Grooming humans

[dragoriana]

I'm mummy to a blind 14 month old cat named Cleo, who lives with my boyfriends family. I'm pretty sure she has grown out of this now, but Tristan would wake up with her licking his forehead, or the part in his hair and sometimes sucking on his hair as well! Apparently she did this to me as well, but i could never see it being asleep lol. I just wondered if it was that she liked the salt from our skin, or she was still weaning somehow. She was found dumped in the wild left to die, so it doesnt seem she was with her mum very long. I just wondered what reason do kittens do this?

 

[pekoe & nigel]

My Pekoe does the same thing, and it drives me absolutely crazy. Nothing like being woken up several times a night to a loudly purring, hair-chewing ball of orange fur.

I love that he's being affectionate, and don't want to discourage that, but is there a way to teach him that chewing/sucking on my hair is not an acceptable form of affection?

 

[catpsych]

Hi there, oh this is a good one, as I have personal experience with dealing with this. Since your kitty is blind, mama cat probably stopped feeding her early, survival of the fittest type of situation since she is blind. And since she was weaned early, most cats in this situation will continue the suckling even into adulthood. So this is very common and totally normal considering your situation. My kitty Puna, does the same thing, every night he has his little ritual, he hops up on the bed with me, lies on my pillow and proceeds to knead my hair in search of nipple, he knuzzles with his little nose (soooo cute!). I find it interesting so it doesn't bother me a bit, and it only lasts a few minutes then he ventures down to the foot of the bed to settle in for the night. So no worries, it's normal, sometimes the behavior goes away and sometimes in my case it stays....Puna is 8 years old. But since you and your boyfriend feed your kitty, you guys are viewed as Mummy, so she finds it comforting to knuzzle, lick, and suck your hair at night as if she would her real mum.....I tend to take it as a huge compliment and a display of her trust for you. So, soak up the attention!

Take care,
Kerry

Originally Posted by Dragoriana

I'm mummy to a blind 14 month old cat named Cleo, who lives with my boyfriends family. I'm pretty sure she has grown out of this now, but Tristan would wake up with her licking his forehead, or the part in his hair and sometimes sucking on his hair as well! Apparently she did this to me as well, but i could never see it being asleep lol. I just wondered if it was that she liked the salt from our skin, or she was still weaning somehow. She was found dumped in the wild left to die, so it doesnt seem she was with her mum very long. I just wondered what reason do kittens do this?