6 month male sucking paw....

[oasis88]

So my 6 month old kitten has an odd behavior. Every night 1-3 times he will jump up on our bed purring and lay down and start sucking his left paw. Only his left paw and only when he's purring. His right paw will knead a bit. He also only does this at night. Our vet said its common in kittens who were separated for their moms early (he was only 5 weeks). I know thats early but if was either that or off to the pound so we took him in.

Anyhoo, vet said its a comfort thing much like a baby sucking his thumb, and not to worry unless the paw starts to swell or bleed. It never has. The problem now is its happening more often and is becoming louder. It keeps me and my wife up now. We try and pick him up and take him off the bed and he just jumps up and does it again. We try to pet him and Distract him but it doesn't work. Any suggestions? We obviously don't want to do anything drastic but waking up 2-3 times throughout the night is affecting us now. HELP!!

 

[katluver4life]

You could try substituting his paw with something else, such as a soft cat toy, or small stuffed animal (that has no swallowable items attached). There is really not much else that can be done to totally stop this behavior. Your vet is correct. He is comforting himself and is just something a young kitten will often do. Some do eventually out grow it.

 

[nocturnal]

My four year old does something very much like that except she only does it on my lap. The paw never gets wounded but she suck vigorously on it while purring for up to half an hour. Eventually she gets tired or bored and just curls on my lap.

She's no longer a kitty but she was abandoned and spent some months as a stray when she was a young cat, it must have affected her. Fortunately she does not wake me up, I do not know what to do in your case...using toys to replace the paw is probably a good idea but my cat never went for it. Yours is still very young so it is probably easier to correct the behavior.