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Cats Mating Reproduced
under creative commons © lotje
It doesn't look like the female is running the mating game, but she is. The male cat instinctively knows that if he sinks his teeth into the neck of the female she will be quiet. Quiet enough and for long enough to allow him to get the job done without getting a clip around the ear with her claws. He knows or instinctively understands that when cats are kittens they are carried in the mouths of their mothers. The mother sinks her teeth into the thick neck skin below the back of the head and picks up the kitten. We have all seen it. The mother cat carrying her kittens to safety by picking them up by the scruff of their necks, in her mouth. The kitten's reaction is to go utterly passive to allow the mother to do her job. This image is used by a Japanese courier company (Kuroneko, "Black cat") as a logo  Reproduced
under creative commons © slice
When the Tom does this during mating the female has the same in built reaction as she is temporarily transformed into a kitten again. Voila, job done. You may have picked up a cat this way yourself and seen the same result albeit for a brief moment. Although I wouldn't try it as an adult cat is much heavier than a kitten and the weight will be too much for the cat to be comfortable with. The Tom does this maneouvre not to pick up an adult female but to immobilise her temporarily. From Cats Mating to Cat Facts
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