cat suckling his tail

ameee

Hi I have two lovely cast about around nine months old one male one female, the male cat has always had a bit of a strange habbit of going into a trance like state, kneading my clothes and suckling his tail.He usually starts if ive been petting him but he also does it when he is tired to get himself to sleep and while its cute he sogs up my clothes and his tail is looking worse for wear any ideas how I might stop this behavior?Ive tried removing his tail from his mouth but he just keeps doing it Ive even put mustard on his tail to deter him but he seemed to really enjoy the taste :rolleyes: I mentioned it to the vet who looked at me like I had ten heads said he never heard of it before

lolo62

thats mad!

ive never heard of that but it sounds like he's milk treading you as if your momma cat...the trance state is because he's reliving kitten-hood memories of treading mums belly for milk

sounds like he's just taken it up a notch and incorporated in his tale for a more enhanced experience

id say he'll grow out of it as he's still quite young...when my two were small one would religously groom the other while leaving his own fur was nearly matted with dirt...it was just a learning curve and he eventually got the gist of what he was supposed to do

dudmis

I had an Abyssinian that use to knead me all the time whilst dribbling. She use to drown me but she seemed to be soooo happy and content that I let her work away. It was the big dribbly kisses that use to drive me mad

Shanao

How old was he when you got him? This happens a lot with kittens that were taken away from their mother too early or were handreared. In my experience, they eventually grow out of it but it can take a long time before they do. You could try putting a bit of Vick's vaporub on his tail to deter him, but otherwise, its simply something you'll have to put up with

ameee

he was ten weeks old or thats what I was told anyway? we got the female three weeks after him and she was also ten weeks when we got her and she did seem a good bit smaller so I didnt question his age although she is still way smaller then him I actually think she may have been the runt so maybe he was younger then I was told?the lady said he was her favorite kitten but she owned three toms so couldnt keep him so perhaps she wanted to get rid fast because of her other cats

lolo62

i wouldnt worry about it theres nothing wrong with him, id say give him lots of cuddles and he'll grow out of it

at least he's affectionate...it would be worse if he was hissing!

saleda

Our cat does exactly the same thing except with his paws. You should see the state of his paw by the time he's finished. It's definitely a comfort thing. Apparently he was bottle fed when he was tiny. Not sure why as we adopted him when he was one. I don't think he will ever grow out of it, nearly five now and still does it. I think it's cute :-) I wouldn't worry about it if I were you unless his tail falls off

ameee

yeah I guess if he hasnt stopped by now he never will,it is cute just worried he will end up with a baldy tail