TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Behavior › Is this babyish behaviour for an 18-mo cat?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Is this babyish behaviour for an 18-mo cat?

post #1 of 9
1/2/11 at 9:19am
Thread Starter 
I got my kitten while I was still greiving for my dear old cat who died so perhaps I became over-protective and loving towards the new kitten.

Even though he is now 18 months old, he has this odd (quite embarrassing) behavioural pattern. He licks the area between my shoulder and neck while kneading at the same time, almost like he is feeding from his mother.

I read that some cats do this if they are taken from the mother too early, but I got this kitten at 12 weeks old. He licks my clothes and my skin. Is this a behavious problem or just pure affection? He does not do this to anyone except me, and even if he is playing, the second I lift him up he starts to do it.
Reply
post #2 of 9
1/2/11 at 9:35am
It's an act of affection as he's grooming you. My cat licks my hair and kneads me from time to time. She loves to lick my hair, but I don't let her do it for too long at one time as I think it's just weird!
Reply
post #3 of 9
1/2/11 at 10:57am
Don't worry, cats of all ages lick and knead. It's a sign of affection!
Reply
post #4 of 9
1/2/11 at 12:23pm
You shouldn't be embarassed, lots of cats do that, regardless of if they were weaned correctly or not. Some cats suckle on blankets, lots of cats knead, but it's all the same thing: your cat is showing it loves you and you are its human. With somecats the behavior stops or slows as they age, but others maintain the same level of suckling and kneading their entire lives. Personally I enjoy it (as long as I have trimmed their nails recently)
Reply
post #5 of 9
1/2/11 at 1:11pm
One of the best kneading sessions I've ever had was from a smushy faced persian at the low-cost-spay/neuter clinic I took my first cat to for a spay. He was declawed....and though I'm very against declawing, I definitely enjoyed his bread-makin' more than I do from my guys. Until I had to remove him from my lap. Then he bit me.

But all of my cats, from different backgrounds, all knead us, and a few lick/suckle on me as well (especially the strings on a hoodie, for some reason)
Reply
post #6 of 9
1/2/11 at 1:12pm

Walter does that exact thing. The rescue people I got him from told me all these tricks for keeping him from doing it, but he only does it for maybe a minute and then moves on to something else (sleeping or he goes to play) so I just let him do it. I think it's also a self-comfort thing, too. If it makes him feel better, I can put up with it for a minute once or twice a day. I think it's kinda cute.

Our old cat used to lick and knead my arm for what seemed like forever. Sometimes it got painful b/c he'd lick so hard, and after a while it got annoying. He was 7 when he got out of our house, and he was still doing it.
Reply
post #7 of 9
1/2/11 at 1:32pm
That's his way of showing you affection. It's not something that you have to be concerned about.
Reply
post #8 of 9
1/2/11 at 2:37pm
Technically it is baby-ish, since it derives from the urge to knead the mother while feeding, but it's also a completely normal adult housecat behavior. Domesticated cats keep many of their kitten behaviors into adulthood where wild cats don't. It's a good thing, too, because otherwise they probably wouldn't let us pet them.
Reply
post #9 of 9
1/2/11 at 2:46pm
Smooch my mams cat.does it all the time he's over 2 now, its his way of showing affection
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Behavior
TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Behavior › Is this babyish behaviour for an 18-mo cat?