Male cat sexual problem

Question
Hello,

Just after the new year began one of my cats, Ollie, reached 6 months old and seemed fully developed sexually, and about two weeks into January i woke up to him clamped onto my leg doing a humping action. I pulled him off not knowing what to think and shut him out my room, as i also have his 6 month old sister sleeping in my room too, even though she is yet to become sexually mature and have a season. A week later he started to do this action with my comforter and got aggressive when i tried to pull him off, so i had to shut him out again. After that he has been doing it every night with either my comforter or leg. I have two female cats, one is his sister, who i have said before is yet to reach sexual maturity, and the other is his mother who is a nursing queen at the moment and so she is also not having seasons, so i cant think of any other reason he would soully do this to my leg and comforter, for he doesnt do it during the day or on anyone else. We have also had two male cats, one unrelated who was neutured just after 6 months old and he never displayed this action, and the other his father who was recently neutured about three weeks ago, and even after fathering two litters he has never showed this behaviour either.

He has started to get extremely aggressive when i pull him off and the other night i woke up to him finishing his buisness on my blanket, so i know that he is definatly mature enough to impregnant his sister, and a couple days ago he pinned her down trying to have sex, but she flipped onto her back and started hissing and swiping at him before i shut him out. He is scedulled to get castraited tomorrow, but im just puzzled by what has brought on this behaivour, since there is no smell of female cat's heat and neither our other two males have behaved in this way.

Any explanation would be great, but id love to know if this behaviour will stop ones he is neutered, for id love to go a night without having Ollie getting amorous with my leg!
Thank you!

Answer
Hello Nichola,

This sexual related behaviour may not stop completely when he is castrated, but it should certainly calm it down alot. This type of mating behaviour is not just innate but also much of it is learned behaviour also. I feel that once a tom starts to display this form of behaviour for a period of time, even if he is then castrated he may still show a mild form of it because it has already been learned. A cat that has been castrated before he shows any sexual related behaviours is much more likely to not display these at all afterwards. You obviously spend alot of time with your younger and older females and therfore will be carrying their scent with you, including any scent you are bringing into the house from outside, this is one reason why he may be going for your leg. Another reason is because you are probably innadvertantly reinforcing his behaviour by giving him a reaction to the behaviour. He is attracted to the comforter because of the 'feel' of it and the fact it will smell of your female cats also. It is not unusual for males to choose items like these. There are many reasons as to why he is choosing to display this behaviour in the way he does but the fact is, he is an entire male and we will not be able to stop it. The most we can do in instances like this is firstly to re-direct him onto a game, toy or treat, anything that he likes. If you find him going for your leg or anything else simply grab a toy or a treat and re-direct his attention onto that.

In all honesty Nichola I think you'll find that having him castrated tomorrow will help an awful lot, that is why I am not giving you to much advice at the moment. Just give it a week or so after the operation and see how he goes. I would suggest using re-direction techniques in the meantime and keeping him away from your females.

See how he goes over the next week or two and let me know if the behaviour persists, if it does then I will give you some more in-depth advice and information, but I think it will not be a problem soon enough. And as for the aggression it is tied in with you trying to grab him off of you and other actions and physical behaviour you my display when attempting to stop him showing the behaviour, thats why I suggest re-directing him instead, and sexual related aggression like this is usually resolved by neutering anyway.

I hope this has helped a little and good luck over the next couple of weeks
Thank you

Kelly