting my knee when sitting in my lap. I've never seen this behavior from him before now.
 
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apparatchic

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W Willowy This made me laugh and also feel silly for being so worried. Thank you! I do think they're fine. They're just weird. But she's never had any compunction in whomping anyone (including me) before, so you're right.
 

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I still think people are misusing the term "humping". One of mine latches onto my arm in a full body hold if I dare to pick him up, but that is to get a good position to play bite and kick. "Mounting" with neutered cats is to get in position to play bite the neck. If you don't see thrusting, its playing not "humping."
 

TobiDaDog

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I still think people are misusing the term "humping". One of mine latches onto my arm in a full body hold if I dare to pick him up, but that is to get a good position to play bite and kick. "Mounting" with neutered cats is to get in position to play bite the neck. If you don't see thrusting, its playing not "humping."
I'm certainly not misusing it! Grab, mount, hip thrust repeatedly on unwilling knee or cat, followed by ear/knee biting and growling.
 

ArtNJ

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I'm certainly not misusing it! Grab, mount, hip thrust repeatedly on unwilling knee or cat, followed by ear/knee biting and growling.
Lol, yeah, if you have thrusting, you have thrusting! I've never seen it personally, but I guess its not that unusual even in fixed little beasties.
 

inkysmom

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My cats were definitely humping lol. IIalso saw parts of them I never saw before or really wanted to see lol despite them being neutered.
I know what fighting and play fighting looks like, quite different.
Unfortunately I know only too well what true humping looks like, my large dog used to constantly do it at the dog park and would fight if it was dogs doing it to him. I trained him to stop and listen to me better.
I used the word mounting to be polite since it basically means the same thing
 
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apparatchic

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I still think people are misusing the term "humping". One of mine latches onto my arm in a full body hold if I dare to pick him up, but that is to get a good position to play bite and kick. "Mounting" with neutered cats is to get in position to play bite the neck. If you don't see thrusting, its playing not "humping."
I mean, in addition to mounting her, his hips were also moving in a rhythmic motion?? I've also seen him do it without the hip movement, but I think there is an actual thrusting element, even if he is (very fortunately) confused about what goes where. Again, though, he was neutered only a month ago, so I hope this behaviour will mellow out.

He just did it to her right next to me on the couch (and really LATCHED on to her neck) so I had to clap loudly to make him stop. But I think she's just like "Ugh, this again?" when it happens, and once I separated them, she took a good play-run at him, so we may be getting to the whomping stage sooner rather than later.
 
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