This is weird and annoying!

**Court** · 04-19-2006, 11:08 PM

My Torti who is almost a year old is SUCKING on my Orange Tabby Simba!! Simba is a 7 year old, neutered male. Granted, he's a little overweight...lol and she sucks on the fat of his stomach. She also sucks on his leg and sides. It keeps us up at night and it aggravates the heck out of Simba. WE make her stop when we catch her but she still does it, mostly at night. Why in the world is she doing this?

**Beauty17** · 04-20-2006, 09:44 AM

Some cats do suckle. Shrug. One could wish that Simba would defend himself so that you wouldn't have to. It would seem to be a self-comfort thing. Our vet suggested that our cat, Indigo, who likes to nuzzle and knead, was probably taken from her mother too early, and that if we didn't care for the behavior, we should discourage it, and she would probably outgrow it. She is now 6 years old and shows no signs of completely outgrowing it, though she doesn't do it quite as much. Please note: we didn't really mind that she was nuzzling (and leaving little wet marks on our shirt), so we didn't do much to discourage her - unless you call petting her while she was doing it discouraging (heh). Sorry that the suckling is so intense as to disturb everyone. I have rambled on and have no suggestions - so I apologize for having taken up your time - but I do hope that maybe your cat will "outgrow" the need to suckle, or that Simba will grow more assertive in fighting her off.

**jennawing** · 04-20-2006, 09:57 AM

My cat Mouse nurses on my chin- always has- and kneads my throat. She is good about letting me cut her nails, but it is still irritating a lot of times- especially when I am trying to sleep and she is making smacking sounds. But I think- if she stopped doing it completely- I would probably miss that she likes me so much- so I just let her.

**moosmom** · 04-20-2006, 10:28 AM

Suckling is a sign that the cat was taken from it's mother too early. My cat MooShoo used to suck on his own teats till he outgrew it. Picture it, I'm sound asleep in my bed and this "sucking" noise is coming from under the covers.

It was a bit embarassing when I went to a cat show (when Moo was on the cat show circuit) and shared a room with some friends, who heard it.

**jennawing** · 04-20-2006, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by moosmom

Suckling is a sign that the cat was taken from it's mother too early.

Being taken from their mother may be the cause of this behavior in some cats, but the real cause is due to their personality. Position in the household among other cats can also be a factor in how their personality developed when they were young- as well as the way they were introduced, how the introduction went off, etc. Most sucklers have an obsessive disposition in general- there will be many habits, toys, activities that they focus very strongly on. When you see a cat lay its ears back and close its eyes and keep on doing something they are being scolded not to do- it is a compulsion- a behavior that can be channeled into other activities, but not very likely eliminated. You can try to find him a new hobby- maybe a toy to obsess over instead- but he is always going to focus strongly on something to the point of irritating his humans.