I have a 3.5 month old kitten named Abomination. He’s crazy active, but periodically he will climb into my lap, purr up a storm, and ‘‘nurse’’ … even though there’s nothing really happening there. His little tongue will wag up and down like he’s drinking. Usually, he’s sucking on a piece of fabric like a blanket, or my hair, or some other random thing, but the other day he was just staring at me with his eyes slightly rolled back in his head “drinking” nothing but air. It was vaguely creepy because it almost seemed like he was in a trance.
I’m not terribly worried about it, I just thought it was odd. But I’ve never had a kitten before. Does this go away eventually?
My 12 year old cat Merlin still does kitty paws (the kneading thing), which I understand to be a similar sort of return to kittenhood.
Some do, some don’t. I think of it like thumb sucking self comfort. My youngest will be three in November, and he does it once in a while still. Only once I’m in bed and he’s kneading on the blanket, he’ll sometimes stretch his neck forward and do this faux suckling with whiskers pushed forward. It’s kinda adorable and he curls up to sleep shortly after.
Oh yes. And not just kittens. I think the kneading and sucking behavior has to be very soothing. Older cats might not suck, but they’ll drool while kneading.
Yeah, Merlin does this, complete with drooling. I call the kneading ‘‘kitty paws.’’ I assumed everyone called it that, but I couldn’t get any hits from google.
When it started, Abomination was sucking water out of my hair every time I showered, so that made marginally more sense than just sort of sucking on anything. But I guess if babies use pacifiers or suck their thumbs… it makes sense.
heres a kitten problem I haven’t figured how to nip yet
male kitten monster likes getting petted and tummy rubbed but once he starts purring he gets over excited it seems and he grabs your hand with his teeth and paws …
any way to to end this habit ? hes getting a bit nippy when he does it now and I don’t want the little kidlet getting bit … I just flick him on the nose and he lets go but he dosent remember not to do it next time
This behavior is completely normal. If Mama was around, he would probably still be “nursing” on her occasionally even if she was producing little or no milk. I’ve heard of kittens doing this as late as 8 months.
Petting a cat’s tummy is dangerous business. The intent of a cat exposing his stomach is to show vulnerability (’‘I trust you not to attack me’’), so I think when you rub their bellies (and they like it!) they get confused and fend off the ‘‘attack’’ you weren’t supposed to give.
I have no idea how to stop it.
Merlin seems to know instinctively not to bite hard. Mina hasn’t got a clue.
I would not flick a cat on the nose or reprimand him physically in any way. That is an open invitation to continue combat. I’d simply disengage and gently put him down at that point. IOW withdraw reinforcement.
Cats aren’t people-pleasers like dogs.
I never tease my cats and won’t let anyone else do it either. That is setting everyone up for a lifetime of misery. If they swat at me (which is normal cat behavior) I just withdraw and don’t engage.
I hate when people come over and start using their hands to engage my kitten, because I’ve gone to great effort to teach her that hands are not toys. Sending mixed messages isn’t a very effective strategy.
Wow. Since I knew nothing about cats before I got mine - and apparently still don’t - I’m afraid I must have raised Morty all wrong. He’s about 10 now and I got him when he was about 6 months. Right from the get go I man-handled him as much as I could … picking him up, cradling him, rubbing his little head and his belly and tossing him around a little bit, playfully … pretty much everything I would have done with a puppy.
Now he is as docile and affectionate as a kitten, still. He fucking looooooves belly rubs. The only time he’s ever swatted at me was little claw-less love-taps. He’s never more than about three feet from me. He sleeps on my chest every night.
I think I might have turned him into a dog by accident.
Oh, yeah, he does do the kneading thing on his favorite blanket when he’s settling in, with the extra quirk of sticking his face into the blanket as he goes at it. The funniest bit is if I look over at him while he’s doing it, he stops and stares at me like I’ve busted him whacking off.
Oh yeah, one of my favorite moves with him - if he jumps up on the back of my desk chair, I’ll often reach back and snatch him up with one hand on his chest and one hand on his belly and lift him up like a kitty-bench press.
He friggin’ loves it. I’ve tested the limits of how long I can keep him up in the air like that before he gets fidgety and wants down. I have not discovered that red-line. He’ll fall asleep up there before he complains.
Sadly, we’ve never been able to break Luci of this habit. She’s 7 years old, and she’ll STILL try to wrestle with my arm. What works is to pull away and give her a toy instead.
Merlin would murder me if I did that to him. He’ll let me pick him up and hold him for maybe 30 seconds before he starts giving me the ‘‘please let me down’’ wriggle.
Both Merlin and Mina are very affectionate cats. Lots of snuggling and kitty paws on demand. (That is, I’m expected to give it to them when they demand it.) I’m lucky that way.
Some cats like belly rubs, but in some it will trigger a defense mechanism - hind legs doing the rabbit kick, or a bite. If your cat is giving you those signals, it means don’t rub his belly, no matter how tempting. Even if he shows it to you, he won’t like it if you do rub it.
Emily will curl up in my lap and, while kneading with one of her front paws, suckle the pad on the other. She’s been doing this since I brought her home when she was almost 5 months old. I suspected then that she’d been taken away from her mother too soon, but the vet I adopted her from couldn’t tell me anything about her early life.
She’s nearly a year and a half old now and still does it. It’s touching, but a little bit weird–I kind of feel like I’m nursing a cat.
Cats can be so different. Some love belly rubs. My cat Max loves it when I stroke his paws. Other cats would never let me touch their paws. Some cats won’t let you touch their faces, but my cat EC wants me to rough up her face and whole head. I call this “head rubbers.” :rolleyes:
Some cats are just more easily over-stimulated than others. Lilly loves belly rubs, or any kind of petting, and being brushed. Belly rubs and brushing over-stimulate Morgan and she gets up and does laps around the room, and she’s 11. The have really different temperaments. Morgan likes to be picked up and sticks by my side Lilly sleeps on my bed, but except for when she’s in the mood for petting, she will stake out a corner of the bed where she isn’t touching anyone. One the other hand, Morgan is a one-person cat. She barely tolerates my husband petting her, and hides from my son. Lilly loves everyone, including complete strangers who come over, like workmen, plumbers, etc. No one can come in the house without a greeting from Lilly. Sometimes she even sticks her nose in where it isn’t needed, like a dog, when the workmen are trying to get stuff done.
Yes! Mina continues to attack him but now that he’s recovered from his bronchitis, Merlin no longer flees in terror but instead wrestles around with the kitten. They chase each other all over the house. They are very loud and disruptive but quite intentional. I have personally witnessed Merlin goad Mina into the chase. I believe this is called playing.
