Suckling

Hello everyone;

My one cat has a wierd behaviour that he has had for ages. I really doesn't bother me and it's probably ingrained by now but I'm curious to know the reasoning. Two of my cats are brothers,one long hair one shorthair, both brought home from the litter at 8 weeks. They are now three years old. One day the long hair discovered that sneaking in under the covers and cuddling up to me was really cool. Then I heard this really weird sound and saw this cat suckling his tummy. He only does this under the covers. It's now an ingrained routine, wait for mom to climb into bed, hop on bed, climb under duvet,curl by my stomach and suckle..if I'm late to go to bed he will howl around me till I get a move on. I let him suckle for about a minute then stop him, he stays a while and then leaves . His brother has never dispalyed this behaviour. Should I be actively discouraging this??

Munchie

No don't discourage - this type of behavior usually manifests itself when the kittens are taken away too early from their mom. Now that you are his mom he does this because it makes him feel good and he gets a sense of comfort and well being from it.

All the best!!

My cat is nearly 2 years old. She was taken from her mom at 5 wks. At about 3 months of age she started a similar behavior which has persisted.

When I lie down in bed, often to read, she wants to lie on my chest & suck on a front paw. A couple of months ago she added a new wrinle - she stands on my chest & purrs & kneads on my chest for a couple of minutes before she lies down to suck her foot. Of course she purrs away while doing this sucking bit.

After several minutes of this she has to burp since she has been swallowing air!!

When I've tried to stop her from the sucking she seems so unhappy that I usually just let her do her thing as long as I can stand it. When she's ready to sleep she gets off my chest & lies down on the floor to sleep.

AAAWWW! I bet the paw sucking is so cute! I had a kitten that a friend found at work. He was maybe 5 weeks old when he came to live with us. Fred would bathe him and care for him like a mama. He would sleep snuggled up to Fred's tummy and suckle. I know Fred hated it, but wouldn't stop him. It continued for months until I found him a permanant home. Poor old Fred's tummy was red all the time, but being the loving creature he is, let him do it. This kitty was nearly as big as Fred when he left, and it was so funny to watch them. I don't know if Fred would have ever made him stop.