Cat 7 months old still tries to nurse

[Tonysweetie]

I just posted a thread about my cat having hairballs and now I'm noticing this strange problem....My cat is doing something totally strange...He is 7 months old and a few mornings ago (He's been doing it ever sinec the other day) he acts like he's trying to "nurse" off my quilt on my bed!!!! If part of the quilt is bundled up he'll get up all in it and start sucking on it like if he think's it's momma cat or something. I mean he even puts his paws up on it and starts making this sucking sound, It's extremely disturbing. He does this every single morining or any chance he gets when the bed is unmade and he thinks he can nurse off the quilt, lol. That is the only thing he does it too. How can I stop this? Isn't he way too old to want to do that? Is it a sign I don't feed him good or something? I give him a bowl of dry purina one kitten food and about a quarter of can of wet food everyday!! HELP it's so strange!!! Thanks

[BethIrish]

It's my understanding a lot of cats do this if they were taken away from their Mom too early....but I could be wrong ;)

[Tonysweetie]

hmmm I don't know if he was taken away from him Mom too early or not, we adopted him when he was 2 1/2 months old. I do remember going into the SPCA about 4 weeks before we adopted him to look at puppies and we saw the little kittens but I do not remember a mother cat being in the cage witht he babies. Hmmm didn't think of that?

[katmg]

My MIL's dog is 2 years old I believe and he'll still "nurse" on one of his toys. It's a little disturbing but I don't think there's anything wrong with doing so.

[elladee]

My cat nursed, too. Did it for years. Her favorite place to nurse was on the tip of her tail. :rolleyes: Strange, but I don't think there was any harm in it.

[Jad]

One of my cats still tries to nurse, and she's a little over three years old. Our girls were about 12 weeks old when we got them. So they were old enough to have been completely weaned, but I don't think they were.

Mostly, she tries to nurse on me. Usually my elbow or my shoulder. DH is jealous that it's just me. But the kneading is hell on my sweaters, let me tell you. :p;)

[greenbunny]

That isn't uncommon. I don't know the cause, though. I would say to keep an eye on her and make sure it really is nursing behavior and she isn't just sucking on the blanket for fun. Sometimes pets get this weird compulsion to eat odd things (called a "pica"). My cat does it, she will eat anything on the floor--my hair, grass, leaves, dirt.

[fuzzy]

Yup, not uncommon. My cat -- who *was* separated from his mom too early and was bottlefed by me -- "nursed" on this furry teddy bear I have. He did it for the first three years (give or take). One day he suddenly stopped, although he continues to have an odd attraction to the bear.

[Tonysweetie]

lol, wow it is pretty common I guess. The blanket is the only thing I've noticed on. Well I guess I won't worry then. Thanks for the advice. Ugh so strange, lol. :confused:

[meganth]

My cat was 7 months old when we found her and she suckled and kneaded for a few a while. From what i read it was a sign of comfort for them. From what i read at that age they're not actually trying to nurse, just a comfort habit. I'm no professional though and that's what read so that could be wrong!

She still kneads all the time at 4 years old, especially on my bladder first thing in the morning. :rolleyes:

[1MegMeg]

None of my cats do this, but friends cat, who is 2+ years old does. I have heard and read the same thing as Megan - it's not really a nursing behavior, per se, but more of a comfort behavior. It's not really anything to worry about...your kitty is just showing you that she is happy and comfortable. :)

[pride&prejudice]

My cat is about 1.5 years old and still "nurses". Its always on either my ear or DH's while we are trying to sleep.:rolleyes:

[IrishMeg]

My dog does it once in a blue moon. I must be weird though because I think it is soooo cute! :o

[Tonysweetie]

IresishMeg, I think it's cute too now that I know it's normal, lol :o

[JoM]

One of cats did this, and he also liked to lick and go after "fuzzy" things, i.e., my sweater, the blanket, dust bunnies, etc. and eat them I tried to find information about it and it is sometimes referred to as "wool sucking" and they said it sometimes results from a kitten who was weaned from his mother too soon. Since he came from a shelter, I had no way of investigating this. However, the article also said that this behavior is also more common in Siamese and a few other breeds (I can't remember which ones). Oddly enough, although he was pure white, his frame and face suggested he could have been part Siamese.

The problem I had with him, though, was that if he ate something fuzzy it contributed to some of his furballs - I could see the "evidence" in the furball itself. I ended up taking the blanket off the bed because of this. You might want to keep an eye on your kitty to see if he's doing this - it might be part of his furball problem. I ended up just trying to keep fuzzy things and any type of string or thread away from him. The other thing you can try, if he is ingesting these types of items, is spraying them with Bitter Apple - the taste is not at all appealing to cats. Hope this helps!

[Tonysweetie]

Thansk JoM! That really does help!!!

[solongtogo]

My cat is 5 and still does it, she especially likes to do it on a teddy bear we had bought for our daughter. Needless to say, the bear belongs to the cat now.

[Jane&Andy]

my Mom's cat does it and he's 7yrs old. He came from a breeder and was not removed from his Mom too early. But he's always done it. It just seems to comfort him. He'll grab your shirt most of the time but sometimes uses a blanket.

[kcjules]

One of my mom's cats did that all the time. She would nuzzle up to one of the other cats and he would always lick her head and bathe her. Mom didn't see anything wrong with it.

[tlew12778]

My cats do this and I am pretty sure it's bc they were weaned too early. The queen couldn't handle all 6 and they were the first two to be adopted out (at 4 weeks old). I hand raised them for the next few weeks even though they were able to eat out of a dish already. The only one who still must suck on a shirt on a regular basis (read: before bed, in the AM, and any other time he is being pet) is the runt of the litter (well I think he was the runt bc he was tiny when we got him and he had and underdeveloped digestive system still). His brother could take it or leave it although I very often find him sleeping near the shirt they use.

My parents had a cat who did that as well. Her entire litter was abandoned and they were all hand raised by our old neighbors. She never stopped nursing and died a couple years ago at 18 years old.

[Chile]

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