4 Month Old Kittens Started... Nursing on Each Other???

[weech]

Four of our six Siamese kittens still need homes. They're up to date on their shots and other than these new incidents extremely healthy, social, and affectionate.

They were weaned after their first deworming and recently hormones have actually caused their mama to keep her distance, by and large. They still hang out with our other cat, Simon, who is neutered and occasionally testy with them but generally pretty patient.

This week, we started noticing that the kittens had begun nursing on each other. There's one girl and three boys, but its not like they only try to nurse on the girl; I've caught them nuzzling up to each other in all combinations. According to my sister, they've even tried suckling at Simon.

This is so weird and out of the blue. I have no idea what to do or why they started doing this. They have plenty of food, water and toys, plenty of space to play and things to climb, several windows to look out of, interaction with not just each other but humans, other cats, and dogs.

They have an unrelated vet appointment next week but does anyone have any suggestions or words of wisdom? I know improperly weaning kittens can cause this but it seems odd that it would just suddenly start happening out of the blue.

 

[She's a witch]

Poor things! Don’t allow this, it can actually be harmful for kittens. Can you spay their mom ASAP and try to reintroduce her to them? We’re they forcefully weaned or did she naturally stop nursing them, or pushing them away because of heat? Sometimes after spay mothers would go back to nursing, hopefully it will happen in this case.

suckling is not only about getting food, but it’s also comforting behavior and it seems they didn’t get it enough from their mom.

 

[weech]

Mama Cat technically isn't my cat but my parents, and my mom is weirdly resistant to getting Mama Cat spayed. We've gotten a recommendation for a pheromone spritz to calm Mama Cat down because she's been really hostile to the kittens lately; lots of hissing. It really bothers me that she hasn't been spayed yet but whenever I point out that motherhood's been kind of stressful for her, my mom gets weirdly defensive and literally accuses me of saying Mama Cat is a bad mom?? And its like "Mom, literally everyone else in the house thinks we need to get this cat fixed".

The weaning happened at around five weeks at the vet's recommendation, both because Mama Cat had to go on medication for an infection and because they said if we didn't enforce it firmly that they might be nursing well into their adulthood.

 

[She's a witch]

I’ve actually only now saw the title that they’re already 4 months, so it’s unlikely they would nurse from their mom anyway, unless for comfort, which is what they’re looking for anyway it seems. Try to discourage this behavior, very gently pull them from nipples, maybe you can offer them some soft purring toy to snuggle with that will relax them? Or even wool blankets are better to suckle than fellow kitten.
Good luck convincing your mom to spay her! Maybe you can offer her health related arguments, spayed females have smaller risk of developing some cancers.

 

[Sarthur2]

This is hormones starting to come in. The kittens need to be spayed and neutered now before the males try to mate with her. She absolutely can get pregnant this young!

 

[theyremine]

This happens from time to time at our shelter and can be especially painful/harmful to the male kittens (penis). It's no wonder Simon is testy with them. Be watchful and separate them when they try to suckle maybe offering a soft blanket as a comfort object. I second the advice to have them neutered/spayed asap.