Mia wouldn't stop suckling on one spot on her right arm. She does it when she is relaxed or is trying to relax, and she'd suckle and purr loudly at the same time.
The vet said that it's usually because they're hand reared and they were right. Mia's mom was a first time mom and had no idea what to do with her babies. She apparently didn't feed them properly and kept sitting on them. So eventually the breeder had to interfere.
The vet said this behaviour will go away for some kittens when they grow up but may remain for others. I'm concerned that Mia may be the latter as she was the runt of the litter. I'm also worried that if this behaviour doesn't stop, she may end up with a bald patch on her beautiful fluffy arm. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we can do???
There is not much you can do that I have ever read. You can gently interrupt the behavior by some diversion, but there will be much time when nobody is around to do that. It is either anxiety self medication or infantile behavior. The latter is likely to be outgrown - and is likely what is happening. The anxiety origin behavior can also stop, so look for sources of stress and remove those. In general, one just has to wait and see.
Our kitten Luna does the same, but not on her own arm, but she suckles in my neck. She's from a litter of three and we have two of the three kittens. The other one (Eddie) and their sibbling who lives elswere don't suckle and their mother was a perfect mom.
So I don't think it is because of the mom. Some kittens just do this. It may help to give her a very soft fleece blanket to give her a safe and comfort feeling.
Felix and Ava used to suckle on each other's belly in the middle of the night. They tended to do it when they were sleepy or just waking up. We were worried about them causing abscesses on each other from the suckling and never growing out of it too. But they have finally stopped doing it and we have only just noticed. So it took until they were about 7 months until they gave it up. We spoke to the vet and he mentioned it was a comfort thing and reminded them of their Mum. There were suggestions of putting apple vinegar on the spots they go for to discourage the behaviour, but I felt that it wasn't a great idea to "punish" them for a mainly harmless behaviour that they used to comfort each other. We were both surprised when we realised that we haven't woken up to them suckling on the bed at night. We were beginning to think they would not outgrow it too. Maybe just a bit of patience and try to discourage her by giving her a toy or getting her attention on something else. We used to separate Ava and Felix, and if they came back to it then pop one or both on the ground. Once they were a bit more awake they were less inclined to do it.
My boyfriend's cat Neutrino used to "nurse" on one of his best buddy's nipples.. the other cat Axion was a boy and always had one enlarged nipple. Go figure, I guess it worked for them!
I know that birds pick feathers when neglected or highly stressed.. at least Mia won't end up bald like they do!
I hope that Mia relaxes and is able to stop the suckling, the soft fleece blanket sounds like a nice idea. You are very attentive, probably what she needs right now
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Hey all
Thanks for the replies. I think Mia has settled in quite well. I don't think she's stressed or anything when she suckles but it's more like a habit. She seems to be doing it less and less so hopefully it'll completely stop sometime soon. I really hope she won't end up with a bald patch on her arm like a bird, haha.