Old habits die hard.

Hello, I'm a newbie to this forum.

One of my cats, whom I call Night, has a bad habit of suckling. He is about two and half years old and it started when he was a little kitten. He only suckles me and my fiance on occassion but the habit has grown to the point, that everytime I pet him or show him any amount of attention, he wants to suckle my shirt. He is quite persistant when he wants to be and will follow me around the house until I sit down somewhere.

Is there any way to break a cat of this habit?

 

I dont mean to be rude, welcome to the forum, but the word is edited out, so Im either having a big Blonde moment, or Im not quite getting the meaning of the post??????? :shock:

 

gah, sorry, I hadn't noticed. It also left off a few letters on the word. You know what a kitten does when it feeds from a mother? He tries to s*ckle me as if I was a momma cat.

Does that help?

 

how old was he when you got him? If he was really really young he probably just developed the habit.
I would simply set him down when he starts doing this.

 

We used to have a kitty that liked to do that, too. He liked to do it to the silky edge of an old blanket we let him have but he eventually grew out of it.

I guess you could just discourage him from doing it or find a piece of cloth or something he likes and allow him to do it to that until he grows out of it.

By the way, welcome to the forum. Let us know how he does?

 

:m23: and welcome! You can always cut up a piece of your old shirt and carry it around for Night to s*u*c*k*l*e on. My first kitty used to do that too but only on his scratching post and it was so cute and funny. I really don't think they ever outgrow it. It's too much of a habit and it's comforting to them. :mrgreen: Do you have any pics of your little tikes to share with us?

 

Hi and welcome to Auspet. Do you have a wool sweater or blanket that you no longer use? If so, put this where your cat likes to sleep (such as the couch/sofa). Your cat can then use this to knead on. A lot of cats that were taken away from their mama cats end up kneading on us or other fabrics. It's normal and perfectly okay. However, if you don't want them to do it to you, place him on the wool blanket/sweater so that he can continue to knead that instead of you. One of my sister's cat's ended up kneading on a huge stuffed bunny animal she had. Just try a few items and see how it goes.

 

I appreciate all your suggestions. I'll try and give him an old shirt of mine whenever I find him sleeping. Most often though, he won't s*u*c*k*l*e unless I am petting him and most often he prefers to be in my lap at the time. I'll still give it a try though.

As for photos of Night and my other babies, I'll gladly post them, once I reach the 10 post requirement to post links

 

My cat also has this habit, but (almost) only on the blanket in his basket. It's actually so bad that the blanket is full of holes... :mrgreen:

 

My friends cat used to suck on her mums fingers and thumb for ages and ages, but "Only" to her, she wouldnt do it to anyone else, funny hey..