Do Cats Mate For Life?

​While some will say that cats cannot be considered ‘romantic’ animals especially with how independent they are in nature, they are certainly affectionate and can grow a close attachment not just with their human owner, but also with other cats.

Cats are also known to mate fairly frequently compared to many other animals, but are they as faithful to one partner?

​Or are cats a little more mischievous than we once thought? We’ve taken a look into this long pondered question to get to the bottom of if cats mate for life, or if a one night stand is more their style.

​Will A Cat Mate For Life If They Find The Right Partner?

​As nice as it would be to imagine cats having a romantic partner to grow old together and have kids with, unfortunately the reality is that cats do not mate for life and instead will breed numerous times with different partners. 

While many species of birds are monogamous and will seek out a partner for life, the majority of mammals are not with only a handful of species finding the right partner to mate with for the majority of their life. 

During a mating season or heat cycle, female cats will be sired by multiple males during this period which is why a litter of kittens will often have various fathers. 

In fact, cats will usually wander off and potentially never see each other again after mating and the male will provide no support for the kittens when they are born or during the period where the female is pregnant.

​Both cats have also been known to fight right after mating, as if it couldn't get any less romantic. 

 If you’ve ever heard the expression ‘Out catting around’ it refers to the behavior of cats who love to find a mate when it’s the right time of year to mate and never see again, so unfortunately there will be no stories of cats finding their long lost love any time soon. 

​Why Cats Won’t Stay With A Partner?

​The main reason cats will part ways almost immediately after mating in most scenarios is because they simply will have no emotional attachment to others after mating.

For cats, sex is distressingly hormonal, and it actually goes against their regular behaviours and typical nature.

Cats are known for being hostile or at least not very friendly with cats that they don’t know, and usually if it's a feline they haven’t grown up with from birth who they haven’t been forced to live with by their owner, they usually won’t get along with any cats at all.

This is why getting to the point of mating and being so personal with another cat can be out of character for them, so they won’t choose to stay around and will prefer to split and live on their own.

Cats also prefer to live solo simply because they don’t have a social survival strategy or pack mentality such as wolves for example who will arrange themselves in big groups and value loyalty and bonds.

​In contrast, cats are far more territorial and like to be alone a lot of the time, however if they spend too much time away from seeing other cats or if they are alone as a kitten, this can cause them to become upset from being too lonely on some occasions. 

​How Do Cats Find A Mating Partner?

​When a female or male cat is ready to mate, they will let out a high pitched noise known as caterwauling.

At first this noise can be quite alarming, like an unusually loud meow that sounds as if the cat is in distress or pain, however it is the most common way for cats to attract a mate, especially the females.

Once a female cat's callings catch the attention of a male, he will approach the female and begin slowly circling around her.

​Other signs that both cats are about to mate is if they are rubbing their heads against their fur or are carefully patting the head of the other. 

​Will Cats Stay With A Partner For Any Period Of Time?

​While cats will not maintain a romantic partnership with one another after mating, they can stay around each other for a few hours to a few days to keep mating, this is especially common when a cat is in heat or going through puberty. 

Both cats will often mate several times during these periods and can even mate with the same partner up to 20 times in a day, however this can also be with multiple other cats throughout the day.

A common occurrence that many female cat owners come across however is when a male cat is continuously roaming around the female to mate again but the female is tired or not really in the mood.

​When this is the case, she will often entirely ignore the male or will even flatten their body on their side to signal that they don’t want to be mounted. 

​How Many Mating Partners Do Cats Have?

​While it’s impossible to know exactly how many mating partners a cat will have throughout their very secret love life, it is know that in the mating seasons female cats can mate with anywhere up to 50 tomcats, who are sexually mature unsterilized males. 

This is of course until the cat gets pregnant as it is not guaranteed they will get pregnant each time they mate, cats will instead usually mate with multiple cats over a few days when in heat or mating season and are then most likely to become pregnant.

​Summary 

​While we can often see cats as the independent loner animals that prefer their own company most of the time, this is also the case when it comes to partners so while cats will certainly mate a lot throughout their life, it is never with the same partner so don’t expect any cat equivalent of Romeo & Juliet.