Provide your cat with some mental stimulation. Keep blankets, sweaters or other articles of clothing out of their reach, and if the cat's desired object is a piece of furniture, isolate her from that room.Ĥ. Long strands of wool or other linear material can be problematic and should be avoided. Provide access to something that satisfies their suckling urge but won’t harm them. If cat suckling seems to be caused by stress, try to eliminate or minimize stressors by using a synthetic pheromone, like a Feliway plug-in diffuser, or by giving your cat extra attention and playtime.ģ. Providing both hiding spaces and vertical escape areas, like cat trees, as well as making sure there are adequate, separate resources for each cat in a multiple-cat household, are vital to preventing most behavioral disorders in cats. Separate eating, elimination and sleeping areas are paramount to a cat’s sense of well-being. Make sure to meet the environmental needs of cats-always! Virtually every stress-related behavior in cats can be attributed to a lack of proper resources. How to Make Sure Your Cat’s Needs Are Being Metġ. However, if it is causing excessive stress to the owner or is leading to ingestion of foreign material ( pica) resulting in excessive vomiting or gastric upset, you should try to reduce or eliminate the behavior. As it is a soothing, calming and instinctual response for the cat, indicating comfort and contentment, it is probably best to just accept cat suckling as a normal cat behavior. A full health history, medical exam and possibly bloodwork should be done to determine an underlying medical cause. In this case, a veterinarian should definitely be consulted. There is no known organ-specific disease that cat suckling is related to however, if it begins fairly spontaneously, it could be a sign of pain (like dental pain) or other stress, and the cat could be suckling as a coping strategy. These include a lack of environmental stimulation, various anxiety disorders and environmental stress or conflict. The diseases that would be direct causes of adult cat suckling would be behavioral disorders. Weaning ExperienceĮxcessive suckling behavior has been linked to early weaning in a number of cases. Oriental breeds, such as Siamese, Balinese, Tonkinese and their crosses, seem to be more prone to adult cat suckling than European or North American breeds. Other signs of stress include over-grooming behaviors, paw-sucking, tail-chewing or flank-licking. If a cat is stressed, she may exhibit obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and that can include cat suckling. This is evident in the post-weaning kitten behavior of suckling when no milk is present. Both are normal and seem to be relaxing for a cat, whether milk is present or not. If a kitten is very relaxed or comfortable, kneading behavior usually occurs-often followed by suckling behavior. You can think of it as being similar to human thumb-sucking, which, at least superficially, seems like a fair comparison. This cat behavior can even last into adulthood, with a cat suckling on objects like a blanket, a fuzzy toy or a piece of clothing (often wool or a similar texture). The instinct to suckle is very strong in young kittens, and they may try to suckle anything soft, warm and fuzzy, especially if it resembles a mother cat. Understanding the behavioral components is essential to discerning whether modification is warranted. While it may be a difficult cat behavior to stop or deter, it is rarely harmful. Cat suckling can happen with anything that vaguely resembles the original suckling target: the mother cat’s mammae (nipples) and surrounding hair. When cat suckling behaviors occur in adult cats, though, it tends to gets more attention and can be viewed as abnormal.Ĭat suckling can be directed towards humans, with cat suckling on fingers or skin, or it can be done on fabrics (like blankets and towels). Cat suckling is a common, generally non-harmful cat behavior that occurs in all breeds and all ages of cats.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |