Hi there, I am brand new here.
I come today to discuss what might be going on with my male cat Wally. We had him for seven and half years now but we got him as a street rescue when we suspect he might have been around four years old; Wally is approximately 11 or 12 years old. When we took him in back then he liked to suckle on blankets and march his feet. At first, this was all it was, he would suckle the blanket and go to sleep but now, and for the last few years, he suckles the blankets and then goes to lick his penis (which comes out) and his legs twitch. Since I thought it was a self-soothing behavior I examined ways to help him cope with being inside and I harness trained him so he could enjoy outside life where he came from and safe inside life. I play with him and try to distract the behavior if it gets out of hand. While he does it, if he is disturbed he will meow loudly and gets quite irritated. A couple of weeks ago he was doing this on my robe in my bunny's room and I went to stop him and he meowed, jumped off the couch, and mounted my senior rabbit at the neck like he was mating.
As he ages, I am cognizant of the fact that this is something that will not go away and I am worried there is something going on. We have taken him to the vet regarding food sensitivities and learned that he doesn't do well with poultry foods and try to avoid those ingredients as best we can. Unfortunately, with this pandemic, it's hard to go about trying new food every few days and we have been stuck on some grocery store wet foods in between the pet store dry/wet pickup.
Some additional information:
- He is quite vocal, more so than usual but this is because we enforce the behavior with attention and now since he meows at mealtimes, he gets food rewards. The vocalization is a few years old at this point.
- He eats three meals a day: morning and night consist of 1/8 cup of dry with a tablespoon or more of wet food, afternoon meal is only wet food with pumpkin puree mixed in.
- His litter habits are good. I am aware that this humping behavior might be leading to a UTI and so I bought them a cat fountain and he drinks lots of water from it. Sometimes his pee is in smaller amounts than my female cat but it's not sticky and he never strains or misses the box.
- In the last few years, he has grown to dislike play wrestling with the female cat but I think it's because she gets too into it and it gets less playful.
- One of his favorite things to do is play outside in the backyard. I will toss him toys and he will race after them or jump in the air to catch. I highly doubt he has sludge buildup as he is quite active for a senior.
- He weighs 11-12 lbs. I weigh him every couple of weeks and this is average for this time of the year.
- He only does it in my presence, not my partner because he will stop him. I like to let my pets do their thing with little interruption because I understand animals do things for a reason. He is usually in the same room as I am wherever I am in the house. He is quite attached to me. This mounting behavior he only does on fleece blankets near me. Some days it can be as many as four or five times and other days he doesn't do it at all.
I think that's all. I am wondering if you have seen or experienced something like this before. It's a little challenging to convince my partner to agree to the vet right now if we even need it, and he thinks Wally is doing this in a sexual nature. I tried to explain that when cats mate it happens quickly, whereas Wally might do it for 5 minutes.
Thanks in advance! I know it's a lot to take in at once from a brand new forum member!
I come today to discuss what might be going on with my male cat Wally. We had him for seven and half years now but we got him as a street rescue when we suspect he might have been around four years old; Wally is approximately 11 or 12 years old. When we took him in back then he liked to suckle on blankets and march his feet. At first, this was all it was, he would suckle the blanket and go to sleep but now, and for the last few years, he suckles the blankets and then goes to lick his penis (which comes out) and his legs twitch. Since I thought it was a self-soothing behavior I examined ways to help him cope with being inside and I harness trained him so he could enjoy outside life where he came from and safe inside life. I play with him and try to distract the behavior if it gets out of hand. While he does it, if he is disturbed he will meow loudly and gets quite irritated. A couple of weeks ago he was doing this on my robe in my bunny's room and I went to stop him and he meowed, jumped off the couch, and mounted my senior rabbit at the neck like he was mating.
As he ages, I am cognizant of the fact that this is something that will not go away and I am worried there is something going on. We have taken him to the vet regarding food sensitivities and learned that he doesn't do well with poultry foods and try to avoid those ingredients as best we can. Unfortunately, with this pandemic, it's hard to go about trying new food every few days and we have been stuck on some grocery store wet foods in between the pet store dry/wet pickup.
Some additional information:
- He is quite vocal, more so than usual but this is because we enforce the behavior with attention and now since he meows at mealtimes, he gets food rewards. The vocalization is a few years old at this point.
- He eats three meals a day: morning and night consist of 1/8 cup of dry with a tablespoon or more of wet food, afternoon meal is only wet food with pumpkin puree mixed in.
- His litter habits are good. I am aware that this humping behavior might be leading to a UTI and so I bought them a cat fountain and he drinks lots of water from it. Sometimes his pee is in smaller amounts than my female cat but it's not sticky and he never strains or misses the box.
- In the last few years, he has grown to dislike play wrestling with the female cat but I think it's because she gets too into it and it gets less playful.
- One of his favorite things to do is play outside in the backyard. I will toss him toys and he will race after them or jump in the air to catch. I highly doubt he has sludge buildup as he is quite active for a senior.
- He weighs 11-12 lbs. I weigh him every couple of weeks and this is average for this time of the year.
- He only does it in my presence, not my partner because he will stop him. I like to let my pets do their thing with little interruption because I understand animals do things for a reason. He is usually in the same room as I am wherever I am in the house. He is quite attached to me. This mounting behavior he only does on fleece blankets near me. Some days it can be as many as four or five times and other days he doesn't do it at all.
I think that's all. I am wondering if you have seen or experienced something like this before. It's a little challenging to convince my partner to agree to the vet right now if we even need it, and he thinks Wally is doing this in a sexual nature. I tried to explain that when cats mate it happens quickly, whereas Wally might do it for 5 minutes.
Thanks in advance! I know it's a lot to take in at once from a brand new forum member!
