I had always thought my love for my cat was unconditional until I was scraped by his penis. After staring at my burning forearm for a while, I decided I must have had suffered a hallucination. I just couldn’t believe it.
I rushed to my laptop, raring to unravel every mistery about this little monster. And this is what I learned:
What are the barbs?
The male’s penis is barbed with more than a hundred tiny hooks, made of keratin, a tough fibers protein normally found in nails and claws. As the male withdraws, the hooks scrape the walls of the vagina.
Why Is a Male Cat's Penis Barbed?
Male kittens are not born with barbed penises. Mar Vista Animal Medical Center, a veterinary clinic in California, says that cats reach puberty when they are about 6 months old. The barbs develop on the penis at this point because their purpose is to aid in reproduction.
1. They help scratch out any competing sperms from previous mating;
2. They also induce ovulation - the pain from scraping stimulates the female’s brain. In response, it releases a specific hormone, which triggers the eggs to begin maturing;
3. They keep the female cat from escaping before mating is complete. She may attempt to flee because cats are more likely to be loners than dogs and resent the intrusion to some point. Mating is also painful for female cats, both because of the barbs themselves and because the male cat begins by biting the back of the female's neck.
Needless to say, his right of free access to my bedroom has been permanently deprived. I really wish I could unlearn this fact.
(He now cuddles with my dog most time of the day)
Sources:
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