Is It Normal for Cats to Hump?
What’s the reason behind this bizarre behavior?
My cat Yoshi was a humper. I adopted him when he was a year old and he was neutered before he left the shelter. A year later, after we moved in with my sister, the “humpies,” as we called them, began.
They never lasted long. Maybe 15 seconds? Certainly never more than 30.
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His mount of choice? My or my sister’s foot as it lay under the covers. He usually did this while we were reading or messing around on our laptops in bed, but it sometimes happened on the couch too.
We worried that stopping him would cause distress, so, at first, we just hid our faces behind whatever we were holding and waited for it to end.
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But that wasn’t enough for Yoshi. He didn’t just want our comforter-covered foot mounds. He would groan and wriggle from side to side as if trying to see us around whatever we were holding. It wasn’t enough to hump us. He wanted eye contact!
Once we gave it to him, the humpies usually ended a few thrusts later, at which point he would usually approach for a cuddle. A little post-coital spooning, we would joke awkwardly.
My sister and I grew up with cats — a ginger tabby named Sophie and a tuxedo named Fremont — but neither of them were humpers. Certainly not Sophie. (Can female cats even be humpers? More on that later.) And while Fremont had a stuffed bear he enjoyed wrestling with, I never saw him mount Snuffles, let alone someone’s blanket-laden foot mound.
All of which made me wonder: was what Yoshi was doing normal? Was it sexual? And why was it happening after Yoshi was neutered?
Is cat humping normal?
Cats are mammals and mammals hump. The behavior is not nearly as common in cats as it is in dogs, but it certainly happens.
“Some cats hump,” says feline behavior specialist Jennifer Van de Kieft of Cat-Advocate.comopens in new tab, “though I've only heard of male cats humping, not female cats.”
Humping is not necessarily a gendered activity, though.
“It does happen,” says Dr. Nathaniel Rakestraw, a veterinarian at TelaVets.comopens in new tab. “It’s most often seen in intact male cats, though neutered males and female cats can also hump. It’s just less frequent overall.”
Frequent or not, though, both Van de Kieft and Dr. Rakestraw agree: It’s nothing to freak out over. It’s also not necessarily something to simply ignore.
Is it sexual? Are they… enjoying it?
“For intact male cats, humping can be related to mating behavior,” says Dr. Rakestraw. “However, cats may also hump blankets, toys, or other pets due to stress, [in an effort to] redirected energy, or [out of] habit.”
And no, they are not having orgasms. “Cats are not having orgasms during non-mating humping behaviors,” says Dr. Rakestraw. “When humping is directed at objects, it’s typically behavioral rather than sexual.”
My sister and I always wondered about this because Yoshi would occasionally leave a little wet spot behind when he was done making his humpies. But only occasionally and only a few very watery drops at most, which makes me think it was more likely a little leftover pee than feline ejaculate.
That said, he wouldn’t have engaged in this behavior if it didn’t feel good in some way.
“For neutered male cats in particular, it might be more of a self-soothing behavior,” says Van de Kieft. “Even though they are neutered, it can still feel pleasurable. It might be normal behavior for your cat, but it can also indicate that your cat is feeling stressed, in pain, or bored.”
So, yes, humping can feel good, but probably not in a sexual way, unless the recipient of said humping is a female cat in heat. It can also be a sign that something is off. When it comes to cat behavior, it’s all about context and nuance.
What is the point of neutering?
First and foremost, neutering for males (and spaying for females) stops them from being able to reproduce, which is a good thing. There are more than enough cats in the world. And I say that as a lifelong cat lover. Unspayed females can have upwards of 100 kittens in their lifetime and as far as how many females a randy tomcat can impregnate, well, to borrow a phrase from Mean Girls: the limit does not exist.
Removal of the reproductive organs also has an impact on behavior.
“Removing the testicles significantly lowers testosterone levels,” says Dr. Rakestraw. “Spaying female cats removes the ovaries and uterus, and stops heat cycles.”
“Reducing the hormones related to reproduction, especially in males, in turn reduces aggressive behavior, spraying, and roaming,” adds Van de Kieft.
In fact, these procedures often have a much more powerful effect on cats than they do on dogs, especially when it comes to humping.
“Hormones play a bigger role in humping behaviors in cats than they do in dogs,” says Dr. Rakestraw. “Neutering intact male cats frequently reduces or completely resolves humping when hormones are the underlying cause.”
When your cat was neutered also matters. “The earlier a cat was neutered, the less likely they are to exhibit humping behaviors,” says Van de Kieft.
A cat neutered later in life may have already rehearsed mating behaviors long enough for them to become ingrained. Hormones may initiate the behavior, but habit can keep it going long after the hormones are gone. And no surgery is guaranteed to eliminate the behavior altogether.
Years after he was neutered, Yoshi had to have most of his penis amputated due to blockages in his urethra. Once he was fully healed, the humpies resumed. They were a habit at that point. Just part of how he existed in the world.
When humping is not hormonal: stress, boredom, and self-soothing
“If a cat is humping frequently, it may point to stress, boredom, environmental changes, or lack of enrichment,” says Dr. Rakestraw.
If your cat only started humping recently, the first thing to do is take them to the vet. “A veterinary checkup is warranted for any new concerning behavior to rule out medical issues and pain,” says Van de Kieft.
This is especially true if the behavior is frequent or paired with other behavior changes like hiding, aggression, or appetite shifts. Don’t assume your cat is “just being weird.” Cats often mask pain, so a behavior change may be your only clue.
Cats don’t have endless coping tools. If they don’t have appropriate outlets, they improvise.
Sometimes that improvisation involves a throw pillow.
Should you let them “finish”?
“There’s really no benefit to letting the behavior continue,” says Dr. Rakestraw. “If a cat is humping frequently, it may point to stress, boredom, environmental changes, or lack of enrichment. Interrupting the behavior and addressing the underlying cause is the best approach.”
That said, some cats just like to hump and doing so isn’t bad for them, so occasional, short-lived humping in an otherwise healthy, enriched cat is fine.
“One of my five cats, Luke, humps,” says Van de Kieft. “He sometimes starts on my lap, which I don't appreciate. I gently push him off of my lap onto a blanket next to me where he finishes his humping action. This is a very short time, maybe under 30 seconds. Afterwards, he settles down. He's not hurting anyone and I've accepted this as part of his regular routine.”
Can you train a cat not to hump?
Training is possible, but behavior modification often revolves more around environment than obedience commands.
“I’m not sure if you can train them not to hump,” says Van de Kieft. “Nor would you necessarily want to, since the behavior itself gives you information about your cat.”
Instead of focusing on stopping the action, she recommends investigation.
If you’ve ruled out medical issues, “evaluate possible causes of stress and work on increasing enrichment such as daily playtime, vertical spaces, food puzzles, and trick training for fun,” says Van de Kieft. “And, if you see your cat humping, you can try to redirect him with another activity such as play.”
Don’t punish or scold your cat — it literally never works anyway and can damage your relationship with them. Recognize that humping releases energy. So redirect their attention and give your cat a different way to burn off that extra fuel.
Or just learn to live with it. If your cat is otherwise healthy, eating well, playful, and the behavior is brief and occasional, it may simply be a quirk. And every cat parent knows: quirks are part of the package.
