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My small cat willnot stop sucking on the blankets!!

6.5K views 17 replies 16 participants last post by  faint  
#1 ·
We have a kitten around 2 months old. We got when a little after he was weened. Ever since, and every other hour he makes his way onto our bed and sucks the blankets! He does this during the day, but A LOT during the night. It's hard to sleep when you can hear little slurpping noises and loud purring from him all night.
Why would a cat do this? How can I get him to stop?
 
#2 ·
He's doing it because its instinctual for him. He is "suckling" like he did with his mama! Usually cats will knead at the same time. He must be very content when he's doing it. My kitten did this for the first couple of months, sucking and kneading on any soft blanket he could find. He is 8 months old now and hasn't done it in a while! Your cat will grow out of it.


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#5 ·
It's called "wool sucking" and is generally the result of being weaned too early or too fast.

When I foster my bottle babies I will still offer a bottle to them long after they've gotten the whole eating thing down. Some will continue to take it while others don't but they all will eventually just lose interest in the bottle (or momma) before they're 8 weeks. They discover that it's more fun to eat on their own. But I let them decide when they are ready and I don't decide for them.


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#7 ·
My boys both were separated from mum too early, Doran at 10 days (and then I bottle fed him) and Muffin at 4 weeks (and he refused a bottle/syringe from day one so went straight to wet food).

The both suckled well past a year old, and Doran only lost the habit some time in the last year. Muffin stopped as well, but started again when I got a lovely fuzzy blanket for christmas that he loves.

I think it's adorable, so I've never encouraged them to stop. they only do it when they're super happy and comfortable.

At 2 months old he's still very much a baby, and it could partly be him comforting himself. Like a toddler sucking their thumb. I'd give it time and he'll likely grow out of it.
 
#8 ·
I have a 4 year old male that loves to lick/suck on my sweatshirts or tshirts, he lost his mother when he was less than 6 weeks old and contribute to not being weened, like you say it is cute and haven't stopped him.
 
#9 ·
the male in my username pic did it until he was 1 year old. We gave him a cheap white rope from walmart and whenever he would want to do it we would carry him to the robe so he knew to always do it over there. A lot of times he would be doing it and we would move our finger between his mouth and the robe and he would just sit there sucking on our fingers. I thought it was really cute and never tried to completely stop him. Besides him getting his own robe for $30 there was never any consequence that I saw to his health because of it. Maybe his breath would stink sometimes

We asked our vet about it and she said you can either just stop him each time he starts or make sure he does it on something that doesnt have thick long fabric strands so it doesnt get ingested by him.
 
#10 ·
I've got a couple that want to nurse & knead. It's never bothered me much. Neither one sucks on blankets tho, they grab on to my shirt. I've given up & accepted that at least once a day I'll have Methos or PuddyWoW parked on the momshelf and falling asleep with a mouthfull of shirt. Both were bottle babies & this just seems to be a habit I created & they persist in. Since Methos will be 16 in a couple days & PuddyWoW is 3 I really doubt I can convince them to quit.
 
#11 ·
My boys both do this. I guess I'm very used to going to sleep to slurping sounds! They don't suck on blankets though, one sucks on the tip of his tail and one sucks on a fleece toy. Here is what I woke up to the other morning:

Image
 
#12 ·
Winston is a year and a half and still sucks and kneads on my fuzzy throw. I don't mind him doing it at all. He does it at night while I am watching TV. He gets on my lap and sucks and kneads to his heart's content while loudly purring. He does not do that with anybody else. I used to think I was pretty special to him until I realized it is probably the blanket not me in particular. That poor blanket is probably the most washed throw in the world.
 
#14 ·
Our 9 month old doesn't so much suck on the fleece blanket, but drools, while kneading and purring. She's also taken to hopping up on the kitchen counter to reach the dish towel and chewing on the towel. We found her abandoned about 4 weeks old, so she missed out on her time with mama.
 
#16 ·
Awe...it sounds so sweet, but I can understand it disturbing your sleep.

My kitten is a week over three months, and every once and a while he will try to go after my boyfriend's nipple. I laugh my butt off, as I joke with my DB that the kitten thinks he is mom. It is too funny.
 
#17 ·
Our 17 year old male cat (part Siamese) was weaned too early, too. He would cuddle up w/us @ night and suck on our ear lobes and knead the back of our necks. It didn't last very long, but was disconcerting to wake up in the middle of the night to this. I think he decided he preferred curling up to our female cat when she allowed it, of course!
 
#18 ·
I had a cat for a few weeks on vacation that was a stray after some guy left him there after his divorce who would curl in my sweaters (while I wore them) and suck the inside of my sweaters. I thought it was cute, he looked about half grown so maybe 6-8 months old, he was in the lanky not so much kitten stage.