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Kitten suckling?

post #1 of 5
6/8/11 at 1:30pm
Thread Starter 
Hey everyone Haven't managed to find the time to come on here in a while!

Our little Paisley (12 weeks old) is starting to 'pad' with her paws and suckle things like my pillow, or my dressing gown. Can anyone indicate why she may be doing this, and is it alright for her to do it?

I have been told that it could be because she was taken from her mother too early, which in my opinion she was, but she had to be in order to nurse her back to health.

Any advice is appreciated
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post #2 of 5
6/11/11 at 11:20am
Hi, I have experienced similar behavior from our (now) 13-month old spayed female kitten. Specifically, she goes through the entire "ritual" of preparing to suck, "swirling" the hair on her belly aware from the teats, and then "nurses" herself for varying periods of time. I have been learned after a decent amount of research that this is "self-soothing" or self-reassuring behavior, and that from a medical perspective, it is not harmful. We do not discourage her from "nursing". I can say with certainty that she experienced a premature separation from her mother. It was at 5 months and she went into a heat cycle and had to be spayed earlier than we had anticipated. Upon her return, Momma cat "shunned" her. She turned to her litter mate, and he was a great comfort. However, the sucking behavior arose from this experience at a young age. I hope this helps. They are all one big happy family now---Momma, the female kitten and her brother. The behavior I am told may never leave. Good luck.
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post #3 of 5
6/13/11 at 6:34am
Bijou suckled my neck for about 2 years. It seemed to be a comfort thing.
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post #4 of 5
6/13/11 at 12:29pm
My boy cat did this frequently until he was 4 months old, because he was separated before 8 weeks. He still nurses, licks and nibbles on hands and elbows to soothe himself sometimes. I think it calms them down or is a reflex when sleepy. There's not much harm in it continuing, unless she's a nippy feeder.

They also do it when losing milk teeth, which is no fun, there can be some real gnawing!
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post #5 of 5
6/18/11 at 5:16am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the responses Yeah I don't disencourage her behaviours, my kittens tend to do what they want!

She is still doing it, I think it is down to her being seperated too young, so thank you for confirming what I already thought Glad she's not the only one out there doing it!

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