I got a little kitten last week, and the shelter told me he was 8 weeks old. I suspect he was probably taken from his mother earlier than that, though, because he has some serious suckling and kneading tendencies. I don’t mind the kneading, even though his little claws can get out of hand. even grown-up kitties do that all the time, and I’m used to that. It’s the suckling that’s a problem. He’ll latch onto an earlobe, knuckle, arm, anything he can get of me, and slurp away at it forever. Loudly, and sometimes with teeth. I try taking him off me and saying no, but he keeps launching himself back at me - he gets almost aggressive about it - to start over.
And he cries all the time. Wailing. He’s well fed, he’s active and playful, but he’s always crying and demanding me to give him skin to suck at, especially when he’s tired.
The folks at PetSmart suggested I get a teddy bear and put him on it every time he tried to suckle, but it’s not working at all. He’s tried to latch onto it once or twice but it’s obviously not good enough for him.
What can I do? It’s at the point where I have to wear earmuffs to watch TV, and I’m tossing him off the couch every 35 seconds, while he wails like I’m totally neglecting him. I feel like a bad kitty mommy!
What about an empty bottle with a nipple sized for feeding kittens? Then he can just suck suck suck away while you hold the bottle. Or prop it up somewhere.
I thought about that, but I’m hoping to get him away from the behaviour, if that’s at all possible. If not, though, I’ll settle for a bottle-sucking kitty if it means he’ll leave my ears (and those of my guests!) alone.
My cat (now a year old) didn’t have the wailing problem so much, nor did she try to suck my earlobes…
But she suckles the other (male) cat.
And herself.
She still hasn’t outgrown it, and I find it sorta creepy. I never tried discouraging her, because at first I didn’t know what she was doing. Now I wonder if she’ll have that behavior forever. Weird. I won’t let her hang out on my lap and do it, too strange for me.
Aw, what a cutie. Yes, you can discourage him from doing it to you and other humans. No, I don’t think you should bother discouraging him from doing it to inanimate objects. Cats can understand having a “lovey” just like babies, and all babies need to suck, it’s not just about nutrition. The teddy probably doesn’t have and nice nipple like textured things to suck on. Try a vinyl toy of some sort, or even better, something snuggly with a vinyl bit on it. You could, if you’re the crafty type, hot glue gun a bottle nipple to the bear somehow. Maybe hide it when guests come over. But we’ll all understand.
Our cat, also removed from mama cat too soon, suckled for years and then one day just decided to up and quit. We were able to discourage him from sucking on people by letting him suckle inanimate things until he found one he really liked, which happened to be our bathmat (it was the nubby kind).
I would like to say we immediately surrendered the bathmat to him and got a new one, but in reality we just stepped over him getting in and out of the tub for a while (and yeah, it looked really grotty, but I laundered it often), and eventually got a new one for actual bathmat use and put the old one out for him to nap on.
That’s so funny, I was just going to suggest getting a pacifier for him. You will want to watch him when he uses it (or a bottle nipple) in case he manages to bite it off.
