I have 2 cats- a male about a year old, and a female maybe 10 months old. The female has a very odd behavior I just don’t know what to do about.
She sucks her own nipples.
She loves nothing more than to hang out and suck on her nipples, while doing that little kneading motion with hers paws on whatever she happens to be sitting on. She does it to the male cat too, although lately I haven’t seen her at it. When I first got her, though, she did it all the time to Seamus. He’d just lay flat on his back and she’d happily suck away. I actually thought she was fellating him at first or something, but it’s obviously the nipple.
What the heck is going on here? Has anyone else seen this? Should I be concerned?
Oh, obligatory kitty photo here. Bridget’s the tabby, Seamus is the tux.
I got Bridget from the SPCA at about 2 months old. I remember from the paperwork that she was an owner surrender with the rest of her littermates. The reason listed was that they didn’t have enough time to take care of so many cats (or, apparently, to spay the one they already had). I’m not sure how old she was when they took her, and I don’t know what their policy is about kittens surrendered by owners- I assume they’d have to be weaned…
Does she have abandonment issues or something? She’s always had playmates, and Seamus is a very affectionate big brother.
Ha, you think that’s bad? I’ve got a MALE cat that does the same thing. It’s somewhat…disturbing.
I’ve always understood it to be early weaning, but we didn’t wean the litter early and none of his littermates ever suckled anything. I think he’s just weird. He also masturbates with anything soft and furry he can find (blankets, pillows, etc.), despite being neutered as a kitten.
Oh I just laughed out loud! Finally someone else has experienced this!
I’ve had two cats that did this, brother and sister. They sucked their own and each others’ nipples. They weren’t weaned young either. They suckled mom’s too, and way longer than usual.
The male moved away at about a year old so I have no idea if he continued on with this habit, but the female, Noriko, did it until the day she died. I had her “fixed” but by the time she was old she had a belly that drooped like she’d delivered dozens of litters.
One of our cats went a step beyond: she created a new nipple to suck on. Sloopy started sucking at her own forearm soon after weaning. She sucked at the same spot so often that she wore off all the fur and made a permanent bump in the skin on which she would “nurse” when she was relaxed and comfortable. This went on for about three years. Gradually, the arm-nipple was used less and less, and now Sloopy hardly ever sucks herself. The hair didn’t all grow back, though.
Well, I guess our retarded cat wins this thread. He was one of 3 – 2 boys and a girl – they were not weaned too young, no issues, other than we are pretty sure they were all completely mentally retarded. The female would walk around in circles for hours on end. Until she either got dizzy enough to fall down or bashed her head on something and knocked herself out.
The boy, though – well, the grey one wasn’t too bad, just odd, but the white one? He would spend hours just sucking on his…not his nipple. Think lower. Think what most human men would kill to be limber enough to do. No joke. Not just his own, but his brother’s too. Never tried to suck on his sister’s nipples. Never went after the nipples of the mother cat that hangs around outside – who was actually lactating. Just his or his brother’s penis. IckIckIck. In the cat we had, I am pretty sure it was an inbreeding/retardation issue. The people that asked us to take the cats as barn cats admitted the mother and father were brother and sister. I donno. They’re cats, they don’t have a need for shame, but still…
One of our cats will suckle on my wife’s hand. She saved him when he was 2 weeks old and he is now about 3 years old. He does it on the outside of her hand right below her pinkie.
She says it hurts, but he looks so content and cute (his nose crinkles up when he is suckling) she lets him keep doing it. He’s only done it once on my hand and it did hurt very much.
I’ve never seen the sucking behaviour, but I’d be willing to bet it’s related to the drooling some cats do when they’re kneading your leg - you know, the kind that leaves you with wet pants.
Is this common on neutered females? My 2 year old tortie already droops like that and did when we brought her home about a year ago. I’ve never seen it before and at first assumed it was just wobbily belly from overeating. (we had occaision to take a trip that placed us out of town for two weeks and while we were gone, she was VERY WELL FED and overly so - when we returned she’d visibly puffed up. )
I’d heard that the kneading activity is something they remember doing when they were kittens; they would massage the mother cat’s teats to get the milk to come out better or something. I suppose it’s a pleasant sensation no matter how old they get.
Kneading is just one of those comfort things for cats. Saturn, my 10 year old beast always kneads. She’ll get right up next to your face and knead your chest or your leg. Not blankets very often, mainly flesh. Never suckled but she drools a lot.
I’ve been told by several vets that there is somewhat of a genetic component to this… some cats will have the droopy belly fat, even if they were never overweight, and some cats just won’t.
My Luna “nurses” on my knuckles sometimes. It doesn’t hurt, and it’s cute. She did it a lot when we first got her, but now she only does it very rarely.
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