My kitten is suckling on my other cat

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Florendina Icon representing the flag French
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Hi everyone,

I've got two Siamese-crosses at home: Ulysse, who's 9 months old, and Ramsès, who will be 5 months soon.

They both get on really well and are neutered (we adopted them from a rescue).

For a little while now, I've noticed that Ramsès has been suckling on Ulysse, even though he was three and a half months old when we got him, was fully weaned, and had lived with his mum and the rest of the litter right up until his adoption.

What do you think of this behaviour?

Thanks in advance for your replies and advice!

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4 answers
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    • Mariamsing92
    Mariamsing92 Icon representing the flag French
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    My 7-month-old female cat is letting my 3-and-a-half-month-old male kitten suckle from her. Is this normal? Maybe he’s just looking for a bit of comfort?
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    Helixanne
    Helixanne Icon representing the flag French
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    Hi, I was just going to say that my Siamese cross loves suckling; she grabs a "blankie" and suckles while gently kneading it with her paws... she seems to love it so I haven't really questioned it, I just thought it was something comforting for her. I imagine that if one of them is bothered by the behaviour, the one who likes doing it will just find another blankie to suckle on.
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    Blue_Cat
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    Hi there,

    Siamese or Siamese crosses are big sucklers in general. Many will suck on blankets, their owner’s ear, or... their cat mates' nipples. It’s a comforting habit for them and it’s completely harmless. When Ulysses has truly had enough, he’ll definitely let the little one know.

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    Anonymous user Icon representing the flag French
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    It’s funny because it’s an episode from my cats' lives that I’d completely forgotten about, mostly because the situation didn't last and I wasn’t on this forum back then...

    I had one little scamp who used to suckle on another kitten of the same age, even though they weren't related...

    Mind you, that little one clearly had some malnutrition issues as he was the first kitten I ever had to bottle-feed because Yuna, the mum, had stopped producing milk.

    Obviously, I can’t really form a theory based on just one cat, but the behaviour didn’t last very long simply because the second one wasn’t a fan of it at all—especially since that second one was "Podge", who grew up to be the biggest of all my kittens (nearly 20 lbs)...

    However, Podge had his own weird habits too, as he took it upon himself to suckle from several females, including Yuna, who supposedly didn't have any milk for her own kitten...

    And that went on until he was over 7 months old...

    So, as far as the suckling goes, I don't think it's a problem; it's just a bit odd to watch. I actually thought my Podge was a girl and that I’d made a mistake thinking he was a boy, but nope...

    Translated from French

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