How long do kittens suckle their tail?

[sunnyday123]

I have never heard of cats suckling their tails....however, my tortie chews on plastic like you wouldn't beleive. My vet tech did say it has something to do with being taken away from their Mothers too early....

And if anyone can please explain to me why they feel the need to stand on you and knead you until you pass out from the pain I would be forever in your debt!

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

Don't all cats "knead"?

No, I have 4 cats and only one of mine kneads and it is so annoying, because I can't make him stop. I love for him to sit in my lap, except for the kneading. The other 3 don't do that at all.

I have never had one that suckled anything. I have one that will reach up and pat me on the arm Don't know where he got that, he is about 6 years old.

Suzanne

 

[DarthKTrava]

I have never heard of cats suckling their tails....however, my tortie chews on plastic like you wouldn't beleive. My vet tech did say it has something to do with being taken away from their Mothers too early....

And if anyone can please explain to me why they feel the need to stand on you and knead you until you pass out from the pain I would be forever in your debt!

Several of mine knead with claws but I have one that doesn't use her claws.

We did have a cat years ago who would suckle on this one spot on Mom's bathrobe she had at the time.

But no tail-suckling.

 

[imabrat]

I have 2 5 month old kittens, they're brothers, but neither suckle. They do knead on me with their claws, and they lick me. They'll just come up to me and start licking my leg, or worse, when I'm sleeping it's my face. They also like to use me as a springboard when I'm sleeping.

I also notice they don't meow unless you hold them against their will. They do this bird call noise, almost like a purr but not really. It's really quite weird.

 

[Irish9697]

Oh my goodness!! He is so absolutely ADORABLE!!! I love him and your older one!!!

I have 5 cats...

2 of them are brothers that I raised from 4 days old, so I bottlefed them and was their mom cleaning them, making them go to the bathroom and litter-training them. Both of them are VERY close to me. One of the two is a big kneader (but no sucking by either), the other is a part time kneader, but they both are very much on me and around me most of the time.

Of the other 3, 2 will very rarely knead. They are all very close with me though as they were all babies when I got them.

My parent's cat is 15 and still sucks and kneads. She's done it since the day she came home and she was only about 9 weeks then...and she too makes that loud smacking sound...

 

[MickeysMommy]

Wow! I never heard of cats "suckling" on objects or tails before...short of when they were born and I thought all cats "kneaded". Interesting!

 

[sunnyday123]

but I have a question and this seems like a good place to ask...

I found a cat Monday night...he actually is from the house two doors down, the guy moved in with his g-friend and is trying to sell the house, so he put the cat out. Everyday on the way home, I had to see this little black head pop up to see who was coming. It finally got to be too much so I went to feed him, and he came running! He followed me home and is super friendly and affectionate. He sat on my porch on a blanket for about 2 hours. My cousin took him home and all is well. He's a really nice cat. They went to the vet today and he is declawed and the vet said he is about 5-6 years old. My aunt seems to think that this cat is going to kick the bucket in about 2 years because "cats don't live that long". Now, she's had cats all her life, but I think she's off base on this one. I've known numerous people who had cats live to around 12-13 and older.

What's the typical life span?

 

[freckles and boo]

What's the typical life span?

Indoor cats can make it to twenty and beyond. My guy is nearly sixteen and with the exception of a little kitty dementia ("where was I going?") he is very healthy. My mom has two sister kitties who are both seventeen but they are definitely declining. My husband's grandmother had one live to twenty-one.

 

[torinsmom]

I had a kitty who died in July and she was 19! She would have probably lived longer if she had not developed hyperthyroidism I would say the average life span of an indoor cat is 10-12 years at least.
Marsha

 

[Diane]

I never heard of a cat sucking it’s tail before. The cat I have now chases her tail just about every day. She is 5-6 years old now. I thought this was something only kittens did (chase tail).

Previously, I had a cat (Misty) that sucked a stuffed animal duck. It was sort of a nightly ritual. She would lead me to the duck and I would have to pet her while she ‘nursed’ it. She would purr and knead and it almost seemed like she was in a trance. We used to refer to it as “doing the duck.” I discovered that it was a really good time to brush her. I bought one of those grooming mitts and would wind up with a mittful of fur every night.

She also liked to lick plastic bags--usually grocery bags, but nearly any type of plastic wrap was acceptable. She used to lead me around the house and would have to stop and lick every bag she could find. I was forever cutting grocery bag handles (so she wouldn't get her head caught in them when I wasn't there) and hiding plastic bags. When I asked the vet about it, she said that it is probably because the bags are coated with oil from animal fat so that they don't stick together.

We got Misty when she was 10-12 weeks old—that’s not too young, is it? She ‘did the duck’ almost every day from the time we got the stuffed duck for Easter, and she died when she was 14. I still have the duck and some pictures of her with it that I keep in a plastic storage tub.