# 1.5 year old cat trying to mate with 3 month old kitten?



## cal4ever0407 (May 17, 2005)

Our cat, Brutus, has been acting a bit strange lately. As mentioned in another post, his penis was sticking out one morning while I was petting him. When I stopped petting him, he licked himself down there and began to drag his butt across the floor.

Yesterday, 2 odd things happened. First, I heard a strange meow that I hadn't heard before. I ran over to see what was going on and Brutus was on top of our 3 month old kitten, biting her around the neck area. I can't remember if our kitten (Kit) was on her back or belly. Anyway, Kit was meowing in pain (I think, I'm not sure if it was in pain). As soon as I got there, they broke up whatever it was they were doing. A few moments later, when Kit walked by Brutus, Brutus made an annoyed sound and Kit ran away. After that, everything between the 2 of them seemed normal.

Later that day I saw Brutus drag his butt accross the floor again. It was very brief and there wasn't any discharge.

Now, tonight, we saw Brutus biting Kit around the neck area again, just like the other day. Brutus made that strange meow again and Kit meowed, seemingly in pain. At first we thought they were just playing but the way Brutus was meowing/breathing made it seem like he was biting too hard. So we broke them up. However, Brutus then began to drag his butt across the floor again, then licked himself in his genital area.

Putting the pieces together, it almost seems as if Brutus is trying to mate with Kit. Is this at all possible? From what I understand, Kit hasn't even reached sexual maturity yet. In addition, both cats are fixed. They have a very good relationship with each other - Kit adores Brutus, often going up to him and headbutting him, and Brutus grooms her. Kit does sometimes annoy Brutus by playing with his tail, but he generally does nothing more than make an annoyed sound. Brutus is a very gentle cat who hasn't once scratched or bited us. 

Is there any explanation for Brutus' biting of Kit? Or for his butt-dragging? I know that butt-dragging can mean problems with the anal gland, but the fact that we twice saw him do it when he appeared to be turned on makes us think he was getting himself off.

Sorry for the long post.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

You'll need to do a search on aggression and mounting behavior.
It is mentioned in this article
http://petplace.netscape.com/articles/a ... artID=3498
but the information is really not enough.

If necessary, ask your vet to give you the name of a good behaviorist. You can get answers and directions just by talking to the person on the phone.


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## cal4ever0407 (May 17, 2005)

Well, I did some research on the net. This behavior appears to be normal. In fact, Brutus tried to mount Kit again this morning! I let it go on a little longer just so I could be sure. Kit was laying on her belly, and Brutus bit her around the neck area. She yelped in pain, and Brutus swung around to behind her in order to mount her. At that point I broke them up.

It seems like Brutus only does this about once a day at most, in the morning. I'm beginning to wonder whether I should separate them when I go to work.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

> This behavior appears to be normal.


It's neither normal nor desirable. Aggression and dominance never are.
Since there is no way to keep an eye on them all the time, you might want to separate them until you can stop the behavior with play therapy. That shouldn't take more than a few weeks at the most.
For information you can read books from Pam Johnson Bennett, and Is Your Cat Crazy? by John C. Wright Ph.D. 



> Brutus bit her around the neck area. She yelped in pain, and Brutus swung around to behind her in order to mount her


. 

This is aggression plain and simple. It isn't fair to the other cat to allow it to go on for even one more day. Play therapy works beautifully on all kinds of aggression, start doing it today. And always intervene with play therapy when one cat is acting aggressively toward the other. It's the best medicine for aggressive behavior.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

One more thing. The behavior you describe is a form of control behavior in cats. 

And an important question. Did Brutus have two perfectly normal, _descended_ testicles before he was neutered?


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## cal4ever0407 (May 17, 2005)

I have no idea about Brutus testes pre-neutering. We adopted him at 1.5 years old and we've had him for about a month and a half now. All we know is that he was neutered.

I might keep the cats separated during the morning when I go back to work. The strange thing is that outside of this behavior, the 2 cats seem to enjoy each other's company.

Thinking about it now, I think Brutus might be a bit stressed. We've recently begun to switch him to an all wet-food diet with set meal times. We previously free-fed him during the day and gave him wet food for dinner (which he often barely touched). He may be a bit stressed from that, and it doesn't help that Kit gets food whenever she wants! Anyway, I'll make sure to give Brutus more vigourous play sessions.


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