Cat trying to be the mother?

I posted before about my new kitten sucking on my male cat, Benji. (He still does by the way haha). The 2 of them seem to be pretty close to each other already. Just recently Benji has tried to (maybe?) pick up the kitten by his neck? (Like a mother would do?) He just chomps at his neck, but not like hes trying to play with the kitten. The kitten isn't tiny anymore, so he never actually picks him up though. Benji grabs onto the neck, and then make a few loud, uncharacteristic meows, and doesnt let the kitten get up. (I'm sure theyre not playing).

What in the world is Benji REALLY trying to do, and why does he meow like that?

And I know this sounds bizarre, but Benji and the kitten look almost exactly alike. Theres not a possibility that Benji looks like the kittens mother and so the kitten is thinking that Benji is his mom? It seems far fetched but I'm not sure if it actually can happen. Thanks!



And about the teething. Do kittens even teeth? Hes about 5 months I think, and all he wants to do is chew on anything METAL! (Tweezers, my mirror parts, rings, knives, forks, anything! He even CHOMPS my piercings!) I wonder because I have another kitten almost the same age, and she doesnt do anything weird like him. Not to mention I worry about him damaging his teeth. My other older cat Benji loves anything plastic. So I know thats just him being weird. I was wondering if the kitten was ever going to grow out of it at all? Thanks

The first question.
It is probably not a mother-thing (although not uncommon among kind males, yes even some fertile males are known to help smalls).

But it is almost surely a dominance-thing. Quite common.


As to next question, yes the kitten is probably changing his teeth now. It is about the right time also. Give him something to chew on. Here at home it was popular with things of hard rubber, feks their own brush.
Many people dont notice their teeth changing, I suspect they swallow them usually.

Is that absurd meowing part of the dominance thing? He usually only meows like that if he's hurt or going to vomit

Originally Posted by Ghostchant

Is that absurd meowing part of the dominance thing? He usually only meows like that if he's hurt or going to vomit

Click to expand...

They usually dont meows in this situation. Our Muskis dont do when he teaches Vagis who is master here...

But cats do have often a lot of sounds, many more then you think you may have. And how and when they use them is often different. Cats are individual here...

I think these sounds are something your cat do in this situation - nothing typical but very individual for him.