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Kitten Suckling On Earlobe

post #1 of 12
11/5/10 at 6:11pm
Thread Starter 
My kitten Zazzles is about 9 weeks old now. I've had her for a couple of weeks, and in the past few days she's started to suck on my ear during the night.

At first it was no big deal, I thought it was cute, and whatever makes her happy. But it's starting to hurt now so she needs to stop.

Any ideas? I've tried just placing her on the floor and saying "No!" but she's a stubborn little one. She's right back and sucking on my ear 30 seconds later.
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post #2 of 12
11/5/10 at 8:25pm
I had a kitty that did that. It wasn't from leaving her mother too young - she came from the vet and was close to five months old. That's just how she showed affection and it comforted her. She'd also suck on soft clothing and blankets.

Since yours' is so young it's mostly for comfort. If you could redirect her to a soft safe surface she could suck on maybe it would help.
Don't get annoyed with her, though. She thinks she's being lovable.
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post #3 of 12
11/6/10 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 
Zazzles is far too cute for me to find anything she does annoying. Even when she tips over my coffee mug or pull my clothes off the hangers in my close I'm just like "Awwww, little monster!"

My left ear is actually raw from her suckling on it. She goes to town when she get ahold of my ear. Kneeding me and purring. It's really precious.

I tried to get her to suckle on the fleece blanket instead, then I tried to give her my fingers. No dice. She wants my ears.

For now I'm just going to alternate which side I sleep on so each ear can get a break.

Hopefully this is one of those thing she'll grow out of.
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post #4 of 12
11/6/10 at 10:40am
If you can tolerate wearing one in bed you can get the cloth headbands they make for covering ears when outside in the cold.
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post #5 of 12
11/8/10 at 5:11pm
Years ago I had a kitten that did this too. I would try to redirect the sucking onto another soft object. She might eventually take to something else if you are persistent about it. In my case, the sucking completely creeped my DH out so kitty was banned from the bedroom at night.
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post #6 of 12
11/9/10 at 5:31am
Mollipop loved to suckle on my neck. I had some....uh....interesting?....marks for awhile until she finally stopped. Her vet calls them kitty hickies!

When she's really tired and finally naps in my arms, she'll start sucking on my inner elbow. I let her go. She purrs and sucks and eventually it puts her to sleep.

The night we came back from spending the weekend in Connecticut, she wouldn't leave me alone in bed. I tried to gently move her a couple of times, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. I gave up and let her suckle and finally, she dropped off.

She'll probably grow out of it in time. (Although a friend of mine told me about one of her cats who loved to suck on the end of his tail. He died at the age of 16 and she never remembers that boy's tail being dry!)
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post #7 of 12
11/9/10 at 7:17am
just a suggestion, but do you have pierced ears? You could try wearing small hoops/cuffs.
I swear my cat would suck on my ear if I didn't wear earrings too, but the metal bothers him so he sticks to my neck.

good luck!
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post #8 of 12
11/9/10 at 8:35pm
Zazzles! Because she's zazzy!

Sorry, I don't have any advice. Just wanted to appreciate the Big Bang reference .
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post #9 of 12
11/10/10 at 12:28pm
I also had a kitten that did that. At first I would cover my ears with a sheet (I'm a side sleeper), but that only caused him to try to suck on my nose. What I finally did was to tuck him against my chest and gave him a soft cloth to suckle on while I held him close to me. We both enjoyed the closeness and he still had something to suckle on.
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post #10 of 12
11/10/10 at 9:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willowy View Post
Zazzles! Because she's zazzy!

Sorry, I don't have any advice. Just wanted to appreciate the Big Bang reference .
Indeed, she is quite zazzy
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post #11 of 12
11/10/10 at 9:18pm
Thread Starter 
I slept with a head band covering my ears for a few nights. She seems to have given up the suckling.


She's just happy as long a she gets to sleep snuggled in to my neck
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post #12 of 12
11/11/10 at 9:01am
I'm glad that worked. Sometimes just simply removing something can eventually break their fixation on it.
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