Do neutered cats still get boners?

My cat likes damp bath towels

Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Do neutered cats still get boners? To some this is a rude question but if we answer it purely from a physiological viewpoint and scientifically it’s okay 🙂 . The answer is YES based on my personal experiences of observing my cat companion, Gabriel.

He’s neutered and to my slight embarrassment he likes to have sex on my left and right arm when I wear a grey fleece dressing gown. He favours my right arm.

After he has ‘done his thing’ he jumps off and sits on the floor ready to clean his willy. I therefore have a clear view of it and it is a boner at that time.

He takes about one to two minutes to lick it (and the surrounding area) clean and it retracts into him during this time.

The domestic cat’s penis is interesting because the cat can move it to a certain extent left and right or forwards and backwards like a finger.

It is quite a flexible piece of anatomy unlike that of the male human. There are muscles inside connected to nerves for the cat to control his penis like this.

As you almost certainly know, the domestic cat’s penis is barbed so that when it is withdrawn it stimulates the female to ovulate. It hurts her and she swipes at him and yowls.

Clearly removing the testes does not stop a cat having an erection. But there is no sperm. It seems that the hormone testosterone produced in the testes (now removed) is not the only trigger to a boner. An erection is the result of a “complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular, and endocrine factors…”. It must be these other factors which results in the successful erection. Testosterone is the primary sex hormone.

Although my cat likes to do his thing regularly it is entirely automatic and unthinking. It has to be because there is no chance of procreation doing it on my arm while being neutered

That’s about it on this subject. Anymore and it might get embarrassing or rude.

P.S. No comments from trolls please.

Gabriel

Gabriel – Gabs – Gabby

Useful tag. Click to see the articles: Cat behavior

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Michael Broad

Hi, I'm a 74-year-old retired solicitor (attorney in the US). Before qualifying I worked in many jobs including professional photography. I love nature, cats and all animals. I am concerned about their welfare. If you want to read more click here.

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19 Responses

  1. Selah says:

    My male and female cats are both fixed and they try to mate. He’s 7yrs and she’s 2yrs. He weighs 20lbs and is long legged, she’s 8lbs and short legged.
    They haven’t had any success in actual mating, yet. Least not that I’ve seen. She can’t hike her rear high enough and he can’t get low enough. I wish y’all could see how funny they are. They’ve tried other positions besides the normal one. On their sides and even on her back.
    I just let them do their thing but if I laugh he jumps off as if “caught”. So I try not to interrupt their fun.
    Lol!

    • I like your story and I like the way you let them get on with it. It is a bit of ‘fun’ for them – particularly him I suspect. It is deeply instinctive behavior. Removing the sex hormones does not stop them.

  2. Andrew says:

    I know this post is old but I have a pure bred Bengal, well 2 males. One of them gets boner every time I pet him and give him affection. Every single time. He was neutered along with his brother at around 5 months old.

  3. Zeek says:

    Hey! my 13 year old neutered cat does this as well, however not on my arm. Daily he gets a boner and humps fleece blankets, then licks his little pink boner. I don’t mind, except the creepy part is he prefers to do this close to humans while making eye contact with them and breathing heavily. He is the best behaved cat Ive ever had other than this weird behavior. Hey, no one’s perfect.

    • Frustration comes to mind. The sex drive is big for cats and the wild cat is just under the surface but no one to be the recipient. It is to be expected. Thanks for sharing and I am pleased someone else gets to see another version of this feline behavior. Some people are embarrassed by it. To me it is natural cat behavior.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Oh well. Nothing to add. Have never seen this.

  5. Annette says:

    To my horror, my newly adopted male cat had a big ole boner after prancing on my shoulder and arm awhile! I had no idea this could happen after being neutered! I have another male neutered cat who never gets boners.. I’ve seen him clean himself after he’s pranced around on my soft blankets then cleans himself afterwards.. no penis. He does do this wiggle every 2 seconds over and over! And something wet comes (lol) from both cats during their prancing rituals! What IS it?

  6. Shawn says:

    Do you let him finish?

  7. my penis is hurting because i had sex

  8. kitty says:

    My neutered male cat occasionally mounts my spayed female. He stays in the position for a few seconds, then she runs away.

  9. Ruth (Monty’s Mom) says:

    I never noticed this behavior from Monty, who was neutered very young. He will prance over his stuffed Doggie while biting his neck. I have seen video of feral cats doing this to other male cats to assert dominance.

    A female cat had been coming around and I thought perhaps he would be interested in her, but he was distressed by her presence, became very aggressive toward her and finally beat the snot out of her and she has not bothered him again.

    For Monty everything seems to be about protecting his territory. He seems completely unaware of sex. That’s ok. He’s my innocent little boy.

    • Michael Broad says:

      🙂 Although my cat likes to do his thing it is entirely automatic and unthinking. It has to be because there is no chance of procreation doing it on my arm while being neutered 😉 …Hope you are well.

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