Lily is a kneady sucker!

lol Did you like the pun in the name?? A kneady(needy) sucker?? Ok, now to the question.

Now, when I am woke up by her at 5 am, she kneads me or my bedding. This was never a problem. Then she began to suck on my finger. Well, I woke up this morning to her sucking on my arm. I pushed her away & went back to sleep. So she sucked on my nose. This wouldn't bug me that much, except I have a red spot on my arm(someone asked me if it was a hickey ) now from her sucking on it! It is kind ambarassing to explain that. Thankfully it is winter & I can cover it up.

Any ideas why? Can I make her stop? I don't mind the kneading as she wears nail caps, but eventually it could be a problem(I think she will be wearing nail caps for a long time). The sucking is gross when you wake up to a really wet pillow case. I rolled over onto a thoroughly sucked on part of the pillow case two nights ago.

LOL


You could put some bitter apple where you dont want her to suck.

Usually kitties will suck on people or things or other kitties if they were very young (6 weeks or under) when taken away from their mother. This is their way of calming themselves and acting like whatever it is they're sucking on is their mother. It's nothing to worry about, but some cats will do this their whole lives. I had a cat that sucked on the babysitter's neck and we had to calm her mother down because she thought boys were over when she was babysitting! I don't really know how to tell you to stop the behavior, though!

I raise bottle babies, and I have two that are now full grown. One suckles on a blanket, or our arms, and the other suckles on the dog's leg. It is a comfort reaction, generally produced by kittens that didn't get enough momcat when they were young. You can add some pure lemon oil to your hand lotion and put that on before going to sleep, that will keep the kitten off your nose.

that is so sweet, though i am sure it is bothering you....
mine suckle on pillow cases and baby blankets.
i went to target and got some soft furry materials and put them where they like to get comfy. within days, they suck on their blankies.
raja sleeps next to me, so i put her baby blanket where she likes to lay, and she suckles at night, try that!!

My dog sucks on his teddy bear...usually on it's face....it's adorable. Hes been doing it all his life and hes 8 or 9 now and still does it.

Serenity, separated from her mom cat far too young does this very same thing. Sierra, another bottle baby separated much earlier, used to, as well, but nolonger sucks, just licks and kneads. Another little one, Caleb, who I bottle fed from a couple of days of age before he later adopted my Dad, also still kneads and sucks. This is quite natural in bottle babies and so precious!

My youngest baby kneads quite often, but the second one will also do so occasionally. I think it's cute and always snuggle up to them when I see them doing it -- I figure it's their way of saying they need a little lovin'.

My Rambo is a kneady sucker. He likes to suck on my shirt (and occasionally skin). I've taken to giving him his own shirt on the bed (one of my old and well worn shirts). I can then direct his behaviour to the shirt...and it comforts him at night without waking me up all the time.

Ellie is the only one of mine who kneads and sucks. It can be quite annoying, as she searches for skin to suck at! She won't be diverted to toys or blankets. I do not know why she does this - she is the only one of my five who had a normal kittenhood!

just had to comment because of the title of the thread... i think it is THE FUNNIEST THING EVER when Shiraz jumps up on the bed and i'm laying there watching tv, and she puts her paws on my stomache and starts to knead it like dough (don't have six pack abs if you can't tell, ) and she concentrates on it like nothing i ever seen. one paw, then the other, over and over... until i bust out laughing cuz i cant hold it in anymore
ok that was my random thought of the day...

I am going to Pet Expo tomorrow(twice in one week, that's a record!). I am going to ask them about the bitter apple stuff or something that will taste bad. Hopefully, my little red spot will be gone by Christmas. Meeting the SILs family with a kitten hickey! lol

oh my little abi does that too when she wants to get really comfy and settle down. I take it as the supreme compliment because she only does it with people she really trusts and finds comfort in. I ended a sentence in a preposition. sowwy. meow.

Both my females do that. Funny thing is, they didn't do it when I got them, but started after a few weeks with me. My older female doesn't actually suck any more, but she does the motions when she cuddles. The lady who gave me Bitsy works with me, so I didn't really have any problem explaining kitten hickeys at work. LOL

I don't think I would put bitter apple on my skin. Yuck. I just move the kittens to another spot when it bothers me. And kitten hickeys only last a day or two.

our Mini Mew did that, too. He was separated from his momma when he was 5 weeks to be tamed (he was a feral kitten). He stole our hearts and the hearts of our other pets--especially our little black pomeranian, Ace--who became Mew's surrogate Momma in almost every way.

This has resulted in many odd behaviors. The main one is Mew will always think of himself as a dog. He always runs around with our 3 dogs as a "pack member." He even sits and shakes on command. It's only been recently he's discovered he's a cat and has been doing more typical kitten things (thanks to the Christmas tree).

The other weird behavior was the sucking. For a while, Mew would suck on Ace's toes at nighttime. It was very cute at first when Mew was a tiny kitten. Ace even seemed to enjoy it and would groom Mew when he did it. However as Mew grew the sucking became more and more loud and obnoxious (and more and more uncomfortable for Ace).

We tried moving Mew away and telling him "no." We tried Bitter Apple, but it didn't work too long either. Then we tried moving Ace or covering his toes. Still, Mew was persistant and stubborn.

We ended up having to close Mew out of the bedroom at night, but in the end Ace was the one who really trained Mew to stop. When Mew turned 6 months (and was a whopping 10 pounds) Ace snapped at Mew three times. Mew hasn't tried sucking on his toes since. If Mew eyes Ace's toes when they're lying down, he gets growled at.

They are still the best buddies, but Mini Mew knows the limits now (at 7 months and 12 pounds). He started eyeing our other pomeranian's toes--as well as our adult male cat--but they are much more assertive than Ace and only had to give Mew "the evil eye" to make him leave them alone.

My kittie does that too!!
but she sucks on her tail... like a baby with a bottle! hehe
I hope its not unhealthy.... for her tail i mean!

I think I need Girlie's poms . Narsil sucks on the sheets. We tried to break him of it when he was younger (he's about 9.5 months now) but no go. At least he has learned that mummy will NOT let him suck on her side of the bed and he goes over to daddy's side (who I could never get to be consistent about saying "no" and putting him on the floor when he started this business.) DH lets him do it as it's the only time you'll hear a purr out of Narsil.

Trjegul doesn't suck, he just lays on top of my face when he can. I'm trying to teach him that 9 1/2 lbs of kitten on top of my nose is not comforting.