Toby goes courting!

[Hippykitty]

When she was a little younger Polly regularly cavorted with the local toms and was seen actually mating. She had been spayed but the toms were entire.

I came to the conclusion that she was carrying on the pattern of the first 6years of her life, which she spent as an unspayed feral, bearing litter after litter. I think she became accustomed to the pattern of mating and kittening. She's now 21 and spends most of her time sleeping or chasing Samantha.

Maybe cats do it for pleasure as well as procreation. The toms certainly weren't put off by the fact that Polly wasn't producing in heat signals and scents - they just liked her willingness (sounds like men really  ).

Samantha, on the other hand, had one litter of kittens which she got caught for on what must have been her first heat. She was very young when I took her from the cat home, where she had been taken pregnant, found on the street. She hasn't shown any interest in mating; she used to hiss at any toms who came into the garden.

It doesn't surprise me to hear about mating neuters. Maybe they are carrying on a version of the mounting which litter mates do for practise?

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Ooh, err! 

I know that with dogs that kind of behaviour is more to do with dominence. Dunno whether the same can be said of cats.

Mind you, when Jumpy was around two, he started humping MY leg!  The vet said he'd grow out of it, and sure enough he did - about 3 years later.   

Monkeys do the 'natural thing' for mere pleasure.... maybe cats do as well?

Jx

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I think he knows she had a red card day and is making a big fuss over his special girl 

[Reynard]

You just wouldn't believe what Toby did yesterday and again this afternoon...

I swear he spent the mornings getting himself all spruced up, and then he went out courting Pearl!!!

It caught me by total surprise (don't worry, they've both had the necessaries done) when he started washing her all over and then well...  OK, almost as he did stop short. But you get the picture. No idea why he'd tried to do that - any one got any clues? I just tell myself it's because he loves his girl.

Funny thing was, they were both purring themselves silly and no punches were thrown. All that was missing was the violin music and the red roses... Totally, totally bizarre... 

On a serious note, both have been neutered for quite some time - Toby is eleven and was neutered at two years of age and Pearl is three and a half and was spayed at 18 months. It's the first time they've done this (Pearl and Toby have been together for just shy of two years) as usually Pearl only tolerates a small amount of grooming from Toby before getting up and walking away.