In fact, apparent homosexual individuals are known from all of the traditional domestic species, from sheep, cattle and horses to cats, dogs and budgerigars.
Homosexuality In Other Species
Let’s start out by taking a broad look at homosexuality in non-human animals. For those who think homosexuality is unnatural, there are hundreds of species of animals that have demonstrated homosexual behaviors according to possibly my new favorite book, Biological Exuberance: Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by Bruce Bagemihl. Homosexuality has been observed in bighorn sheep, flamingos, gorillas, and whales among many, many others.
In fact, there’s an entire species of lizard that is all female. The whiptail lizard has only females and reproduces asexually. This has led to the nickname “lesbian lizards,” though “ace lizards” may be a bit more accurate.
The animal queerness doesn’t stop there! There are even trans animals out there. While the term “sex change” is a horribly outdated way of referring to a person undergoing gender-affirming care, some species will literally change their sex in certain situations. Again according to Biological Exuberance (seriously, go read it), some animals will change which gametes (sex cells used for reproduction) they produce or even fully change sex organs based on their environment or other factors.
In a similar vein, and before we return to cats, drag is a fairly widespread strategy used by a variety of animal species. Certain species can mimic individuals of a different sex entirely, or they can mimic members of that sex partially. Male garter snakes will make themselves smell like female garter snakes, leading to sexy times with other male snakes. Animals are not limited to drag based solely on appearance. To each their own, though, I believe that creating a Tinder profile would be a simpler way to accomplish that.
Though all of that is fascinating, cats are the topic of our discussion. Have we observed homosexual behavior among cats?.
Boy, have we ever! Cats big and little have been observed engaging in homosexual behaviors, although in some cases they may not be actual sexual behavior and instead are just affectionate behavior between friendly animals. Observations of homosexual behavior among house cats have even been documented in the scientific literature (Fox, 1965). While it is typically associated with unneutered male cats, it can be seen in neutered males as well.
Seldom have female cats been seen mounting other cats, according to Prescott (1970). To put this in perspective, when cats engage in this behavior, the female will perform a type of seductive cat dance in an attempt to attract the male and pose for a photo. The male cat will then leap onto the female’s back, bite her neck, and accomplish the task before the female cat swiftly ejects him. I don’t use the word “expelled” lightly either: As soon as a male finishes, female cats will turn fairly hostile toward him.
All of this is just a fancy way of saying that although females mounting other cats is highly uncommon and goes against what we would normally expect, it has been seen.
Speaking of mounting, unneutered male cats will attempt to mount just about anything, according to multiple sources and research on the subject of reproductive behavior in cats. This suggests that sexual frustration could be the reason behind cats’ potential for homosexual behavior. Male cats that had not undergone neutering were observed in an experiment conducted by Hagamen and colleagues in 1963 after being separated from female cats during heat and put in a room with furniture and rabbits. The male cats attempted to mate with inanimate objects as well as rabbits. It’s interesting to note that male cats were less likely to try to entice the furniture and rabbits when they had more, as the authors put it, “experience” with female cats in heat before this experiment.
Like with the rabbits in the Hagamen study, one explanation for cats acting homosexually could be that they are venting their sexual frustration. The idea that the cats are so eager to mate that, well, another male cat will do just fine is bolstered by observations in other species that show that when a population of a species has fewer females, the males will be more likely to try to mate with other males (Bonnet et al, 2016).
Nonetheless, Akihiro Yamane (2006) explores a few additional theories in their examination of their own studies on feral cats as to why male cats may be observed mating with other cats. One hypothesis that Yamane and colleagues (Michael, 1961) raised is that homosexual behavior might be related to territory. However, Yamane also suggests other theories, such as reducing the number of sexual encounters between competitors, practicing for future encounters, and mistaking a male cat for a female cat when it’s in heat. Their results suggest that while practice encounters and identity confusion are unlikely in the feral cat populations Yamane studied, there may be more convincing reasons for the other theories.
Do cats have gay sex?
Let’s not beat around the bush. This is the real question that many of you have.
Cats have needs, dammit, even though they aren’t as well-known as dogs for humping things like the furniture, your leg, or each other.
Those needs aren’t exactly the same as human needs. Because they are polyestrous, female cats experience heat e. become extremely aroused) for three to seven weeks at a time, multiple times a year.
Additionally, they use lordosis, or “presenting,” to demonstrate their desire for action by instinctively sticking their bits in the air.
And just like with people, it prepares them for all that satisfying rubbing against each other.
Sure, cats can have sex—we all know that—but what about gay sex?
It’s no surprise that like nearly all animals, yes, male cats (toms) have been observed mounting and even penetrating one other.
Additionally, it has been observed that female cats are becoming very friendly with one another, grooming, licking, and engaging in other activities. We won’t make any crude or overt jokes about ladybits using common slang terms, but it does happen.
If you don’t believe us, just do a quick search for “my gay cat” videos to see proof.
Bruce Bagemihl’s book Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity, which is essentially the bible of gay animals, contains accounts of domestic cats exhibiting homosexual behavior.
Actually, a survey of previous studies that was published in Trends in Ecology
Furthermore, regrettably, homophobes tolerate gay cats about as much as they tolerate gay people.
In 2014, a woman in Lafia, Nigeria gave up her cat of SEVEN YEARS because of its supposed “unnatural sexual behaviour”.
Bull, the cat, was reportedly snubbing the attention of the female cats and making passes at other toms.
Is it really “gay sex”? What other term would you use for non-babymaking sexual behavior between animals of different sexes, which is what everyone does?
What Heterosexual Behavior Can Tell Us
Whatever the rationale for the sex, cats’ reproductive methods are very different from human ones. Finding a large number of tomcats—unneutered male cats—to mate with is more common among female cats in heat. In actuality, there might be more than one father present in a litter.
This tactic might lessen male cats’ aggression toward the female’s kittens. Tomcats are less likely to try to kill the kittens in an effort to stop the female from concentrating her resources on kittens from another male because they might be their progeny.
It is uncommon for cats to form lifelong pair bonds due to this reproductive strategy, unlike many humans. Female cats are more likely to live in loose associations with other female cats, frequently those who are related to them, and to assist one another in raising their kittens. While some male cats may travel between colonies or remain in one place for an extended period of time, if there are several female cats in the area, they typically do not stay with one of them forever.
TL;DR: Cats are swingers.
This explains why the majority of research on cat behavior focuses on individual interactions and why I mentioned nothing about long-term, heterosexual cat pairings above. It is even less likely that we will witness homosexual pairings in cats since we wouldn’t anticipate seeing them in heterosexual cats. It’s not normal cat behavior, but that doesn’t mean it can’t or hasn’t happened.
I hope you have gained some knowledge about cat behavior by now, but before I go, I’d like to share one more thing that I think is crucial that I want you to remember from this blog.
The topic of cat social behavior and reproductive behavior is fairly complex, and as you probably noticed, it’s not always easy to translate ideas about human social behavior to cat behavior. Even observable same-sex sexual encounters between cats are hard to interpret because they might not always be the result of sexual attraction! It is very difficult for us to truly be able to label cats as having a particular sexual orientation!
When we categorize our cats as having a sexual orientation similar to our own, we are committing anthropomorphism. This idea has been covered by me in past blog entries, such as the one about whether or not cats are psychopaths (which they aren’t). Anthropomorphism is where we attribute human qualities to a non-human. It could be something as simple as thinking your cat is gay, or it could have more serious repercussions.
Many people believe that their cat is acting vindictively or as payback for something they did. In most cases, cats are just being cats. Your cat probably doesn’t think the same way you do about the behavior, whether it’s huuu, nibbling on your houseplant, or mounting whichever cat (or particularly attractive couch or rabbit) may be nearest.
You’ll spend a lot more time with your cat if you stop trying to understand them as tiny humans or dogs and instead look for explanations for their actions that make sense to humans. Additionally, you’ll be more adept at determining how to effectively deal with undesirable behaviors. Humans and cats both benefit from acknowledging and appreciating the distinctions between our species, much like everyone does when differences between people are celebrated.
If you’re looking for the book I fanboyed on this whole post or more information on this topic, Biological Exuberance or Homosexual Behavior in Animals are both a great read!
FAQ
How to tell if my cat is gay?
Can cats be Lgbtq?
Why are my two male cats trying to mate?
Can cats be attracted to humans?