My kitten thinks I'm her mummy - any advice please?!?

Question

Hi. Can any of you give me some advice?

My little cat, Pippin, is nearly 8 months old and she seems to think I am her mother. It's very bizarre.

To cut a long story short, my housemates' cat had 2 litters: the first gave us Merry, my 14 month old cat, and the 2nd brought 4 babies. When my housemates moved away last August, my fiance and I kept Merry, and two of the little ones, Pippin and Pepper.

They were all fine until December, when Pippin suddenly became very clingy. At night she sleeps snuggled up with me, which is cool... until she starts LICKING MY ARMPIT AND CHEWING MY HAIR.

Why on earth is she doing this? I've had cats all my life, and I have never had one who behaved like this. Is she suddenly missing her mum after all this time? What can I do to stop her trying to 'groom' me like this? I love her to bits but she's driving me potty!

She's woken me up before doing this, it's not very pleasant. She never tries it with my fiance - just me.

Don't get me wrong, I do think of my kitties as my babies and I adore little Pippin. I just don't like having my armpit drooled on/neck licked/ears chewed by the cats.

I love Pip and she's always welcome to snuggle - all our cats are, but YES, it is that bad when you get woken up by this every single night and have to work in the morning.

John - I thoroughly agree with you that the poor mummy cat should have been spayed, but the fact of the matter is that she's my former housemate's cat, and was before we lived together. I tried but my housemate didn't listen.

Did I mention that I love Pip? LOL!

Did I mention that I love Pip? LOL!

Answer 1

I have two cats we adopted from the shelter as kittens. One of them is like that.. tries to suck on my hair, follows me around etc. Its okay, I'm flattered he loves me that much. I do have to push him away sometimes, but we are afterall cat moms! its not a bad thing :)

Answer 2

Hi, mommycat! ;-)

Firstly, I'd like to defend you and say that no - it is not your fault if your housemate wasn't sensible enough to get his/her cat neutered! As long as all three of *your* cats are neutered by now, as they should be, I'm on your side!

It is clear that you love little Pippin very much! However, I can understand why you are a bit uncomfortable with his clinginess. Whilst it is very sweet, there is probably a part of you that feels it is slightly inappropriate.

My kitten has never licked me on the armpit, but has licked my nose and a bit of my face before. He sometimes likes to sleep right on/next to my head, snuggled in to (and often chewing) my hair. He did go through a clingy phase where he would follow me around everywhere. He still does it now at times if one of us leaves the room. He even sits outside the bathroom waiting for us! Bless him.

We found it useful to let him work things out on his own. When we first got him, he was quite lonely and cried for about three days. It was heartbreaking, and we gave him lots of fuss. But we also left him to it half the time. During the week when we are both working, we do not allow him to sleep in our bedroom. This may be the way forward for you, as it will teach him to be a little more independent, and he won't be lonely as he's got his little homies there! It also means you won't be woken up at 3am by his chewing anymore!

And on the occassions that he does lick you or chew your hair, best to just pick him up and put him somewhere else - if only to save yourself from one sore armpit and split ends!

I think if you encouraged him to step out on his own a little, you wouldn't lose the bond that you have, but it would just feel more appropriate to you.

I hope this helps! :-)

xx Emmie

Answer 3

Your housemate needs to get her pets spayed. You could have homed a cat from death row at the pound instead of making more.

That aside, your cat is being affectionate...although she may grow out of the licking and chewing as she has gets older. Sometimes, if she does it when you are sleeping, it may be a polite way to wake you up if she needs something, food, water, litter changed, cold etc. If it started in December, she may be getting cold. Or she simply may miss all her family and friends if your housemates moved and took their cats. My cat normally starts to lose it at about three months if I work overseas for a while so December is about right.

Cats are trainable, so if it bothers you, you can gently push her off until she learns. Plus if you are wearing deodorant it is not good for Pippin to eat it.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

I agree with loads of what's been said - and it's great to have cats who love you coz they don't mind what you look like or how bad your hair is or how stupid you feel - they just love you the way you are - though I'm sure you don't suffer from any of the above! But do you sleep with one arm under your head, or pillow, or maybe both arms up? You could try sleeping with a small cushion you could hold onto - you won't notice it, and the kitten won't be able to reach your armpits. It's certainly true that some armpits smell wonderful to cats and humans alike, she obviously thinks so, but be careful what you put under your arms - citronella is great against mosquitoes but it might bring you out in a rash. Cats don't like any citrus smell, nor do they like bananas, (though I don't know what your partner would think if you started massaging banana into your armpits). Whatever scent you use, dilute it with some baby oil or something so it doesn't hurt your skin, under arm skin is surprisingly sensitive. My cats have all at various times slept on my hair, my neck, stomach (especially when I was pregnant, for heaven's sake), in the bed, on it, under it where they can scratch around it and terrify me at 2 in the morning. They like to be cozy, as someone else said, she'll grow out of it - and into something else, no doubt.

Answer 5

Unfortunately, the only answer is tough love!
Two years ago I bought two kittens, one of which was the runt of the litter. She was much more timid than the other and very scared of people. Because of this I made loads of fuss of her every time she came towards me. Two years later I have a stalker for a cat, she won't leave me alone! She has the same behaviours you describe, she thinks she is entitled to get attention from me any time she likes, which is all the time!
The only thing you can do is remind your cat that your in charge. Pay as little attention as possible when she starts trying to get it and reward her with attention when she learns to sit quietly with you, but not on top of you.
She will cry and persist, but you have to ignore her, which is hard, but it's just like parenting a child who is too young to explain things with words, you need to show them what is and isn't acceptable.
Good luck!!

Answer 6

I have 5 cats. One is the mother and the others are her babies. The "babies" are almost a year old now, the mom is about 2. The mom chews on my hair when i'm sleeping in the morning. I think she thinks it's grass, because she absolutely loves grass. One of the "babies" still sucks on her mother, or on your fingers, whichever is there. I still haven't figured out why. I keep thinking she didn't get enough when she was actually a baby. (the mom was mean about feeding)

Answer 7

Why does my kitten always bite and suck my hair?

Mutual grooming is a way that cats create bonds between each other. A mother cat will clean and lick her kittens, not only does it keep them clean, but also it creates a bond between mother and offspring. Your kitten may be trying to create that closeness with you. Why don’t you start to gently groom your kitten with a soft brush? The earlier you begin, the more likely your kitten will enjoy these grooming sessions. Keep them short 1-2 minutes so that she does not object. In the meantime you can gently discourage your kitten from biting and sucking on your hair by removing her and engaging her in an alternate activity, perhaps grooming her or even a play session. Together you can create your own special bond. Some kittens seem to want to nuzzle and lick soft body parts. Often they might suck and nurse on them as well. The biting part comes in to as part of the nursing routine. I would urge you not to allow your kitten to do those things but redirect her to something else instead. 9-week-old kitten tries to be in physical contact with me constantly. As soon as I sit down she jumps in my lap. If I get up she is under my feet while I walk, and as I sit down she jumps up in my lap again. If I go in a room and shut the door, she waits on the other side. She doesn't paw or cry to get in, but she doesn't leave either. I feel bad leaving her there, but sometimes I need to do things that work better without a kitten in my lap. I don't want to anti-socialize her, but this seems like too much. Will she outgrow this phase and become more independent? What is the minimum amount of time a day I should be sure to spend with her?

Your kitten might be lonely if she came from an environment where there was quite a bit of activity. But it is okay to set limits on interactions. Be sure that you have met her needs for food and water every day. Also set aside some time for aerobic play using fun toys. Naturally, petting and holding her is one of the reasons we get our cats. Figure out when is the best time for you to be with her and then try to stick with a schedule. When you have other things to do, you can separate her if you need to, but also be sure to provide her with toys and activities to do while you are busy. You could also try providing a bed for her in the place where you work and teach her to stay there while you are busy. She probably will become more independent over time.

Answer 8

LOL My cat licks my hair too - when she's feeling ultra-cuddly and especially when my hair is freshly clean. None of her siblings or Mum do. I find it quite sweet that she loves me enough to groom me - well, until she uses her claws to keep my head in place to groom me better. At that point she doesn't get a little tap on her paws!

Your cat is grooming you. She's ultra-comfortable. You may want to change your underarm deodorant though - sounds like she's far too comfortable with the current perfume!

My cats are more likely to sleep with me in winter when it's colder. You may find Pippin moves elsewhere as the weather warms up.

Answer 9

My cat sammie does something similar to this. She sucks on my other cat, Mischka, until he makes her stop. The vet it was because she was seperated from her mother too soon and she does that for comfort. I would say that bottle feeding her would help, that is what i did with sammie and now she rarely sucks on mischka anymore. She's a year and half old now and she's definitely cut back, but i didn't take it far enough to get her to completely stop. Basically it seems like that might have been the case with Pippen, how old was she when the mother cat was seperated from her?

Answer 10

At approximately 4 weeks they don't desire milk from a mom cat, so which you do not could get it specific formulation, and don't try that answer that asserts to grant it infant formulation, cat and infant formulation is extremely different, in case you bypass to the pets section interior the procuring mall there could be kitten milk not formulation, its in basic terms like actual milk for kittens if the kitten isn't yet weaned you are able to bypass to a vet and purchase a small bottle style of like a infant bottle yet with a small teat for the kittens small mouth, those purely fee around 5 money and positioned the kitten milkin it, yet shop giving it nutrition. additionally whilst your interior the pets section you're able to purchase tender cat nutrition and combine it with water or kitten milk, except that's ingesting high-quality how that's. provide it a heat tub, cats hate water yet kitten are extra calm the grownup cats, this might stop him from getting sick from germs he might have picked up until now you chanced on him. do not attempt to feed him extra nutrition because of the fact his skinny, that'll make him sick. He could be high-quality as quickly as you are attempting this and whilst his older-nough you will discover him a sparkling abode, except your preserving him, additionally cats with blue eyes are oftentimes deaf.

Answer 11

There are 5 cats in my house; 1 rips up rugs,one chews rubber bands,one steals cookies,and 2 chew on hair and lick. Like people;cats have habits too that they will never grow out of;it's fundamental.