Ragdoll Cat Humping – Humping Problem and Common Causes
Michael Strange, who lives in Australia, is a great friend and mentor. He recently shared this story about his 2 year old seal mitted Ragdoll cat, Valentino. I wanted to share in case anyone else has experienced this – and perhaps we can have a discussion.
“Two weeks ago I bought Ella a Kong Kickeroo for her birthday, neither she or Valentino showed any interest in it until this evening. Ella gave it a few swats, but she was still not enthralled. At first Valentino ignored it, however after whacking him gently a few times he had a bit of a play with it. Then he got more and more excited, and eventually clamped his jaw tightly where the toy tail meets the stuffed body. He then carried it around the house like it was a dead rabbit or bird, his head held high as proud as can be, and he would not let me take the toy. After 20+ minutes of trying to find “the perfect spot” to take his make believe kill (he went *everywhere*, bathtub, cupboards, …) he finally got stuck into it with bunny kicks while making air cookies with his paws. That’s when I finally got out the camera and filmed for ages. For an hour he did his rolling and kicking, all the while getting more and more excited (and agitated) because he really wanted to make love to the toy but it wasn’t big enough. So he improvised and tried to make love to me! My arm, leg, and at one point he even tried to mount me from behind “doggy style” so to speak. And during all this time he kept his jaw clamped like a vice on the toy. Eventually I got the Kickeroo away from him and he had a quick groom then fell asleep near Ella on the bed.”
I then asked about whether or not Valentino has ever tried to mount Ella and Michael replied:
“He’s never tried to mount Ella, she’d beat the crap out of him if he did! He’s only tried mounting my arm once before – about a month or two ago. Beyond that he’s showed no interest or need to hump cushions, rugs or anything else. Valentino was desexed before he was 3 months old. My parents Birman, also male and desexed young, showed no humping instincts until he was about 12, when he one day fell in love with my throw rug. A week has now passed and the Kickeroo is again of no interest to Valentino, maybe it was just a one night stand!”
Michael read more about it here: Humping Problem and Common Causes
Watch the full length video that Michael mentions above:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/Cg4BCJAiiUg[/youtube]
Or watch just a portion of it:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/4qtWNPdhuYo[/youtube]
Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, I created Floppycats to connect, share and inspire other Ragdoll cat lovers around the world,
Oh my, that sure is one loved up kitty! He’s appropriately named anyway!
Bonus points for his awkward boner walk.
Hi Michael – It did look to me like you were teasing him while he was busy imagining the toy was something else. Whenever your foot was introduced, he seemed to want to attack – but would not attack you. The tension between the two forces must have been very frustrating for him. Could it be that the humping was not so much a sexual reaction as it was an expression of confusion or frustration?
The movie doesn’t show the whole story, there was at least 30 minutes of “out of character” action before I started filming, in particular his initial behaviour with the Kickeroo was to treat it like a freshly caught bird or rabbit that he wanted to take back to his lair (BTW, he’s never caught a bird or other animal). During that phase he already had his vice like grip happening and any attempt to go near him would just make him run to another room. If I left him alone he went from room to room trying to find somewhere for his ‘kill’. Eventually he change from that hunting mode to the kicking and ‘air cookies’ which is when I started filming. Slowly during that process he went from normal bunny kicking to looking like he wanted to mount the Kickeroo, and eventually the action with my leg. I regularly (daily) play with his belly using my hands and feet and the normal reaction is just gentle bunny kicks and friendly games.
I personally think his actions on this occasion were more to do with attention seeking and emotional stress rather than purely sexual. I’d been outside the house most of the day gardening and then had some one on one time outside with my other cat for an extended period – Valentino had been watching me all day through the window (very upset he wasn’t with me) and had missed his usual walk, playtime and dance party. A few weeks have now passed and there’s been no further humping incidents – I’ll have to make a mental note to see how he reacts next time I do a day gardening!
Thank you, Jenny & Michael for sharing this very interesting information! Michael, Valentino is such a GORGEOUS boy!
I have never heard of the mounting/humping issue with Ragdolls before. However, I’m a new Ragdoll owner (female kitty, Pink Sugar). Most of my other cats have been female, too. So, I’ve never seen this behaviour before in cats. I honestly had no idea that neutered males would even do this!
The Kong Kickeroo looks like a pretty good toy and I’ve added it to my Amazon Wish List for our Pink Sugar girl. 🙂 <3
No, it is definitely not stuck on his teeth. He is gripping it in a sexual way, the way a male cat mounts a female with this teeth gripping the female’s neck to hold her in place. Don’t know why this triggered it in him, but maybe he is having a rush of hormones somehow. There have been accounts that the desexing does not totally remove all the gland and there remains a trace amount of it that now and then secretes hormones. Don’t know if it is that or not, but he is truly exhibiting male sexual behavior. I would begin to worry if he will start spraying if he is doing that. I had two male Persians who were neutered at a very early age and after about 4 years, they began having a spraying contest.
I think the toy is stuck on his teeth. He never loses grip of it and it looks kind of like it’s dangling there, stuck.
Valentino had a vice like grip on the Kickeroo and refused to open his jaw for about an hour. It wasn’t stuck on his tooth, he just had no intention of letting go.