Hi everyone. I'm new here, and joined because I have a household with three wonderful feline babies. : )
I'm posting here because of an issue that's developed with my newest kittens.
I rescued four kittens who had lost their mother when they were about six days old. We bottle fed them, struggled through an eye infection, hair loss and a few seizures, but all four came out healthy and are now spunky, beautiful little kittens! Two found homes with my aunt, and two are staying with me.
I still have the runt (female) and the biggest one (male). I noticed that the little girl suckles/kneads (I've heard it called smergling?) on her brother... But not in 'appropriate' places. She does this on his... Bottom and private areas. She won't do it anywhere else, and won't suckle on anything else. I am worried for her well being because it just doesn't seem healthy for her to be doing.
I'm wondering if this has anything to do with being taken off the bottle too early. The others all started solid food before her, but we tried to give her the bottle for as long as she wanted since she was the smallest. I know that suckling is a comfort thing, and I wouldn't mind her doing it as long as it was somewhere else!
(The boy doesn't seem to mind, by the way.)
I just want to know if there's any way I can curb this behavior while she's young, or if she'll grow out of it. They're about nine weeks old now.
Thank you so much!
I'm posting here because of an issue that's developed with my newest kittens.
I rescued four kittens who had lost their mother when they were about six days old. We bottle fed them, struggled through an eye infection, hair loss and a few seizures, but all four came out healthy and are now spunky, beautiful little kittens! Two found homes with my aunt, and two are staying with me.
I still have the runt (female) and the biggest one (male). I noticed that the little girl suckles/kneads (I've heard it called smergling?) on her brother... But not in 'appropriate' places. She does this on his... Bottom and private areas. She won't do it anywhere else, and won't suckle on anything else. I am worried for her well being because it just doesn't seem healthy for her to be doing.
I'm wondering if this has anything to do with being taken off the bottle too early. The others all started solid food before her, but we tried to give her the bottle for as long as she wanted since she was the smallest. I know that suckling is a comfort thing, and I wouldn't mind her doing it as long as it was somewhere else!
(The boy doesn't seem to mind, by the way.)
I just want to know if there's any way I can curb this behavior while she's young, or if she'll grow out of it. They're about nine weeks old now.
Thank you so much!
