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Suckling at 1yr, or just chewing for funsies

post #1 of 4
6/17/07 at 8:05am
Thread Starter 
Hello Kerry,

I have two cats, one is just over one year old and the other just turned a year old. Both are healthy, neutered males who are good friends. Just since this past month, Luxor (younger) has begun what looks like chewing on Stoli's (older) ear. Stoli doesn't mind too much. Luxor will put Stoli in a head lock and begin to clean his head. Then he'll lick inside his ears. Then he'll put his entire mouth over Stoli's ear and chew. Sometimes it definitely looks like chewing. Other times I'm not so sure. It sound like sucking. His mouth will be completely over Stoli's ear and his tongue will be inside.

I'm just wondering if this is normal behaviour or something I should be concerned about. It is a new behavior that has been becoming more consistent over the past few weeks.

Thank you!
Renovia
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post #2 of 4
6/17/07 at 1:00pm
Hi Renovia,
Well, for the most part this sounds like a very normal behavior. Cats recognize each other by scent, so they are always restoring their own scent to themselves and others within their colony (cat family) by scent mingling and mutual grooming. As long as Luxor is not hurting Stoli by really chewing his ear, then it is perfectly fine. And Stoli will let you know by crying out if Luxor is truly upsetting him. One thing I would suggest is a quick check up with your vet, mention the issue and have your vet throughly check out Stoli's ears, sometimes cats will excessive groom an area if there is something wrong with it, so Stoli may have an ear infection of some sort. So, a check up at the vet will rest your mind about any ear infections, and as long as Stoli doesn't mind, it is perfectly normal. I also have two male cats and Simon regularly cleans Puna's ears by putting him in a head look too. So, no worries.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Renovia View Post
Hello Kerry,

I have two cats, one is just over one year old and the other just turned a year old. Both are healthy, neutered males who are good friends. Just since this past month, Luxor (younger) has begun what looks like chewing on Stoli's (older) ear. Stoli doesn't mind too much. Luxor will put Stoli in a head lock and begin to clean his head. Then he'll lick inside his ears. Then he'll put his entire mouth over Stoli's ear and chew. Sometimes it definitely looks like chewing. Other times I'm not so sure. It sound like sucking. His mouth will be completely over Stoli's ear and his tongue will be inside.

I'm just wondering if this is normal behaviour or something I should be concerned about. It is a new behavior that has been becoming more consistent over the past few weeks.

Thank you!
Renovia
Reply
post #3 of 4
6/17/07 at 5:27pm
Thread Starter 
thank you so much! i had never thought of an ear infection. Would I have seen any symptoms? A vet call is in my near future....
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post #4 of 4
6/20/07 at 5:12pm
Normally you would have seen some syptoms popping up....but since a cat's sense of smell is so keen and way better than ours, they catch stuff way before we do. So it might be in the early stages where us humans wouldn't have noticed anything yet. I'd just keep an eye on it and stop in for a check up at your vet sometime soon to be on the safe side. Besides that, all sounds perfectly normal....we all go through phases, so that may be all it is too.
Kerry

Quote:
Originally Posted by Renovia View Post
thank you so much! i had never thought of an ear infection. Would I have seen any symptoms? A vet call is in my near future....
Reply
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