My mom has adopted the cutest stray cat--does have strange behavior

[mbrogier]

She named her Cally and had her fixed on Monday. Mom was determined that she wasn't going to have another pet since she has a parrot and an old dog, but Cally was very persistent.

Mom was just feeding this cat that was hanging out behind her house, but she wanted to have her fixed. Which meant keeping her inside for a while. :D

The cat does fine with the bird. Ali is larger than Cally, so she doesn't even realize it's a bird.

Cally is sleeping on Mom's bed, but she's doing something odd. She does the kneading biscuits thing, but she also uses her mouth and sucks mom's skin. Mom says it's so weird. I was thinking I read somewhere that cats do this when they were weaned too soon, but I'm not sure.

Mom's not sure if she should make Cally stop or just let her suck on her arm. She's just getting to where she'll get up in your lap or sleep beside of you. Mom doesn't want to freak her out.

[Clover]

I had a cat once that would put her mouth on me while she was kneading and drool a little, not really suck though. But I've had several foster kittens who do the suckling thing. Possibly they outgrow it, but I kind of doubt it. You ask if your mother should make the cat stop it. How would she do that, anyway? Seems like an impossible task to me. Your mom can push its mouth away if the suckling gets annoying (or starts to irritate her skin,) but I think it's what that cat does and it's going to keep on doing it. I don't think it's "strange." Most cats, oddly, do retain the milk tread of their infancy as part of their adult behavior, and the sucking is just carrying it a bit further.

[do-lolly]

I had a cat that did this. He would suck on our fingers. I would catch him nursing on our labrador all the time. Our lab was so good natured, that she would just let him do it. The most disturbing thing that he would do, however, was he get down between his back legs and do it to himself.:eek: It took him a long time to outgrow this behavior. I want to say it was several years. I also was told that he was probably weaned to early.

[charley]

Hanna did that too for the first year. She eventually replaced the sucking with licking. She's 9 years old now and still does it.

[luv2cook]

Brewster does this nirvana kneading thing (I've pictures) and I just noticed that he has his mouth on the blanket as he's doing it. I know for a fact he was not weaned too early. He is just enjoying himself. I personally would not worry about it...I

[ADM]

We had one cat which kneaded and licked my upper arm until I would get annoyed and push him off. (He was never offended, he just came back as often as he thought he could!) That was the early-weaning thing. We had another cat which slept on my daughter's shoulder and drooled on her long hair all night - maybe early-weaning and altogether MUCH more gross!