My neutered cat humps the air when playing. Is this concerning?

Hello, & yes, this may be normal behavior for a young neutered cat. In most cases it is an appeasing behavior, or attention seeking. If when Duncan does this & it helps him settle, & he is doing no damage to himself, toys or the environment, then let him be. He may need more enrichment & toys to occupy him, using food toys are a good idea. Most cats quit within a few minutes. Do not punish him or take toys away as this may make the behavior worse. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hello. Not embarrassing, especially to a veterinarian. Yes, stress could be a trigger. You might want to try a calming pheromone in your room called Feliway, & if Kiski is not to be used for breeding, do consider having him neutered. This will not change his loving, happy disposition, but may help if this is partially caused by his sexual needs. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Cats can exhibit mounting behavior of other cats and objects like pillows. The behavior is generally benign (there is not penetration) unless one cat bites the back of the neck too hard (this could break the skin an cause an abscess). Most cats will not tolerate this and will let the other cat know. Certainly stop the behavior is one cat is being bullied or there is a risk of physical harm. Some play behavior can also look like mounting (with mouthing, climbing on the other cat) but it's just wrestling. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

It's hard to say just based on reading a description. "Air humping" is something that many dogs do when they are excited (thats any form of excitement, it's not always sexual in nature). Dogs can also learn behavior by watching, following or being exposed to it from other dogs. Pets can have focal seizures and unfortunately, they can look like anything. One key though to tell the difference is that when a pet is having a seizure, their mentation is generally alerted. Meaning you call Walter's name and he seems significantly less responsive or out of it. It's because the brain is firing out of sync. When in doubt, I always advise clients to record the episode and also try to get the pet's attention while the episode is occurring. It helps to vet a lot to be able to actually see things happening and watch the response. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Male cats will tend to do this behavior if they have not been neutered. If your cat has been neutered I would check with the vet who performed the surgery to ensure that both testicles were retrieved at the time of the surgery and that your cat does not have a retained testicle or is what we call a cryptorchid. Some cats fail to descend a testicle and it remains in the abdominal cavity. One of the signs that this has happened is latent "sexual activity such as "masturbation activity" such as your cat is doing. Not all cats who do this have retained testicles, but it can often be the case. If you and your vet know for 100% certainty that he had both testicles removed, then this may just be a behavior that your cat does. Your vet may have some suggestions to dissuade your cat from doing this, but it is generally nothing harmful and the cat is just acting out, will finish and there is nothing else to it. If the cat did retain a testicle, the vet can go in surgically to remove it. It is important to remove the retained testicles because they can become cancerous. I myself have a cat who does this (he had both his jewels removed successfully) so we just call it making "dirty biscuits". There really is no reason for his behavior, he just does it... But I made sure that there was no medical reason first! :) Usually I have a nice water bottle on hand and that seems to work great :)

Male cats that are neutered after they reach sexual maturity are more likely to continue to exhibit behaviors that were caused by testosterone even after they are neutered. These behaviors can include urine marking and humping types of behaviors. That is one of the reasons that we recommend neutering before sexual maturity. If the shelter neutered him before you adopted him, then I would not doubt that he is neutered, but you certainly can have your veterinarian examine him just to be on the safe side. Cats that have testosterone in their system will have physical characteristics that your veterinarian will be able to determine on exam. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! The cause of this behavior is of course unclear. However, a behavior of this kind is often times a display of trying to show dominance. There is a product called Feliway that can help tremendously in these cases. You may find that online or at your local pet store. Good luck and have a great day!