Humping in neutered males

I have 5 cats, 3 females and 2 males, all fixed. Well the most recent addition Sam has this pretty disturbing habit of mounting and humping blankets, clothes and sometimes our legs under the sheets. He purrs really loudly when he does this and its really quite disturbing. However I was able to tolerate it because Sam is a very stressed out kitty(he used to live in a bigger cat household and was the scape-goat for all the other cats), and I figured maybe it was his way of relieving stress. Well just recent my other boy cat, my little baby 'son' as I call him, Jinx, has started to hump too, and even play kinda rough with his sister. I am really distressed by this because it is bad behavior and I dont want my baby boy becoming a perv like Sam. Now Jinx is still in the stage where he looks really confused when he does it. Sam just does it and if you try and stop him he bites. I really need help...what can I do to stop this!?!

It sounds like normal dominance behavior.
In Sam's case, he was probably the lowest on the ladder in his previous home and is now acting out his dominance, and your other male is acting his out to keep from getting displaced from his current level.

Sam though is doing it to some inappropriate things.
I would try to redirect him to a stuffed toy whenever he mounts anything other than a cat.

Other than his inappropriate targets, this is all very, very normal behavior in a multicat situation, females will even mount their subordinates.

My two boys do this all the time too...And I think Fatty taught Spliff this behavior back when Spliff was still a kitten.

But as far as I can say, it's a normal behavior in fixed cats, same as you would see in dogs.

Maybe try making loud noises when he humps instead of trying to stop him with your hands to avoid biting? Clap your hands or shake a can with some pennies...that may help stop him in the act!

Originally Posted by Jezah

I am really distressed by this because it is bad
behavior and I dont want my baby boy becoming a perv like Sam.

Click to expand...

I don't think it's bad behavior Jake still humps my socks...He is also neutered. He started this before he was neutered though...He was neutered at 3 months and is now 5 months old. But what you describe is exactly like it- he will purr extremely loudly enough to wake me up. He also does this thing with his front paws- kind of like sharpening his claws except for not using the claws just the same motion with his front paws while he humps. It's annoying because he will come up on my bed at night and do this..he used to get on top of me like on my back and do the annoying thing with his front paws and I was going crazy because I would want to sleep but it's impossible if he does this...But he stopped that thank god. I used to think he wanted attention because I read that could be a reason for humping- but if I even attempt to touch him while he does this he will complain with a firm growling type of low meow. I guess Jake is frustrated that he can't dominate over us humans ....(he is the only cat)