Kitten suckling stuffed animal

[NicoleK]

Hello all,

I hope this is not a silly question, but I have a little fluffy stuffed dog that I put out for my 4 kitties to play with because I thought they might like it. Well, two of them loved it and started suckling it almost immediately. It was so cute, they were acting just like it was real, nuzzling and kneading and purring up a storm!!!!! I got kinda worried because I didn't know if this behavior was OK or if they would ingest any fur or anything so I took it away from them after a while. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this, is it OK for them to do this??? They seemed to love it. The kittens are 19 weeks old now. Also, they were seperated from their mother when they were a week old (she had halth problems and almost died) so they were bottle fed from that time on, would that have anything to do with it?? Thanks for any feedback you may have!

[davet]

opinion but i think that is no problem..we had a cat who used to suckel on the knobs on a shenile, chenile, what ever , bed spread...did it for year and grew up normal..if any cats ar normal

[Traci]

Nicole, I concur with Davet, I don't think there is any harm, I have used stuffed animals as "surrogates" with newborns without their mothers, for warmth, bonding and for that surrogate feeling. As long as the toy does not have any harmful parts (like string, bells, eyes and nose that can come off and be swallowed, long synthetic fur, etc), I think it's fine for them to play with it. Ideally, those toys with short-cut material like velour are best and safest.

Yes, you are correct, this could very well stem from their early weaning.

[Saphire_1975]

Sammy suckles on everything it seems to have a calming efect on him, I think of it like a kid sucking their thumb.

Saphire