Male Cat Keeps Trying To Mate With Kitten

[kestria]

I have a two year old male cat (who was neutered when he was 4 months old). He continuously tries to mate with my female kitten (who's not fixed yet and only 3 months old). She's obviously not in heat and will often just be playing or eating, minding her own business, and the male will come bite her on the neck and try to mount her.

Why is he doing this and how can I discourage it? I thought if male cats were neutered early, they wouldn't exhibit this behavior. I don't want the female to get hurt since she is much smaller than he is.

 

[ArtNJ]

Is there hip thrusting or any bits out that shouldn't be? If not, just getting in mount position and biting the neck is play behavior from the wild -- that is how cats kill prey. Its very normal for a two year old to do this to a kitten for play purposes. Well, its play for the 2 year old. The kitten likely doesn't enjoy it much.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Whenever you catch him start this behavior, pick him up tell him a firm 'no' or hiss at him, and place him in 'time-out' for a couple of minutes. Since she is pretty young and he is bigger than her, it would be best to try to teach him not to do it in order to avoid a possible problem with injury or causing fear in the kitten.

If he demonstrates other playful behaviors that aren't likely to result in injury or fear, let them play out so that he learns what is and is not acceptable.

 

[ArtNJ]

I maybe kind of disagree with FeebysOwner a tiny bit -- sometimes the smaller cat will just lie there and take the play biting without seeming bothered. And sometimes the smaller cat will squeal a little bit, run if given the chance, but acts like nothing happened 5 minutes later. In those scenarios -- if the kitten doesn't generally show fear of the big cat -- its fine to let this play behavior continue I think. I'm not entirely sure one can teach that certain play behaviors are ok but not others.

On the other hand, when the little girl squeals, its hard to believe that what is going on is remotely fun for her. Something like a head nuggy or indian sunburn would be my guess -- i.e. it may be play to the older one, but its not remotely fun for the younger. So I'm totally down with trying to distract the big cat to give the kitten a break, its just that I don't know that you really can or should worry about training the behavior away.

 

[She's a witch]

Are you able to post a video of this? I also would think it’s more play or maybe dominance show off, none of which is a bad thing in cats’ world. How does your kitten react to it? Does she mind it? Does she protest and he continues anyway? Do they get along otherwise? I’m guessing it’s an early stage of introduction. Are they still separated at times? He may do this out of over excitement if they are.

If it’s indeed play but she doesn’t appreciate it, I wouldn’t intervene, but let her let him know that she doesn’t want him to do this by hissing or growling. Eventually he should get the message. In my experience letting cats sort out issues like that by themselves is way more effective than any human intervention.

 

[Abornet]

I know this is an old thread but I was looking for this sort of info. I currently have a 2yo neutered male cat and a 3month old male kitten to get neutered next month. The older cat will do what looks like a mating hold, no humping, but he will hold the little guy at the scruff of his neck and hold him there sometimes the kitten will meow, cry abit and then get away then turn around and pounce on the older cat. Because the kitten is never afraid of the older cat and will also stalk him, and they do play ,wrassling and chasing etc I suppose that "mating behavior" is something else, play and not severely impacting the kitten. Could it also be a form of dominance behaviour similar to neuterd dogs humping other dog? .

 

[FurryMonsters]

It's definitely a dominant behaviour and not a mating behaviour, just a part of play and working out who's boss for the next 10 seconds. If the kitten isn't in distress and does not show signs of anxiety and stress, this is not something to worry about.

 

[Kflowers]

Since the younger cat can twist and get away, the older cat isn't really holding him in a clinch. Male cats hold the female that way to prevent them attacking, that is twisting around and slashing their stomachs. Not all male cats get it right the first time, but they learn fast to leave the ones who don't want to play alone. This means your older cat is practicing, and perhaps, teaching the younger one who to do the clinch for either mating, dominance, or killing prey.

If your older cat wanted to hurt the younger one, he would have done so already and done it so fast you couldn't have gotten across the room to stop him. Your cats are nice, they like each other, they will not intentionally hurt each other, though they may put a couple of shallow scratches and nicks on each other. Brothers are like that.