Butt in the air while being pet & other odd behavior (kittens, male)

[Miss J 74]

What is this? I noticed not every cat does this, and even the cats that do this don't do it all the time. But this is now the 2nd or 3rd cat I've had that while petting, while throw their butt in the air. On top of this, they seem to like this area right before the tail scratched.

Is it just a sensitive area? Or does it have some meaning?

On top of this, even though my cat is fixed, there are times I wonder if he is still being a horndog. There are times it seems like he is trying to "mount" some part of my body, and then he will proceed to lick himself there. It's bugging me out!

[lottamoxie]

My cat does this, as do many cats. A google search quickly netted 2 answers:

1. The behavior harks back to the cats' kitten days when they couldn't pee or poo unless their mother stimulated those actions by licking their urogenital area. Most cat behaviors are kittenish since, once we spay or neuter them, they are in effect perpetual kittens.

2. It's a sexual stimulation thing. When cats mate the male will push on the females back/bottom to get them to put their butt up in the air, arch their back, etc. It's an automatic reaction and response to liking the feeling.

[luvmycat]

My mom's cat does this, too...and then he'll literally stick his big 'ole butt in the petting person's face .
But since he's male, the butt-in-the-face thing is a bit perplexing....

[Tracysherm]

Several of our cats have done the high-butt thing. They could be sound asleep and you start petting them at the head and by the time you get to the butt, it's way up in the air. George Carlin actually did part of his act about this phenomenon in the 70s!

[lovecda]

My (current) cat doesn't always respond by putting his butt in the air, but he does it fairly regularly. My previous cat on the other hand, she couldn't resist it no matter what her mood or what she was doing. Pet her right at the base of her tail and her tail would go perpendicular to the floor and her hiney would raise right up 100% of the time. It was hilarious.

As for cat rear in the face...I don't know, but my cat does that to me all the time. I've started to think it's because he realizes that my hands are closer to my abdomen, so if I'm laying down and he climbs up on me, he puts his face as close to where he thinks my hands should be so I'll give him chin scratches. Either that or he's very proud of his hindquarters and wants to make sure I see that region regularly.

[jasper12]

Jasper does that all time! Like I want a cat butt in my face! He purrs and kneads at the same time! Kitty a hole breakfast! Nice thing to wake up to in the morning! NOT!

[=Lavender=]

cat sounds anal .......... just joking I notice a lot of cats do it and think its just something that stimulates and feels good to them.. and maybe their way of telling you to keep petting that area.

[thatdurncat13]

Most of my cats do the same thing. And yes, the spot right at the base of the tail is where they really like to be scratched.

[Ohiogirl81]

I get big purrs and head butts when I'm scratching the base of the tail. They love it, especially Cookie, who will twist her tail into all kinds of interesting formations while I'm scratching her.

[Kittymom4]

This site has some really interesting Why does my cat.... answers CatStuff: Why does a cat do that?

Cats have a lot of nerves running along the spine and there is a gland at the base of the tail called the caudel gland. It's stimulated in females in breeding. Some cats don't mind being petting there - you get the "elevator butt" or chirping or licking, others are very sensitive and will smack at you.

Three of my four seem to like it, one could care less My two females especially like to be pet near the base of the tail on the rump.