Suckling/Nursing Problem

Hi! I am a foster mom for my local shelter. I've had dozens of kittens but this is my first experience with a kitten with a suckling problem. For some reason most of my past kittens have tried to nurse from my female pit bull. She usually lets them and then they grow out of it. One of my current fosters, Liam, started out this way, nursing from my dog. The dog gets tired of it and Liam moves on to anything available. He will try to nurse from both of my dogs, both of my cats, his littermates, my arm, my leg, my face, my nose, the carpet, a blanket, a toy...ect, ect, ect! Not only does he attempt to nurse from anything and everything, but he goes at it with force! It's almost an attack with the kneading, nursing and purring! Liam has been with me since he was about 8 weeks old, he's now about 10 weeks.

What can I do to help him to get over this?

Thanks,

Heather

Try a stuffed animal or something that gives him that nurturing feeling, it is the comfort he is looking for. Unfortunately this is probably a sign of stress, at such a young age it is not the usual. Yet sometimes these kittens that need a little extra mothering/love are the ones with high intelligence and emotional connections with people and other animals! Just need that extra attention, guidance..........
I adopted Maia at a young 6 1/2 weeks and she took to a faux fur vest I ended up giving her, and to this day she needs and bites it! So cute She is 1 1/2 years by the way.........

If he is just 8 weeks, he should be contained somewhere at mostly all the time just until he gets a little older. Like in a dog crate, bathroom or small place with all his stuff. That way you can give him a stuffed animal or something that he can suck on.

This happens when they are taken from their mother way too soon, it is so sweet but really annoying.

Thanks for such a quick reply!

You think he's stressed??? Oh, no, that makes me sad.

I figured he was taken away from his mama too soon.

What's funny is out of the 3 in the litter, Liam is the friendliest, most outgoing, largest, first to do everything kinda guy. He's also the first cat that I've seen that shows pure signs of jealousy, so what you said makes so much sense.

They are confined for the most part to my home office. I let them run the house a few times a day to be "crazy kitties" and climb the curtains and have fun!

It was "sweet" at first, but he's vicious about it, especially the kneading part, lol.

Thanks again!!! I'm going to try a stuffed dog that I have for his "mama."