Conference misery::feline_v1

    When Ishtar was a kitten and was weaned from mom, she decided to adopt
    her older sister Meilikki as a surrogate mom and constantly tried
    nursing on her.  Not knowing what to make of the situation, Mielikki
    let her do it, until her nipples got so red and chewed up it became
    painful.  I pulled her off but that did no good.  So Mielikki started
    swatting Ishtar whenever the nursing started and after a while Ishtar
    learned. 
    
    Ishtar is now 1 1/2 years old yet still thinks she is supposed to nurse.
    Occasionally she'll try it on Mielikki, but Mielikki will swat her
    or walk away.
            
    Moral of the story?  Let them work it out themselves.  Sam will
    learn to stick up for his rights/nipples. :-)
    
    

    
    	There's another note a while back about kitties that like to
    	nurse on blankets, afghans, wooly things, etc (mine included!)
    	Maybe if you gave Sweetie a piece of fake sheepskin and put
    	her on it every time she tries to nurse on Sam, she'll get the
    	idea and adopt a `blankie' instead....
    

    	
    	Found it - see note 2072.
    

    Gee, these babies certainly weren't taken from their Mom too soon!
    Julie STILL nurses from Meg!!  Meg puts up with it and when she's
    had it, she belts Julie in the face and walks away.  Lately, I've
    been taking Julie away from Meg and substituting her favorite blankie.
    It works most of the time.
    
    Gary, does Katy still nurse from Emma??  God, I've raised neurotic
    kittens!!
    
    Jo, have any of your babies done this???
    
    Grandma Neuro!

    I wish Sam would give her a good smack.  I'm sure this would cure
    the problem but he is just so patient with her.  Now Cali, that's
    different.  She only had to swat Sweetie once to stop her from trying
    to nurse.
    
    I'll try the blankie trick starting tonight.  Wish me luck!
    
    Back to one of my questions.  Does anyone know if she will outgrow
    this habit?
    
    Jeanne
    

    Elmo came as a sucker.   Maybe it has something to do with those
    orange and white cats?  We've been trying to break Elmo's habit
    - he sucks on the quilt in the bedroom, though he has never tried
    sucking on Portia or Oscar.  One thing I will not tolerate is some
    cat climbing on my bed in the middle of the night, and start sucking
    so loud that I can no longer sleep.
    
    We've tried patience.  We've tried violence.  We've tried everything.
    Short of sewing his lips together, I'm out of ideas to stop him.
    And I'm not going to give him my quilt - no other blankies interest
    him.
    
    I hope you have better luck that we've had.
    
    	-Nancy

    Jasper took to kneading anything desirable, then narrowed it down
    to one little pillow.  He used to just knead it to his hearts content,
    now he has started sucking on it while kneading.  I think it is
    so sweet to watch...but then again he's not sucking in my ear in
    the middle of the night either.  If your cat (.6) has chosen the quilt
    as his "blankie" you may not be able to change that.  They KNOW
    what they want!!  At least mine tells me that several times a day!
    
    BTW-Jasper is orange and white too.
                        

    My last litter was weaned quite successfully by Joui.  She was a
    tyrant when it came to weaning.  They would try to nurse and she
    would let them have it!
    
    Why not make a sweater for your neutered male to wear.  We did this
    once with an Aby.  We used an old sock for her sweater, cut the
    toe off and then cut holes for the legs.  This will protect his
    nipples and make it hard for her to find them.
    
    You may have to resort to separating them until she gets the idea.
    I have no idea whether or not she will outgrow it.  She is kinda
    old to still be wanting to nurse.
    
    Jo

    Re .7
    
    Elmo was named Jasper until he came to live with us.  But, we still
    call him Elmo-Jasper when we are upset with him.
    
    And I refuse to let him have that quilt.  I slaved away for 8 months
    making that thing with my own 2 hands - and I didn't make it for
    some !@#$%^&*() cat to suck on.  I'm gonna win this battle if it
    takes me the rest of my life.
    
    	-Nancy

    re. 7
    
    I don't blame you for wanting to win this battle!!  I know what
    it's like to spend hours making something.  I think the reason Jasper
    likes his pillow so much is because it is filled with sort of the
    same material that is used for quilting.  Maybe you could make him
    his own "little" quilt to be used on your bed or anywhere else.
    It could be that he just likes the feel of the quilting.  Jasper's
    pillow is getting rather lumpy, but it is still the BEST thing around
    to knead and suck.  I envision having to remake it when it becomes
    a total wreck!
    
    Try the "his own guilt" idea.  And, remember, he probably thinks
    he's endearing himself to you by sharing your favorite thing!! 
    Aren't these guys cute?????
    

One hint when "replacing" a cat's favorite toy, etc.

If you make him his own quilt, you should keep it in bed with you for
a few nights, maybe on your pillow so it will smell like you.  Cat's are
very centered on their sense of smell and, according to one of my
"facts about cats" type books, the "nursing" or sucking behavior that
is described happens because the cat feels like the "baby" to EITHER the
animal being nursed, or in the case of your quilt, to YOU - the quilt
carries your smell and is therefore a reassuring "mother".  The book
also says the cat will continue to do this unless it is "weaned", either
by the victimized animal refusing to allow the behavior, or by you
reprimanding your cat and restricting his access to the focus of the
behavior, whether another cat or a quilt....apparently some cats will
not voluntarily wean themselves and must be forced to stop nursing.
Hence the sometimes quite mean behavior of queens when they feel
it is time for the kids to grow up.

Due to the potential for infection from damaged nipples on the
males that are being used in this manner, it would not seem like
a good idea to allow it to continue.  I would work on "weaning" the
cat by monitoring both cats when together and refusing to allow the
behavior, while separating the cats when not around to monitor.
If it works like with mother cats, it can't take more than a few
weeks for the behavior to be stopped.

    Another vote for a (smelly) quilt of his own.
    

    When we brought Brittany and Melissa home, they adopted Melody as
    their mom.  They are now 8 months old and Brittany, especially,
    still trys to suck on Melody occasionally.  Melody was lucky tho--
    they always just suck on her fur, not her nipples.
    
    Melody actually liked it for quite a while and would purr while
    the little ones were doing it.  About a month ago, however, she
    started swatting them away and I've noticed that they don't try
    to do it as often as before.  So, I think that Melody, in this case,
    will take care of the matter.
    
    It is pretty funny seeing a cat of almost the same size sucking
    on another grown cat!
    
    Barbara