My kitten

Post Feline health, behavior, and veterinary questions here
Post Reply
marley
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:39 pm

My kitten

Post by marley »

My kitten is 4 months old and is still trying to get milk out of our other cat who is a year old, who is not the mother, who does not have milk. What can we do to stop him from doing this? I'm not sure if this is the right msg board for this, but if you can help that would be great, im a first time cat owner!
MJ
Posts: 107
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2005 3:46 pm

Re: My kitten

Post by MJ »

That kind of behavior isn't very unusual or harmful. It's really just a comfort thing. If the older cat isn't upset about it, I personally wouldn't worry about it very much.

The kitten may very well grow out of the behavior in time on its own.

Was it taken away from its mother or weaned by its mother a little early?

I'm not sure about how you would go about stopping this behavior if you really feel the need to, but someone else may have some suggestions.
User avatar
Traci
Site Administrator
Posts: 15325
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2003 1:27 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: My kitten

Post by Traci »

I'm assuming the adult cat is female? Is she spayed? Does she allow the kitten to do this or is she irritated by it? Have you checked her abdomen for any signs of abrasions, bruising, open cuts/scratches etc? If she has any sores where the kitten is trying to nurse, you need to address this by getting her seen by your vet immediately.

As MJ asks, was the kitten weaned too early? Weaning from the true mother should not be done until around 12 weeks of age.

What are you feeding the kitten?

Does he have toys, etc and do you spend quality time with him to keep him active and interested in playtime/activity?
..........Traci
Post Reply