Mounting?

[MonaLyssa33]

Remy keeps mounting Maisie (or at least it looks that way) and biting her neck at the same time. I don't know why he keeps doing it. They have both been spayed or neutered. Remy has been known to be a little jerk, so that's what I've thought it was. Is there another reason he could be doing this?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Are you able to intervene?

 

[Caspers Human]

There are three reasons cats do this: Mating, dominance or poor socialization/training.

Mating... That's obvious. Even neutered cats can, sometimes, try to mount other cats, especially if they were neutered late.

Dominance... When one cat wants to assert dominance over another, it will mount, bite the back of the neck and bear down with its weight on the other cat. Sometimes females will try to mount other cats too. This isn't necessarily about sex. It's another way one cat tells another, "I'm the boss around here.

Socialization... Kittens might occasionally mount each other as a play behavior. They do it as a way to learn the rules of being a cat. When one cat does it to another cat who doesn't like it, he'll meet with reprisal and get chased off. The cat learns when it's okay and when it's not. If a kitten doesn't learn that mounting isn't okay, he might keep doing it because he doesn't know better. Sometimes, if a human sees a cat exhibiting this behavior, they might think it's "cute" or they might laugh or give the cat attention in one way or another. In that case, the cat receives reinforcement that makes him think it's okay to do that.

If it actually is mating, get your cats neutered, ASAP. Since both cats are fixed, I'm pretty sure this isn't the problem.

If it's socialization, you need to stop whatever reinforcement you may have been giving the cat and start trying to break the cat of the behavior. This will take time and effort but it can be done if you put in the effort.

If it's dominance, I wouldn't worry about it too much unless it becomes frequent or violent. Basically treat it the same way you do when they scuffle. You watch them. You let them hash it out. If it becomes too violent or if it happens too often, you break the cats up and send them to their safe rooms for a while.

My bet it's dominance. If it was me, I'd just keep an eye on them to make sure it doesn't get out of hand.