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Ok, I have three cats (well, four, but only three are involved in the weirdness). One of them is a year and a half old neutered male named Keiran, the other two are a pair of twelve week old kittens named Isis and Zeebee.
They’re related… Isis and Zeebee’s mothers are Keiran’s littermates, so that makes them nieces and uncle or something like that heh. Yes my sister has less responsibility than needed to own intact cats, but that’s a separate rant.
Anyways… lately, Isis and Zeebee have taken to trying to nurse… from Keiran. And he LETS them.
So… why are the kittens doing this, and more importantly, why is Keiran letting them?
Oh, here’s a picture… and yes, Keiran really is a male! The pictured kitten is Zeebee.
Yes, he has a bald patch on his side... he was sunning in the backyard on his leash a few weeks ago and the neighbor's grandchildren forgot to close the door… their tomcat got out and came over the fence and bit Keiran really bad on the side before I got out the door and rescued my baby. It abscessed (which cat bites tend to do, especially bad ones), and we had to have it drained and cleaned and such. It’s healing nicely though.
Posts: 58 | From: Colorado Springs, CO | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
All cats are strange. I had a nuetered tom who vigorously defended kittens from a friend's dog. Mama cat was having a hissy fit, nuetered tom was screaming, friend's dog was yelping and running. When it was all over nuetered tom jumped in the box and helped calm the kits down.
-------------------- I'll drive it ugly. You can't see the paint job when you're behind the wheel, anyway. Posts: 570 | From: Central Valley, California | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
Some male cats are just really good at being surrogate mothers or favourite uncles. We had a 3-legged feral male at the shelter who adored kittens. Some are better mothers than female cats except for not producing actual milk.
posted
Heh, that describes Keiran for sure! His sister was a *terrible* mother. If we saw her in the nest with the kittens, it was an event.
Fortunately, his mother and other sister (I told you my sister was an idiot) were good mothers, so the kittens were well cared for.
Now for the $100 question... why can't I have just ONE normal pet? Just one, thats all I ask... the closest to normal around here is the fish, and I doubt anyone can call a 10 year old, foot long plecostomus who can be hand fed and enjoys swimming around with rocks balanced on his nose "normal".
Posts: 58 | From: Colorado Springs, CO | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
Our tomcat used to bring in baby rabbits, without harming them (apart from terrifying them) because he thought they were kittens!
No-one has a "normal" pet. I have a cat that can't meow (she squeaks), a completely bonkers guinea pig, a dog that doesn't bark and steals food she doesn't like (she actually eats salad!) and a gecko that keeps trying to tunnel out of his vivarium.
-------------------- Brosandi. Hendumst í hringi Höldumst í hendur Allur heimurinn óskýr Nema þú stendur Posts: 694 | From: York, UK | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
"My cats are odd" ranks right up there with "Dog bites man" as non-news. All cats are odd.
My brother (he was adopted !) was a ginger cat - and he was very loving and was very maternal to any kittens brought into the house. Even more strangely for quite some time he had a nest in the front garden - in a bundle of old sticks where the tree had been trimmed back. When we dyed eggs one easter we put one in the nest...
He was far more maternal than the (neutered) female cats we had. Never saw him have a kitten trying to nurse - but we wouldn't have had any really young kittens.
Long live the oddness of cats.
Victoria J.
-------------------- Post accompanied by maniacal laughter. Posts: 577 | From: London, UK | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
In addition to the above mentioned cat, I've also had a cat that liked to sleep in the fridge and ate flies. Of the three cats we have now, one likes broccoli, another tries to dig me out of the bathroom if I shut the door, and the third acts like we've beat her, though of course we never had. Lady Neeva, the pleco doesn't surprise me. I had one that would hitch rides on my albino oscar, and the oscar would let it.
-------------------- I'll drive it ugly. You can't see the paint job when you're behind the wheel, anyway. Posts: 570 | From: Central Valley, California | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
The kittens are 'comfort nursing'. Kittens who are left with their mothers for a long while, will often continue to nurse long after they have stopped needing the nourishment. My grandmother told me about a cat a friend of hers had. The cat had kittens, and all the kittens, except one, were given away. Then she had another litter of kittens [this was in the days before people routinely fixed their cats]. One day, my grandmother came into her friend's laundry, and there was the mother cat curled up in her box. There were her kittens nursing - and their older sibling, who was as big as mum, was also nursing at the same time! When kittens are brought into a home where there are adult cats, they will often pick one of the cats as a kind of foster mum/dad. I have seen it happen on a number of occasions in my own home. In all the cases, the cat the kittens picked to act as their foster dad/mum, was a neutered male. And all the cases I have heard about where a kitten bonded with an adult cat, the cat was a neutered male. The foster dad/mum usually reacted with a kind of bewildered patience, allowing the kitten to play with them, beat them up, and chase them around the house. One cat I had, used to pin the kitten down, and give him a good wash.
Posts: 101 | From: Christchurch, New Zealand | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
My cat and my parent's cat "nurse". They sit on you (if you're wearing a woolly jumper) and knead your jumper while sucking it. Lovely! Apparently it means they were weaned to early and have developed an oral fixation (insert double entendre here)
-------------------- Brosandi. Hendumst í hringi Höldumst í hendur Allur heimurinn óskýr Nema þú stendur Posts: 694 | From: York, UK | Registered: Jul 2006
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Richard W
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
quote:Originally posted by Pikey Queen: My cat and my parent's cat "nurse". They sit on you (if you're wearing a woolly jumper) and knead your jumper while sucking it. Lovely! Apparently it means they were weaned to early and have developed an oral fixation (insert double entendre here)
I had a cat try that with me once and had no idea what it was doing...
You want to watch it, though, Pikey Queen. I'm reading a book on Witchfinders at the moment, and one of the standard things used as evidence of witchcraft was suckling sataning "imps" which were usually in the shape of common domestic animals such as cats.
(The women were examined for "teats" in their nether regions that the imps were supposed to suck blood from. They were also watched overnight for several nights until their imps turned up. Oddly it seems that quite a few of the confessions of witchcraft were obtained after the witch had been watched for several nights without sleep.
It's a good thing that sleep deprivation coupled with leading questions and the automatic worst interpretation of potentially innocent behaviour isn't considered a valid interrogation technique now, right? Otherwise we might get terrorist suspects confessing to things that were completely impossible, as routinely happened in these witch trials... Apparently the witches also formed "networks" and were encouraged to inform on each other.)
Posts: 8725 | From: Ipswich - the UK's 9th Best Place to Sleep! | Registered: Feb 2000
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Luckily none of my mogs are into suckling body parts, but I've handled cats at the cat shelter that were earlobe sucklers. Thenie (who finally gets her thyroid op next Tuesday, hoorah!) is an armpit licker - she likes sweaty, salty pits with no deodorant/anti-perspirant - but gets carried away and starts nibbling. Armpits have a similar effect on her to catnip/valerian. I've only had one previous pit-licker (Squeak) though Scrapper loved licking the soles of my feet.
I recently went to the cells in Colchester castle which has a light and sound exhibit on witch interrogations. I saw the Rory McGrath bloody histories programme about Mathew Hopkins and that was filmed partly in Colchester Castle's cells. We had the assizes court here in Chelmsford and quite a bit of witch stuff. With my furry tribe and their licking habits and my collection of moles and skin tags, I'd've been doomed. So far i have never had a cat named Pyewacket.
posted
Years ago, my mother's cat's kittens chose a dog for their foster parent. Even though the mama kitty was still there, the kittens would attempt to latch onto Joker, a male (unaltered) Yorkshire terrier. He wasn't quite sure what the kittens had in mind, but he didn't object. We also had a case of 'chain nursing.' Mama cat had kittens and continued to let them nurse long after necessary. Daughter cat grew up had kittens, and nursed them while still nursing herself.
-------------------- I'll drive it ugly. You can't see the paint job when you're behind the wheel, anyway. Posts: 570 | From: Central Valley, California | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Pikey Queen: My cat and my parent's cat "nurse". They sit on you (if you're wearing a woolly jumper) and knead your jumper while sucking it.
One of our cats will do that, but she prefers to do it on my hair at night. Thankfully my hair is long so she's happy if she gets the end of a braid.
Noemi
-------------------- Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult. My blog, no guarantees about witty or intelligent content. My current projects. Coveted Beads <---- our eBay store, new items being added somewhat regularly Posts: 8418 | From: Wyoming | Registered: Feb 2002
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