Male cat lightly bites neck. Mating?

Hi, We have a wonderful 3 year-old male cat (neutered) who is probably the sweetest cat we've ever known. Recently he has started a new behavior that has us baffled.

His normal routine when we get into bed is to hop up and 'make biscuits' or 'knead dough' then curl up and sleep. Recently, he starts making biscuits and then stands on one of our legs with his hind feet and performs little kicks. The first 2 times he did this, he then came up to my girlfriend and lightly bit her neck (it didn't hurt). When he does this with me, he remains at my feet; kneading, kicking and biting the blanket.

If we try to touch him he give a little cry that resembles his annoyed cry (i.e. "you've been holding me too long! Put me down!").

Is this some kind of mating behavior? It's somewhat disturbing and we have waffled on exactly what to do. For two years he has been kneading w/ no other incidents...so I don't want to stop him from doing that...it makes him very happy! Do we punish him? Will he understand the difference between regular kneading and this new behavior?

Thanks for any help!!

The Henri Household

Definitely left-over instinct mating behaviour. Maybe your girlfriend could wear a scarf at night for a while ! Lots of neutered male cats still want to have some fun, and will try everything from bedding to arms-on-armrests (my Plato) to stuffed toys to go through the motions, but gentle discouragement is the way to go I guess, unless you can find something for him to play with that won't wake up your sig. other.

Our other cat loved our daughter's teddy bear and spent many a night with it.