Tail sucking

jodiann

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My 9 month old DSH is the sweetest thing ever! She has this thing about sucking (suckling?) the tip of her tail, as if she's nursing. She purrs VERY loudly while she's doing it and usually has to be cuddled right up against me while she's doing it. It's SO cute, but I'm wondering if there's something wrong with this?
 

Anne

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Hi Jodiann and welcome!

I think this sort of thing is quite common, actually. I've heard about this several times and each time the cat finds another object to suck... My own cat, Mishmish is a sucker


I read in Roger Tabor's book about cat behavior, that this is an echo of suckling. Apparently, cats that were taken away from their mother when they were too young, tend to develop this behavior pattern.

They suck the funniest things. Mishmish loves my shirts (mine and nobody else's!). I've heard about cats that suck their paws, their owners' fingers, their owners' earlobs (
), anything made of wool and I've also heard of a tail-sucker before.

I also think that it's really sweet. some people don't like it when their cats do this and try to break the habit (not very difficult by the way). I think that they're really enjoying themselves and I see no reason to stop them...
 
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