Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. I just stumbled upon this forum while trying to search about my cat's strange behavior. And the forum seems very helpful.

My cat Simon is going to be 2 years old next month. He is a male, neutered, Siamese mix. Very playful.

My husband and I just moved and we are using a different blanket as our bedspread. It is very fuzzy, and Simon just loves it. Every night, he would jump on the bed, and do the "paw thing" as we call it (kneading) on the blanket and purring loudly.

Now Simon has this toy. It was a useless plush cat toy that he hated until we tied a bell to it. Now he just loves it. Here's where the strange behavior part comes in.

Starting a couple of days ago, Simon has jumped up on the bedspread while we are in bed, with that toy in his mouth. He starts kneading. At the same time, he stiffens up his butt, and his tail looks funny. He finds a human leg to stand on, then he seems like he is dancing on it. He stands on our leg (which is underneath the blanket) and just moves his back feet back and forth very fast. At first I thought he was trying to hump. But if he is, he doesn't know what he's doing, because basically he just perches on our leg, and moves his hind feet back and forth while he is kneading with his front. He will do it for a long time, and if you touch him, he will meow as though he is very annoyed, and try to bite.

This morning he did it several times, but he is smart, so all I had to do was say "no!" and he meowed and jumped down. But he keeps trying to do it.

Please note. This is not his normal kneading behavior. Is it sexual behavior?

It sounds more like some sort of comforting behavior since he seems to like to chew on the toy and also seems to love the fuzzy blanket. It is hard to tell, however exactly what is giving him pleasure! Obviously he has found something that "feels good" somewhere, even if only mentally.

If it bothers you, continue to say "no" and hopefully he'll stop as he did before.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

I'm wondering if it's a spraying behavior. Males have a tendency to act like they're spraying, but don't actualy spray. Does he kinda jerk his tail?

Recently I bought new balnkets for our living room and one side is like sherpa. Well, my Bengal does this strange thing, like your cat. He starts kneading the blanket and then while he kneads with his front feet he stiffens his butt and he jerks his hind end along with a tail switch every few seconds or so. He's not squatting or does not appear to be humping the blanekt, but it sure looks strange. Eventually he settles down to sleep...his health is fine, but I'm beginning to question his mental health, HAHA!

The other day, he did this "humping" to a stuffed cat with the zebra toy in his mouth.
I wanted to see if it was the blanket,cat, or the zebra toy, so I took the toy away and he did not hump anything for 3 days (or whatever it is he's doing). Then as a test I gave it back to him and he immediately starting humping the blanket again.

It sure doesn't look like humping though. Maybe he's just not very graceful.

hi-i am new to the site, i was actually surfing for some knowledge of this very behavior when i stumbled upon this site and your post. my cat, nisha(a stray, appeared out of nowhere this past halloween, first cat ever, thought he was a she hence the name) does the same thing, although he does it with both front and back paws. constantly. then he will stand on me and do the same thing-if i try to move myself or him, he gives me this look that i cannot describe, and then he takes a bite of my shirt and doesn't let go. it's certainly not out of malice or anger, but i can't quite figure out what it means....i admit i don't really know much about cats. he acts like i am interrupting him, even though he's the one who came to do this on my lap! have you been able to find any more information regarding this 'strange bed behavior'? it seems we have a similar problem and i am just as curious about it. thanks a lot.