neutered cat keeps humping my leg! :0(

by Pam
(UK)

I adopted a poor old stray cat (lived wild for approx. 5 years) - he's about 8 years old and has FIV. He's now an indoor cat and has is lovely animal who appears to be so happy & contented to have finally found a home.



He was only neutered about 6 weeks ago.

Every evening his sits on my knee (on top of a fleece throw) - however, for the last 2 weeks he's been humping my leg! (I obviously knew dogs do this but had not heard of a cat doing it)!... He also leaves a spot of urine (hence the fleece).

Do I need to take him to the vet or do you think this behaviour will stop once his "hormones" have settled down?

Answer by Kate
this is unusual behavior, it could be a hormone thing as you say or it could just be a comfort behavior. When he starts the behavior pick him up and put him on the floor immediately with out touching him after that for a while. He will soon learn that the behavior is unexeceptable and should stop it.
If the behavior continues over a longer period of time then yes a trip to the vets might be in order especially as you say he leaks urine, this may be a sign of something else that would need looking at by your vet.

Comments for neutered cat keeps humping my leg! :0(

Click here to add your own comments

Bad advice was given
by: Anonymous

You say that it could be a sign of a bigger problem, like a urinary tract infection. UTI's in cats are life threatening, so why then are you recommending that if the behavior doesn't correct itself after some time, to then talk the cat to the vet? It would seem to me that it would be more logical to rule out a UTI prior to attempting to change its behavior. Logic states that if the cat is doing it because it has a UTI, setting the cat on the floor will do nothing to cure the UTI and the cat could die within days.
Cat humping
by: Joan

A stray I had fixed and then brought indoors always wants to sit on my lap and "knead" and hump. He is appx 3-4yrs old and also does this behavior to my upper body. If I don't let him he gets a high pitched meow like he is really mad. I have 2 other male strays who have been fixed and have never done this behavior. In fact Red ( the humper) tries to hump our oldest cat, Rocky who is about 11yrs old.
cat humping problem
by: Megan

Our 14 year old male cat begun humping an old woolen jumper which lay in his bed all over the house last year. We removed jumper and he settled down. We placed another jumper in his bed last winter,he slept on it peacefully,but in last couple of months started humping again. We removed the jumper - he seemed quite distressed, kept quite for a few weeks until he came up with the idea of removing the base mat from his cat bed and begun humping it! Our female cat lies in her bed beside him but he doesn't show any interest in her, only her bed which he takes over from her following his session of humping! She then comes to us wailing, leads us to her bed, looks at him lying in her bed and then looks at us. What can we do to control him?
Neutering!
by: Anonymous

We had a male for years and were told that getting him neutered would stop him humping a dirty sweater of mine. He regularly did it. Well he was duly neutered, given fleas by the vets, and it did not stop him. All it did was make it that for the rest of his life we had to give him Ovarid.
He still humped things and the indications for the ovarid was continual scratching and biting himself until he was sore.
We have a female cat now that is scratching herself sore, we have now to find out her problem, this started again after neurering!
I like my cat humping my leg
by: Anonymous

My Maine Coon humps my leg but it is good massage for my swollen legs when I get home from work. I don't care as long as the neighbors don't find out!
my cat does same as youR
by: Gobble_Grrr

my cat which was using outdoor til i moved to 3rd floor flat he had start humping my leg in bed and start humping to my friend's leg and now he stopped humping if he tried i just simple put him on the floor if he just jumping back on just keep putting back on the floor and say no he will know what it mean week after he stopping humping but still doing it but not alots like before
thanks for replying so quickly Kate
by: Pam

Strange thing is.... he only does it to me (not to my husband or daughter).

And the spot of urine is only left/dribbled at the time he displays this behaviour.

I'll see how he is in a couple of weeks and if it continues I'll take him back to the vets... LOL - how to word the problem may cause some laughter!

Click here to add your own comments

Return to Cat Questions Archive One.

I'd love to hear what you think of this page or my site. Let me know if you like what you have read or if it has helped you with a problem.

It's easy to do just leave a comment in the box below and click the like / share or +1 to let others know about my site. Thank You It really is most appreciated.

Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.