sucking

ok i have a cat that is about 2 yrs old and he always does his paws like he's massaging something (kinda hard to explain lol) and when he's doing that he starts sucking on anything he can, a blanket, a shirt, anything soft and furry. It drives me crazy!! his claws really hurts when he tries to do it to my shirt! Can anybody explain to me why he is doing this and is there anything i can do to make him stop??

Your little guy is kneading. There seems to be a few explanations for kittens/cats kneading & suckling on fingers, blankets, ears...whatever.

Some say, a kitten will do this if it was taken from it's mother at a young age. Others say, it is a sign of insecurity and they are simulating what they would do to their mothers.

You can try to get him to stop by giving him a blanket to suck on rather than suck on you and you can simply trim his nails so it doesn't hurt when he kneads you.

Moses does that and it annoys me too. For him, I can't imagine it's insecurity of any kind. He's quite a character - no fear whatsoever! He seems to prefer fleece, so I switched the fleece couch blanket for another one made of different material, but when he's in the mood anything will do. I just don't let him do it on me anymore. EVERY time he tries to suck on me, I pick him up and set him on the floor. The first 20 or 30 times I had to repeatedly set him away and eventually he figured out if he wanted to suck, he'd have to do it somewhere other than on me. I set the fleece blanket on the back of a chair, and now he'll go suck on that instead of me. The noise is still irritating, but it's a compromise.

Good luck!

He is telling you he loves you and finds comfort in you. Cats knead their moms to leave their scent and to encourage the let-down of milk. But though many adult cats continue to knead, most grow out of hte sucking that goes with it. Some never do - there are many members here, including me (Ellie does it) with cats who suck into adulthood.

Cupid used to suck on his belly when he was sleepy and content. His breeder says all Sphynx kittens do that, but I don't know. I have a feeling he was weaned too early because of other things. He sucked on me a few times too. He eventually stopped on his own around 1. I never really minded it; I thought it was soooooooooo cute.

If you want him to stop, you could try interrupting him every time he starts doing it. I know if Cupid got interrupted he would stop--of course, he's start back up again, too. Maybe if you interrupt him and move him somewhere else to lay down.