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How does one break an older kitten (17 wks) from trying to nurse on an older cat, who is not their mom?

The girls get along for the most part but when our older one wants to rest the kid will join in only to try to nurse on her. Of course that last about 10 seconds and then the older one flys off with the kid in persuit who also just happens to have a mouthful of fur in her mouth! The kid is desperate in her attempts. She has lots of stuffed animals, soft blankets, etc and has not tried to nurse on us, but does suck on her feet and legs quite a bit when she does get sleepy.

Anyone have any suggestions on breaking or transferring this behavior? If she would stop the act of nursing I'm sure they'd be best buds. We'd like to be able to leave them together during the day now instead of locking one up while we work. When she gets in this nursing mode it takes us to break up the fallout.

Only the other cat can stop it, using the reactions you are seeing. There is nothing effective you can do, other than keeping them apart, which is not a good long term strategy because it may interfere with their adjustment to each other and becoming friends. Usually, it is a stage and the kittens stops. However, some cats will do this their entire lives.

KewlKat Wrote:How does one break an older kitten (17 wks) from trying to nurse on an older cat, who is not their mom?

The girls get along for the most part but when our older one wants to rest the kid will join in only to try to nurse on her. Of course that last about 10 seconds and then the older one flys off with the kid in persuit who also just happens to have a mouthful of fur in her mouth! The kid is desperate in her attempts. She has lots of stuffed animals, soft blankets, etc and has not tried to nurse on us, but does suck on her feet and legs quite a bit when she does get sleepy.

Anyone have any suggestions on breaking or transferring this behavior? If she would stop the act of nursing I'm sure they'd be best buds. We'd like to be able to leave them together during the day now instead of locking one up while we work. When she gets in this nursing mode it takes us to break up the fallout.

Your third kitten in your picture is so adorable! I want a seal bicolor so badly. Is the kitten a male or female? When do you get the kitten. Congratts on your new baby, absolutely beautiful!

Ebony tried to nurse on Diwan once they got along. Didi showed him very clearly that those were not acceptable habbits and the little one stopped...

Deb,

Thanks. The new kid is female and yes, we love seal/bi's too. We hope she's coming on or about 1 August. Not much longer now. Here's a link to the page that I posted a bit about her: http://www.ragdollcatguide.com/forum/sho...p?tid=2360

Val,

Tippy is doing her best to discourage the behavior but the kid is like the energizer bunny and just won't be discouraged. Hence, our intervention. We don't want Tippy to accidently hurt Maddy nor do we want Maddy to hurt Tippy.

Ebony is very stubborn too... he just doesn't get what NO means. Diwan is a very gentle cat so I wasn't afraid that he could hurt him and after two weeks the problem was solved. I wouldn't say the same about Cyrano who has become quite tyrannic since Ebony moved in. I start to worry about my Birman, but then he is being a Birman. He is lucky that his brothers are not as aggressive as he is.