Adult cat likes to nurse

Well, she’s really more of an early teen. And I tried to search but didn’t find anything. My new kitty, Sissy, likes to curl up on my lap, “make biskets,” and try to nurse on my shirt. I had another cat, years ago, who did this, but she was still very young when we found her. That cat never quit trying to do that.

Any ideas as to why she’s doing this? Maybe she lost her cat mom too early? Any ideas how I can get her to stop? I got up a few moments ago with a big wet cat spit spot on my shirt sleeve.

Your cat loves you. Enjoy it. Prepare for it, if you don’t like the wet spot. :stuck_out_tongue:
All my cats, past and present, have done it.
One of my current cats does it too enthusiastically, it hurts! Ouch those claws… She’s being kept busy with a newly rescued abandoned/lost kitten now, though. :slight_smile: (Found it inside a parked car’s engine bay, sitting on top of the spark plugs meowing!)

Well, I’ve lots and lots of cats growing up. Only this one and the one other that I mentioned have done this. Does this mean that these are the only two who have loved me? I don’t want to think so. I worry that there is something else she needs that maybe I could work out?

I also think it has to do with being separated from mom too early. I rescued a tiny kitten way back when, I don’t know how old he was but he was about the length of my hand and needed to be bottle fed. He did the shirt-suckling thing until fully grown. Considering he weighed about 10kg then it was pretty funny. :laughing:

Yep, in my experience too, it’s early separation. Some cats will grow out of it (Jopie used to suck on one of the pads of her front feet, but has kicked the habit), others will continue doing it. Gou Le needs only hear my electric toothbrush being switched on at night and she makes a mad dash for the chair she knows I’ll sit in (only time in the day really that I sit my ass down at home) and she’ll nurse and nurse and nurse and tread (make biscuits?!). I don’t mind, in fact I find it quite endearing. But then the only place I’ll be going after with my slobbered on shirt is to bed (uhm, I do take it off first).

you know what’s funny? I have seven cats at home at the moment, and the only two that do this both had their mothers until the “appropriate” time. D2 is my only “non-rescue”; adopted from a family after being nursed by his mom for 2 months. He really likes the taste of my skin. The other one is Nari, a foster teen cat. Her mother was wild, a TNR case, but she did stay with her mother and sister in the vets for 6 weeks. Now she likes to suck on the fur of all the other cats. It’s quite fun to watch, as almost all of the other cats don’t mind the attention. Sometimes there’s a big pile-up of 4 or 5 cats and Nari is in the center nursing on whichever cat’s neck or arm is the closest. So far this hasn’t caused any injuries or damage to any human or cat skin, so I guess it’s not such a bad thing. Maybe it’s like some people who suck their thumbs, chew on their fingernails, or suck on their locks of hair.

You know, that actaully makes sense and I’d never thougt of it that way. But those habits in humans tend to coping mechanisms for stress, IMO.