Kneading?

[Matt D]

Hey guys, long time no talk.

We have a 2~3 year old rescue Male who is absolutely amazing. He is the perfect cat even though he acts much more like a dog. Lately he has been doing this weird behavior where, if I am sitting on the floor or on the couch, he will come up to me, purring, and bite my pants or shirt. He doesn't bite hard but when I try and move away he will whine loudly like he is so upset if I try and move away. He tries to straddle my leg but he doesn't hump from what I can tell. He is almost in a trance it seems and gets angry if I try and get away. He kicks his back feet a little but rarely does any sort of damage to anything it is almost like he is overly happy. Any ideas?

 

[WitchyWoman]

I'll defer to the breeders on this one but I can tell you that my males do this to each other to establish dominance, which may mean your time is up as head of the household

 

[Jacq]

I have a domestic that does this on the cat beds. It's like he's in a trance and kneads and kneads. He also kind of bucks his hips a little. Crazy.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I've not so much seen cats do this to each other (outside of breeding males with their female mates at the appropriate times!), but in all domestic cats this behavior can happen. I had a friend whose red domestic male was quite fixated on his teddy bear for what she called "sexy time" when he'd knead and hump and purr... he later transferred his "affections" to a faux fur blanket I'd bought her as a gift...

Does he have a nice fluffy blanket or large stuffed animal type thing available? Thinking it might be easier for you to transfer his interest to something other than your person!

 

[coco]

a friends bengal does this to me all the time, he has a particular toy that he only grabs when its about to happen, usually every time i see him

He will grab the toy then come towards me with it growling a little, then start to mount any part of my body and hump me, he really doesnt seem to know what hes doing tho and when i bat him off he just comes back like a zombie, hes neutered.......... its become a bit of a joke as he only does it to guys and the moment we see him with his giraffe toy everyone knows its going to happen:-(

 

[Matt D]

He doesn't have a stuffed animal. Do you think that would be a good idea for him to have?

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

As long as he is not a cat that destroys every toy he sees, then yes it might be good to give him something large enough that he could grab onto and "love" instead of you!

 

[Matt D]

It's weird, it isn't totally humping but from the sound of everyones comments it may be something similar. Well here's to it helping!

Also, is it okay to scold him to stop? I don't want to scold him for a natural behavior....

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

What do you mean "scold", are you shouting at him or just telling him "no" and pushing him away? I'd think the latter okay but much better if you can redirect him towards something that it IS okay to knead and purr away on...like a plush throw or a stuffed toy or whatever...

 

[Matt D]

Not yelling or pushing away. He was a bit of a door darter so I stood outside with the door cracked and sprayed him a few times with a squirt bottle. When he does something bad we shake the bottle full of water and he normally stops.