Expert: Dear Tabbi - 5/16/2009

Question
Hello, I own three burmese cats. The mum, dad and kitten (well shes now a year old). The problem I have is the 'kitten' still suckles on the one teat which she suckled on when she was born. She seams to only do it for comfort (ie at night time) however I do work during the day so can not be 100% sure. I recently took the mum to the doctors and found out the mum has Mastitis. I have tried in the past to use sour apple spray which was recomened by a vet however the mum seams to be ammune to it now and keeps washing it off... As I have found out the mum has mastitis I have seperated her during the day until I get home. However I have noticed that the 'kitten' is now suckling on a fleece blanket. Any advice?

Answer
Lisa,

Yes, the cats are doing it for comfort. The 'baby' will continue as long as the lets it. She doesn't mind or she would growl and kick the 'baby' away. The baby is suckling the fleece blanket because he doesn't have access to the mom. That is behavior that is shown when kittens are weaned too early. Your 'kitten' and/or the mother seem to have some emotional issues. Cats are like people, they can also have a short-circuit somewhere in the brain and behave in a bizarre manner.

I had a 'kitten' that still nursed when he was way bigger than the mom! Thank heavens she finally 'weaned' him! It was embarrassing! Of course in the wild, it is normal for a kitten to nurse 6 months or more.

It's 50-50 whether to let the cat nurse or not, and it is something between you and your vet. If it were me I would call the SPCA, and a couple of other veterinarian's offices and see what their opinion is about it, then make your decision whether to allow it or not.

If the 'kitten' isn't causing the mother pain and she allows it, then it's not bothering her enough for her to stop it. And she would! It seems that they are both needy emotionally and keeping them apart may do more emotional harm than any physical harm would do.

It is strange that the mother cat would get Mastitis after a year! Usually that occurs when the kittens are very little and there are a number of them scrabbling for a nipple. They will scratch and fight each other and hold on not to lose a nipple and may bite which may cause the mother an infection. Or it happens when a mother loses her kittens and can't express her milk. It 'spoils' inside her and gets bacteria in it causing an infection. And rarely, a nipple can become blocked.

I would have to have a lot of faith in my vet and his diagnosis, because if I didn't I would want a 2nd opinion. But of course, that is MY opinion. I would at least try to do some research on the Internet, because how you handle it may affect the cats mentally in the future.  

Here is a good article on Mastitis that should give you further information:
(copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.cat-world.com.au/MastitisInCats.htm

Since you are not at home all day it makes it more difficult. But one thing that you can do is to try to distract the kitten when it starts nursing with food or an interactive toy, like a pet laser light. Try to get the kitten's mind on something else. Possibly getting a 'kitty companion' for the young one may help too. It may spend less time with the mother if it had a friend to play kitty games with.

The kitten SHOULD grow out of it, or the mother SHOULD wean the kitten herself, but animals have a tendancy to not do what they SHOULD!

Tabbi