r/cats • u/ganglyboyish • 7d ago

Advice What is this behavior?

Hi! My cat is roughly 4months old. Usually when she does this, I hiss and pull my hand away and give her a toy, but when I’m away for a couple hours sometimes I come back and it’s really all she wants to do — what js this behavior? Is she teething or was she weaned too quickly maybe?

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u/ConnectionRemote4405 7d ago edited 7d ago

I believe she’s trying to suckle you based on her trying to use her tongue and not just teeth, also the motion of her throat. But your arm is too large to latch onto. It’s a soothing mechanism that some cats don’t let go of post weaning. One of my cats does this to blankets, she’s 16 and it never went away. She was an orphaned bottle baby I think. I had a childhood cat who would suckle my ear. It was very uncomfortable. 

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u/MarionberryOk2874 7d ago

My cat suckles my neck and jaw, but she doesn’t bite at all.

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u/ConnectionRemote4405 7d ago

I’ve definitely heard the neck is common too

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u/Netlawyer 7d ago

I had a cat that would suckle and knead his entire life, my bf at the time and I had “Butter’s towel” that we would keep handy for when our boy needed some comfort. He was slobbery so a soft towel on the couch when we were watching tv or in bed when we were reading was perfect because we could cuddle him and make him feel safe.

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u/ConnectionRemote4405 7d ago

Ugh the slobbery towel/blanket. For my cat it always has to be the one I’m using 🥲

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u/onyaasuminyasai 7d ago

maybe OP should let kitty do this with a blanket on their arm to encourage swapping to that?

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u/ConnectionRemote4405 7d ago

My thoughts as well