Surrogate Dad?

cottonsmom

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Here's one I've never heard of before..... I have a cat that had 4 kittens and she nursed them for at least 8 weeks (probably closer to 10 weeks), but finally she refused to let them suckle any longer. They all seemed so heart-broken over this, but they were all healthy and had been eating canned food for a good while already.

What blew my mind is one of the kittens went over to one of my grown male cats and snuggled into him, found a nipple and started nursing on him! Maybe I could understand the kitten still looking for that comfort/closeness thing, but I couldn't believe a male cat would allow a kitten - and then two more to suckle on him!


I moved the kittens off of the male, but they would keep coming back and the male seemed just as happy to have them clamp on. Finally I noticed that the males nipples were starting to look bad, so made the extra effort to keep the kittens off him. Finally this behavior stopped, but just thought it was pretty strange.

Anybody else ever experience this?
 

goldenkitty45

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I had a neutered male babysit and take care of kittens before. In fact, I used to joke that had he been a female, the kittens would have never learned how to wash themselves, etc.

Its uncommon but it happens.
 

addiebee

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We've had males in rescue or belonging to foster families who helped take care of kittens - not necessarily letting them suckle but teaching them, washing them, etc.
 

catkiki

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When I was a teenager, we had two kittens who would try to nurse on our male neutered DOG!!! Snoopy would just let them and look up at me as if he enjoyed the kittens doing this!
 

mbjerkness

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My semi-feral girl Baby, was brought home by a stray tomcat. He came for food and a good petting, then he'd dissapear. He kept bring home kittens. He would show them where the food was, wait for them to eat. Then eat himself. I saw him grooming them, snuggling them. Over the 2 years he was around he brought home probably 20 kitties. Baby was the only one that stayed.
 
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cottonsmom

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Thanks folks, I love hearing stories about your kitties!

The surrogate dad in mention is still intact, (but not for much longer). He's a super lovey-dovey type too. He even caressed my face with his paw and gave me a kiss on the nose when I was in severe pain with a leg injury. Very intuitive kitty!

I do have a neutered male that was acting as Step-Dad to the mother and her brood of 4. He'd bathe them and keep them out of trouble - they made such a darling family. He is also top cat around here as well.
 

browneyes106

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I had a male cat do that before. A few years ago I took in a kitten who had just been weaned from his mother who had been injured by a car. The kitten suckled on the male for a month before I found him a home.
 

kscatlady

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The cat I had almost my whole childhood was a long haired fat black and white guy named Goober, we brought home a little yellow tabby and he used to suckle Goober all the time. It was really funny.
 

skewch

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I had a neutered siamese boy and he let my kittens suckle him. He seemed to enjoy it so much, like he was meant to be there for them. The first time I saw it, I couldn't quite get the reason for it, but I just let him do it. My other siamese neutered male is still with us (first one had to be pts because his hip rotted away) is the "mandatory bather". He bathes all of the other cats in the house whether they want it or not LOL. He is also alpha cat, but it's sweet to see how he takes care of his herd LOL
 
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