It seems that the domestication of dogs and cats has left them sexually frustrated. There is little outlet for their sexual urges. And for the male cat and dog these urges do exist even after neutering albeit in a reduced state. There is a similarity between dogs and cats here.
Many people have experienced perhaps embarrassing canine behaviour when their dog wants to hump their leg. Why did they do this when it’s pointless in terms of procreation? I am not embarrassed by my cat humping my arm.
Dogs, like cats, go through a period of socialisation when they are puppies of a certain age and cats are a kitten of a certain age.
For puppies the period lasts from the age of 4 to 12 weeks, and it is similar kittens. And for cats and dogs there are two species present in their lives: themselves and their human caregivers.
And because they are socialised to humans, they become in the words of Desmond Morris PhD “mental hybrids”. They are strongly attached to both species. They remain comfortable with both.
For dogs, the human world is pretty well matched to the dog world. Less so for cats but they adapt to the human lifestyle.
However, for that crucial part of the lives of dogs and cats; sex, there is a breakdown in the relationship.
The powerful inborn drive is still present. For dogs, the human does not carry the particular erotic fragrance that bitches carry which means that the humans in their world are simply members of the pack but never in a sexually receptive condition.
The same applies to full-time indoor cats. Indoor/outdoor cats will occasionally meet a unsterilised female so it can be different for them.
Because encounters with receptive females are rare or non-existent, sexual frustration builds up where, for dogs, any alternative is satisfactory including the leg of their owner and other objects such as cushions or bits of furniture.
And in my case, my cat regards my arm – when I’m sitting in an armchair wearing a certain dressing gown – as a highly suitable object with which to mate. And in the video below, you see a cat mating with bedclothes. Same difference.
Note: sometimes embedded videos stop working or malfunction, something I cannot, regrettably control.
No doubt the cat chose the bed clothes because they smelled of their owner, so they thought that they are mating with their owner, an animal that they consider to be of an acceptable species (perhaps the same species). The drive to do this is instinctive and therefore they don’t rationalise the situation and say that this is an inanimate object.
The bed clothes or my dressing gown become an outlet for those sexual frustrations. In households where there are dogs and cats, it is not unheard of for sexually frustrated dogs to mate with cats, but it normally happens if they grew up together as puppies and kittens.
A puppy raised with a kitten will consider the kitten as one of his species. So, dogs can have a triple attachment to other dogs, humans and cats to whom they are socialised.
Dr. Morris says that if a puppy is removed from its mother before its eyes and ears open at say only a week of age and hand reared in isolation from other dogs, they will always be shy with other dogs in later life.
It is essential to socialise puppies to humans to avoid them becoming anxious and unfriendly with people in later life. For cats the same process produces wild cats (almost) as the wild cat within is just below the surface.
The tomcat with the smelliest urine attracts the most females for mating
