behavior

I have a Siamese male, 4 months old who has taken to licking, sucking his front legs while purring. This seems to be related to his need for affection, but he only purrs when he is doing this behavior. I am fearful that he will do this the rest of his life...?

I wouldnt worry too much just yet. It's not his need for affection, it's his need to nurse and be with mom. Eventually he may move to other things to suck on. It's not a big problem unless he decides to suck wool or he is loosing all his hair.

I have a 10 mo old female mixed breed & she started doing the same thing at about 3 months. She still does it. She only does it when we are in bed & she lies on my chest. She didn't purr at any other time until recently. Now she occassionaly purrs after I have taken her for a walk around in the house on her leash.

I too am worried that this behavior will continue forever. Lets hope they will both grow out of it.

Good Luck, love to you & your kitty

Hiya everyone. I am new to TCS and to being owned by felines as well. About three weeks ago I adopted two boys who are now about 12 weeks old. Am I in love! And was I unprepared!

This site has been my homebase during my frantic search for information regarding these little fellows. I've been more than impressed with the wealth of knowledge and experience here as well as the sense of community. Aren't Mica and Luna lucky I wandered here! But onto the reason for my post...

3 month old Luna has the same habit. He sucks on his leg and gently claws away at whatever he is lying on. He nearly immediately begins when he it petted and falls asleep this way. From what I have gathered, this is called 'dry-nursing' and occurs because the poor little babies miss mom. Having been taken too soon and not weaned; they suckle as if nursing, the pawwing because that is how kittens stimulate milk flow from the mother.

Sometimes Luna's brother Mica will dry-nurse on Luna, just behind his ear. When the whole litter was together, they all piled up on him. I wonder how he got the job of 'mom'? Now with only Mica to contend with, he will sometimes refuse.

Thanks to the assurances I read elsewhere in this site (wish I could remember where but offhand I have no clue), I am not overly worried about this behavior. I am not overly fond of it either. I worry of hairballs and skin conditions. I also once knew an adult cat who held on to the 'clawing you means I love you' idea and it was not pleasant!

I just keep his little nails clipped and pray to the cat gods that he will indeed outgrow it. Luckily he is pretty tolerant of my grooming experiments, nail clipping included.

~Mica and Luna's pet ShanOwl

ShanOwl just want to welcome you to the site. Glad to have you with us.

Thanks for all the good comments about this behavior. I might add that my kitty (Zonks II) only does this behavior with me. I am not too worried about it over all because it does not appear to remove/destroy any of his fur.
Elise

Hi Elise, where are you in Southeastern MA?? I live in Wareham, are you close by?? :tounge2: