Cat mounting
Cat mounting
I have a 10 year old cat who I’ve recently noticed tries to mount my 13 year old cat. The 13 year old is the dominant cat out of my three - other cat is 7. The cat doing the mounting has never been a dominant cat and is a wuss tbqh, I’ve noticed this behaviour at night. Any ideas why?
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booktigger
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Re: Cat mounting
Are they all neutered?
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Ruth B
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Re: Cat mounting
I'm assuming they are all neutered.
My guess would be that the 13 year old is starting to slow down a bit, and while the 10 year old isn't really wanting to fight for dominance they are seeing how far they can push it. Dominance 'fights' in cats can be very subtle, my 5 year old lad is very good at 'passive aggressive' behaviour, if I didn't know what to look for I would have said he was a 'wuss' as well. Blocking doorways is one of his most common tactics, but he will also rub up against my elderly cat, hard enough to almost knock her over. I also had an incident in the past, where I adopted a new cat, and she and one of my resident cats started a major dominance struggle. The only sign of it was that the litter trays stopped being used, or if they were they would stand in them and spray the wall behind the tray. I eventually returned the new cat to the charity she came from and my original cat settle down immediately, and I heard back from the rescue that the other cat happily used her litter tray once she was back with them, and was rehomed as an only cat.
I may be wrong, but just in case it is a change in pecking order going on, make sure you have plenty of litter trays (for a 3 cat household, the recommended number is 4 trays, plenty of water bowls scattered around the house, and if possible food bowls as well so no matter where a cat is another cat can not block them from getting to food, water or a litter tray.
I would also suggest closely watching them for any other signs of changes with in their soial structure. Making sure they are all happy and have escape routes if needed can prevent more serious issues down the line, it is one area where prevention is far better than trying to cure it if it escalates.
Of course I'm no expert and others here may have entirely different ideas of what is happening, I just hope to give you one possibility and ideas of other things to look out for that might indicate what the problem is.
My guess would be that the 13 year old is starting to slow down a bit, and while the 10 year old isn't really wanting to fight for dominance they are seeing how far they can push it. Dominance 'fights' in cats can be very subtle, my 5 year old lad is very good at 'passive aggressive' behaviour, if I didn't know what to look for I would have said he was a 'wuss' as well. Blocking doorways is one of his most common tactics, but he will also rub up against my elderly cat, hard enough to almost knock her over. I also had an incident in the past, where I adopted a new cat, and she and one of my resident cats started a major dominance struggle. The only sign of it was that the litter trays stopped being used, or if they were they would stand in them and spray the wall behind the tray. I eventually returned the new cat to the charity she came from and my original cat settle down immediately, and I heard back from the rescue that the other cat happily used her litter tray once she was back with them, and was rehomed as an only cat.
I may be wrong, but just in case it is a change in pecking order going on, make sure you have plenty of litter trays (for a 3 cat household, the recommended number is 4 trays, plenty of water bowls scattered around the house, and if possible food bowls as well so no matter where a cat is another cat can not block them from getting to food, water or a litter tray.
I would also suggest closely watching them for any other signs of changes with in their soial structure. Making sure they are all happy and have escape routes if needed can prevent more serious issues down the line, it is one area where prevention is far better than trying to cure it if it escalates.
Of course I'm no expert and others here may have entirely different ideas of what is happening, I just hope to give you one possibility and ideas of other things to look out for that might indicate what the problem is.
Re: Cat mounting
Hi thanks for the response.
Yes all neutered.
None of what you mention seems applicable in my cats case. The 13 year old is definitely not slowing down, he’s very much the boss. The 10 year old has always been a little weird cat; I guy him at 5 weeks old after he was found in a garden. He absolutely does not block doors, food bowls etc. I’ve never had any issues; fed once a day and the food is eaten up, they all share the dog water bowl, they sleep together, all go out together. By the way, the 13 year old never reacts to the humping!
Yes all neutered.
None of what you mention seems applicable in my cats case. The 13 year old is definitely not slowing down, he’s very much the boss. The 10 year old has always been a little weird cat; I guy him at 5 weeks old after he was found in a garden. He absolutely does not block doors, food bowls etc. I’ve never had any issues; fed once a day and the food is eaten up, they all share the dog water bowl, they sleep together, all go out together. By the way, the 13 year old never reacts to the humping!