Kitten trying to nurse on male cat?

Locket is roughly 12 weeks old, and he is getting along great with my adult male cats. He has been displaying one odd behavior though - he keeps trying to suckle on the adult males' tummies, especially Griffin. Griffin has a shaved belly, and Locket will cuddle up to his tummy and actually start sucking and kneading Griffin's tummy. Griffin will allow this for a few seconds before he gives him a few bunny kicks and walks away, but Locket can be merciless in his pursuit of Griffin sometimes. Why is he doing this??

Such behaviour is not unusual. And the adult cat often do accepts it. It can be quite cosy, and not harmful at all, so long it is not overdone. (the nipple can get red and sore, etc, IF it is overdone. So the rule is: allow, but keep some watch).

Here the adult doesnt accept it much... So I think it will end by itself when the little one gets enough of the "teaching"...

Back in the 1970's we had a male kitten, Kip, who "nursed" his brother, Elmer. We called it "suck-suck" (okay, we were strange people) but it worked for the two of them. Kip came to us on his 6 week birthday, and he continued to knead constantly all of his life - obviously left mommy too soon.

I've also had a kitten nurse my spayed-for-all-of-her-17-years female. She allowed it.

Aren't cats great?

just don't allow the suckling to proceed to the male cat's genitals. This can cause serious problems for the male. ALSO watch for sores that can form from the sucking.

I had a litter of abandoned kittens begin to suck on one another after the foster mother rejected them. The only way the behavior stopped was to scold them when they did it and even then it didn't totally cease until they were adopted out to new homes.