Ask Amy-Why Cats Suck?

Ask Amy-Why Is My Dog A Licking Maniac? Monday Mentions: Hill's, KWA & Av...

Ask Amy-Why Cats Suck?

Some baby-cats want a pacifier even after the milk-bar closes. Image copr. MariaMagnus

Now you negative-thinking folks out there, just STOP IT! I'm not talking about anything negative about cats, just that some like to–well–use fuzzies as pacifiers. Dogs do it, too, and I've addressed that before in previous Ask Amy videos.

Do your cats suck on toys or other objects? Kittens taken too early from their mom sometimes develop these behaviors and will suck on their own tails or a litter mate's toes, for example. Others target fabric which may develop into a behavior described as "wool sucking" that seems most common in Oriental-heritage cats (Siamese, Burmese, etc) as a part of pica behavior–eating inedible objects.

The sucking behavior seems to be accompanied by kneading, which makes sense. Kittens knead against the mom-cat's breasts to stimulate the milk to be released. So in adult cats, the kneading behavior hearkens back to this feeling of safety and well-being, and some cats simply take it a paw-step further and suckle on something at the same time.

Do your cats suck? How do you handle the behavior? Is it a problem for you, or an endearing foible? Does the suck-isity turn you into a better housekeeper to keep woolies out of your cat's paw-reach?

And for the doggy version:

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