When my youngest cat gets scratched and petted in the morning, she takes it for a while and then backs away and starts licking her nipples. She will do that for anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. She doesn't have any separation anxiety issues from being separated from her mother..we still have her. She really gets involved....eyes closed, purrs loudly, etc. What do you think makes her do this?
2007-06-24 08:48:08 · 9 answers · asked by shelley5353 1 in Pets ➔ Cats
Try it. You might like it.
2007-06-24 08:55:35 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
It may not be seperation anxiety but it may still be an anxiety response.
Some cats can only tolerate being petted for so long at one time. I once had one female cat who wanted to be petted and held every morning when I got up. She would literlly thrown herself down on the floor in front of me.... I'd stop pick her up and go sit down and pet her. After a few minutes that was all she could stand and would fight to get down if she was restrained. She was good for the rest of the day for any petting. But she still liked to play. We had a staircase that went out over our living room and it was open between the steps. She loved laying on them and tapping the top of our heads if we walked underneath the steps.
Anyway, Your kitten licking herself like that is probably self soothing...
2007-06-24 08:59:54 · answer #2 · answered by ♥♥The Queen Has Spoken♥♥ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is probably more common than you think. I have had twwo cats who have done this, the latest one has licked his tummy area so clean of hair that is looks like a cow's udder. In addition he licks other areas and actually pulls out his hair in large patches. In both cases I think it is just a nervous habit and once the area gets irritated it itches and they just can't help themselves, sort of like when we get a sore on our lip or inner cheek and keep sucking on it. what we had to do to stop them was to get a flexible cone-shaped collar from our vet to prevent her from reaching the area. Its extremely hard to discipline yourelf to keep it on the cat because you feel sorry for them but I think leaving it on to let the area heal is all you can do. We had to do it off and on for the first cat. This second one is a tougher case but we're persevering with it.
Another thing you could try are some of the anti-itch products for pets. We haven't tried them yet but are thinking about it. I saw several possibilities in a catalog we got from www.DrsFosterSmith.com. Look under Cat Products and sub-categories of skin care and stress control.
Mind you, it could be a skin allergy, but I've checked for that in both cats that did it and the results were negative.
2007-06-24 09:10:51 · answer #3 · answered by lpa53 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
After you pet a cat it's very contented. Cats will almost always begin grooming and licking themselves when they're happy, after you stop petting them. She probably just likes to focus on her nipples. Cats will lick any part of their bodies they can reach. Remember the old joke..."because they can."
2007-06-24 08:57:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I could lick my own nipples I'd do it all the time.
2007-06-24 08:51:43 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
cats usually lick their nipples when producing milk due to pregnancy - someting you may want to look more into?
good luck.
2007-06-24 09:04:52 · answer #6 · answered by loops1988izzy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you would if you could. its a cat, they tend to have strange behavior
2007-06-24 09:05:06 · answer #7 · answered by Elle 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Is this the mama cat?
-Em
2007-06-24 08:52:19 · answer #8 · answered by emeraldseye 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
She likes it.
2007-06-24 08:51:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋