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- Oct 27, 2017
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Hi!
My kitty Lucy was found under the house at 4-5 weeks old, abandoned or separated from her momma. We bottle fed her at first (me while wearing my fleece / faux fur trim robe,) then transitioned her to regular food easily. Ever since she quit bottle feeding, she's been a suckler (or "smurgler" as I've recently learned in the forums that this behavior where they knead and suckle is called smuggling.) At first, her favorite thing was my fuzzy rice, which I assume was because of the association with her bottle feeding. We transitioned her to her own blankie (with one side faux Sherpa and the other side faux fur,) pretty easily so I could reclaim my robe, and she also quit suckling at my neck / armpit at this time.
I've seen a lot of forums on here and online articles on how to discourage the suckling behavior, but is it really all that bad? She seems so comforted by it. I'd hate to make her stop unless it's detrimental somehow to her. It's pretty compulsive - to the point where if she's doing something else and we plop her down on her blankie, she'll go right to "making biscuits" and suckling. But she doesn't do it for very long before she cuddles or sleeps. Doesn't do it on any other place right now, either. During a recent health scare, I started to worry if she was swallowing pieces of her blanket, but it turned out to be another issue with her spay. Does anyone else not mind their kitty smurgling in bliss? Is there anything I should watch for, or any reason I should stop it?
Here's a pic of her sleeping after having some blankie time, one of her few comforts after back to back surgeries these two weeks.
My kitty Lucy was found under the house at 4-5 weeks old, abandoned or separated from her momma. We bottle fed her at first (me while wearing my fleece / faux fur trim robe,) then transitioned her to regular food easily. Ever since she quit bottle feeding, she's been a suckler (or "smurgler" as I've recently learned in the forums that this behavior where they knead and suckle is called smuggling.) At first, her favorite thing was my fuzzy rice, which I assume was because of the association with her bottle feeding. We transitioned her to her own blankie (with one side faux Sherpa and the other side faux fur,) pretty easily so I could reclaim my robe, and she also quit suckling at my neck / armpit at this time.
I've seen a lot of forums on here and online articles on how to discourage the suckling behavior, but is it really all that bad? She seems so comforted by it. I'd hate to make her stop unless it's detrimental somehow to her. It's pretty compulsive - to the point where if she's doing something else and we plop her down on her blankie, she'll go right to "making biscuits" and suckling. But she doesn't do it for very long before she cuddles or sleeps. Doesn't do it on any other place right now, either. During a recent health scare, I started to worry if she was swallowing pieces of her blanket, but it turned out to be another issue with her spay. Does anyone else not mind their kitty smurgling in bliss? Is there anything I should watch for, or any reason I should stop it?
Here's a pic of her sleeping after having some blankie time, one of her few comforts after back to back surgeries these two weeks.