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Im hoping if i start a new thread on this, someone might be able to help me out. So if you read about it on my Meet Iggy, im sorry. But Im really really really going crazy here and hoping somebody, ANYBODY might have some insight/advice/ideas ANYTHING on this....
Iggy wont stop licking/sucking on my clothes.
Recently, in the last 2 weeks, Iggy has been trying to lick/eat anything Im wearing. Especially my new chenille robe! but anything Im wearing will do....sweatshirts/teeshirts, even tries it on my jeans. This has happened before and after showers. With and w/o any sort of body lotion/spray. Doesnt really do it to anyone else in the house. Maybe a half hearted attempt here or there, but every time I pick him up, he starts purring like mad, closes his eyes, mashes his face in my clothes, and starts chewing.....
Its gotten to where I can not pick him up/hold him AT ALL w/o him doing this. And if i had him off to someone else/put him down, he will do whatever it takes to get back on me to do this. I sat here earlier putting him down ovr and over and over and over, and it got to the point where he was making these awful little moan/mmmrrrreeeaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwlllllllllllllllll when i pulled him away. (this was on both my sweatpants/sweatshirt and the blanket i was wrapped up in.)
This happens on a full tummy, just before eating, when treats are right there, doesnt matter.
Can anyone help me before this drives me just batty? Id lvoe to be able to hold Iggy/pet him w/o him going all obsessed like this and soaking down whatever item of mine he is chewing/licking on.
please help...
he has a full bowl of kitten food at all times sitting out, and his water dish of course. Plus, he gets his bowl of kitten formula as well, even though the vet said he should be off it by now (just finishin up the can first, which he totally okayed).
We've discussed getting another kitty, but we're really at our limit right now, especially the husband. He does get tons of attention, pretty much is only by himself when its bedtime and even then, he has his special plush friend who he curls right up to.
will he outgrow this then?
I had a rescue kitty many years ago....he was a maine coon who was orphaned at 2 1/2weeks old...we did it all by the book, and he never did anything like this.....was all weaned and all by 8weeks, could Iggy just be more needy?
Im anxious too that he will lick these fibers so much it'll make him ill.
Thanks for the advice Woof!
He loves you! You are mama to him and he's trying to nurse off you. I think it's more psychologiocal than physical need. Just get a towel to hold him on and let him go at that.
He's what, 7 wks old now? As you said in the earlier post, too young to have left his cat mama. Just try to be understanding of his needs and he should grow out of the worst of it. Be happy he's found you to take care of him!
he's 9weeks old now.
oh, i do love him, and im very very happy he is a part of our family. Its just been driving me batty with him doing that every single time i pick him up. sigh. well, guess he's decided its not time to be weaned.
so him doing that wont cause him to lick up/suck off to much fibers and become ill? I really worry with the fuzzy stuff...some can be removed til he's older...but not everything...hummmmm.....
Some cats just do this more than others. I've had some that do it and some that never do, and it was not always clearly related to age of weaning. I've known a few who suck their own nipples. He may or may not grow out of it. I don't think there's really anything you can do about it, to be honest. If you get another cat and that cat enjoys/tolerates being suckled on he might transfer his habit onto the new one, but there's no guarantee.
I've read that Siamese tend towards this a bit more. Any chance that's in his background?
It doesn't usually cause problems but I've heard (never witnessed) of some extreme cases where the ingestion of a lot of wool did sicken the cat, but I think that's very, very rare.
I can't remember the conclusion, but there was a story about this in Nicholas Dodman's "The Cat Who Cried for Help".
I know it's driving you crazy, but I do think it is a sweet habit
Every time I laid down in bed to read or watch TV my first cat would climb on to my chest and lick my earlobe while purring madly and kneading the pillow behind my head with both paws. He was adopted as a very young kitten from a local park where his mother abandoned him and yes, I always believed it was latent nursing with who he perceived to be his mama.
Obviously my earlobe never delivered any milk but it didn't matter. The nuzzling and suckling behavior was a bonding ritual he enjoyed and I didn't mind at all. In fact, when I remember him I miss that the most.
As time goes on your kitty will probably curtail the nursing or just do it during certain times.
Enjoy him!
I agree with SouthernBelleInUtah, he thinks you're his mother. I think the majority of it will calm down when he gets older, but some kitties will "knead" for all their lives. It's a display of affection, and it comfors them.
My GirlKitty curls up in a ball on my lap, sucks her back toes, and kneads. It's a great incentive for my keeping her claws short!
Her brother does not do that. We don't know where these cats came from, but I'm betting that they were the last of a litter, abandoned in the alley, and that she was the runt.
well.....i had told my husband i had wanted another baby.....lol
I have no idea what he has in him. Could have siamese.The..lady(using the term lightly here) that i got him from, had no clue who the father was. She really didnt care either. theres some pic of him on his Meet Iggy thread, but prob. not good enough to see any siamese. Of course...that mmmrrraaaeeewwwwlllllll he does when ive had enough of the licking/sucking could SOUND siamese. I told my husband when he does that, he sounds like a cat in heat!
when Cricket (my MC) was teeny, his fav. place to be was on the back of my neck, under my hair w/his nose pressed behind my ear. he'd purr and knead, but never did the lick/suck. Of course, that fav. place of his got a bit more challenging when he grew to his full size!! lol
well, i guess each has their own little deals and ways. Hopefully he'll start curtailing this before TOO much longer....sweet, and understandable but still worries me some(and admittedly, when he is obsessed about it, and im trying to do other stuff it does bug me...sorry. sigh...)
on the up side about it all too though, for anyone who might be worrying, he is a wild and crazy playful boy the rest of the time. His wee owner (my 7yr old daughter) even used the last of her Christmas $$ that grandparents had sent, and bought him one of those climbing tree/scratching post/sleeping spot play deal. He does love that. But yeah, hes happy, playful, and spoiled.
thanks for all the advise and help. i really do appriciate it all!!!!
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