Excessive licking

[kaytekat]

Awkward question- I have a 6 month old foster who excessively licks (almost like nursing) his genitals. He was removed from his feral mother and bottle fed at around 3 weeks old. He would also “nurse” on his brother.
His former adoptive family (he was returned) took him to the vet with this concern. No medical issues were found.

I definitely feel this is related to being taken from him mother early and represents some sort of self soothing, but what can be done to control/end this behavior?

 

[NekoM]

It could be stress related. I hate to ask this - does it smell? It could be a secretion issue.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

OK... Let's get a little out there. This is almost certainly from being weaned too early, and he's going for the nearest thing to a nipple that he can find. SO...Amazon (and a number of other places) carry stud pants in all sizes. This will keep his mouth off of his genitals. However, I'd think about something like this:

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At his age, he wouldn't need KMR, so you could probably get away with water in the bottles. But it would give him the nursing that he needs. It's more of a comfort thing.

Bit of a stretch there, but I'm thinking more of his overall health, both emotional and physical.