My kitten has taken up a strange habit

[BlackVelvetElvis]

She's 3 1/2 months old and she has started to suck on her sister's paw pads.
After researching this, I found that kittens tend to do that when they experience an early seperation from their mothers. I also see that when she is in the mood to suckle, she becomes very attached to me and craves attention. Is there anything I can do to ease her anxiety? I give her all the love I can. How normal is this?

[CatWoman]

1. one of SoCalDem's kittens

kept sucking her brother's penis. :wow:

She'll tell you about it I'm sure.

Poor little guy.

[SoCalDem]

2. Ewww.. You HAD to bring it up..

Yep she had and STILL has a "suckle complex" only now it's my ear lobe that she likes..

She seriously injured her brother, and it cost me $100 to have his little penis fixed.. He was only 3 weeks old..

the sad postscript to this story is that the people who took him in, came home one day to find their sliding door open, and "Mickey" gone..

The apartment managers had their carpet replaced and a workman left the door open.. It broke my heart to find that out..

I can only hope that with a sweet disposition that he had, someone took him in..

[BlackVelvetElvis]

4. only $100?

Cats have some sharp teeth, it must have hurt the little guy. He had to have had a sweet disposition to deal with that. I hope he found a home.

[Mass_Liberal]

7. eeewwwwwwwwww

thats nasty as all hell.

[KG]

11. syntax is everything.

had to read socaldems reply before the real meaning of your post was clear.

[SoCalDem]

14. Oh god.. that made me laugh.. My brother is creepy, but not THAT

creepy :)

[TrogL]

3. Let her suck your baby finger

Seems to help at least a bit.

Putting a bit of milk on the end might make it attractive.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

6. I've tried that

She'll have NONE of it. She only likes the paw pads.
My mother even called a couple of pet stores to see if they carry pacifiers for kittens-not that I think she would go for it.

[flamingyouth]

5. My cat Josie sucks her tail

It gets all sopping wet with her saliva, which is quite gross. x(

She apparently was taken away from mommy way too soon.

[izzie]

8. I had a little cat that took her toy every place with her

and she would hiss if you got near it.It did not stop until the toy just fell apart and I never could find her one she liked as she did that one.She was a strange cat who lived over 18 years and I think she thought she was a dog. I figured she had not had a mother cat around long as she was a stray and found on the street.So they toy was a special thing to her.She was a guard cat.

[Dookus]

9. My guy Rudy

still sucks on my earlobe daily.

[Bertha Venation]

15. Cocoa does that too...

Cocoa was 5 weeks old when she came to us. She usually gets in a little "lobe time" with Mrs. V. every day. Mrs. V. is her surrogate mommy; she rarely left the house when Cocoa was tiny.

[jmowreader]

10. The last kitten I took in started suckling...

on one of my adult cats. One who had never been pregnant.

Within three days, the adult cat had started lactating. I guess her body figured that if there was a kitten out there trying to eat, it had better feed it.

This went on for six months before the kitten outgrew the adult cat and the adult cat kicked her ass once and for all.

[Terran]

12. Ours too

Muji, a seal point Ragdoll, was very young when we got him, maybe four weeks (he's almost a year now). The suckling behavior is fading somewhat at this point. He likes to suck on the bathroom rugs, one in particular. I have no idea why, other than maybe he likes the soft fibers and the thick rubber mat, maybe it feels like mama a little. He lies down and kneeds and sucks and usually falls asleep in the process--it's quite adorable!

[marigold20]

13. Our female kitten sucks on a blanket.

It's really loud, with the suckling noises and the purring. Her brother does not suck anything (and she shows no interest in him, if you know what I mean, say no more!). We adopted them at six weeks. Maybe that was too young? They are six months old now and seem well-adjusted. She only sucks on the blanket when we are in bed with her.