My 9 year old cat is also a kneading/blanket sucker. I don't know about her backround because I adopted her as an adult last year. A friend has a Cornell Vet School book on felines. There was a brief chapter on this behavior...they didn't say that this behavior was detremental to a cat's health.

I think I mentioned it to the vet when I took Odessa for her baseline exam. I don't remember him being concerned.
She is not doing this as frequently as she did the first few months after we took her home.

Your little foundling sounds like she is adjusting to her new home just fine.
L

We adopted kitten sisters about 2 1/2 years ago. I knew that they were coming from a home where the owner worked with my daughter.

I was told that they were 6-7 weeks old but later found out that they, actually, had been adopted by another co-worker but her other cat didn't like them so they were returned. They had stayed at the original home for another week before we took them.

According to the vet they were just 6 weeks old when we got them so that meant that they were four weeks old when first adopted out and then five weeks old when returned to the owner and then six weeks when we got them. So much turmoil for such young babies!

One of the sisters (Lucy) was friendly at first and now is rather aloof but will come for cuddles about twice a week. The other sister (Lola) comes daily but had the habit of always nursing on herself. When we first got the sisters Lola would try to nurse on Lucy but that only lasted about a month before she would have none of that.

Lola will do this every time she is on a couch, chair or bed. I know it is a habit but we have not been able to break her of it. Believe me we have tried! If she was quiet about it that wouldn't be so bad but she is just noisy and wakes us up so she has to leave the bedroom. I feel badly because she would like to stay in our room but we wouldn't get any sleep.

I hope that this behavior stops for you but there is no guarantee. Obviously, my kitten sisters were taken from Mom way too early and this has manifested itself with this behavior.

Robyn

Three of my cats were strays and one was given to me by a friend whose mother's cat had kittens and she took one. (she was about 7 months old and they decided they didn't want her after she climbed their christmas tree). My male was given to me by my own sister but she found him beside the road as an abandoned kitten when he was only 4 weeks old. His bad habit is he bites or nips you if you pet him for more than a minute or so even though he is the one who will seek out your affection. My 2nd youngest female, I found sitting in the middle of the road on my way home one day. It was raining and she was so little I thought she was a bird. THe vet said she was about 4-5 weeks old as well. She doesn't like to be picked up and she chooses when she will be affectionate with her humans but she loves to kneed on your lap. She uses those little claws in the action and it hurts! But she just closes her eyes and gets such enjoyment from kneeding your lap or stomach. This increases when you pet her.

So two of my other cats were separated from their mothers before the suggested age and they don't engage in the blanket suckling behavior so this is new to me. My newest addition seems to do this quite often (especially at night in bed) and I just wanted to make sure she wasn't stressed out or unhappy and that she feels safe in her new forever home.

The behavior is a sign they were weaned from mom much too early, or were abandoned, I doubt they will ever stop. Do you have more cats, possibly a breeder in your area, I would go to him/her first and see if it can be fixed. I wish you luck.

Hard food for cats is going to set you up for major dental disease in the future, I would feed canned food or better yet a raw diet. go to www.felinefuture.com. Good canned includes Innova EVO, Wellness grain free, Instincts, ziwi peak. You can go online to www.Naturapet.com, they have a search engine to find these good foods in your city.

Have as rough a scratching post as you can get, I would use a tree trunk as its more cheap and more natural. De-clawing will only crate more behavioral issues, possibly causing the cat to bite people and not use the litter box. I call de-clawed cats 'Feline pitbulls', because like this breed of dog, some can be nice and proper other savage and unpredictable- AND unlike the pitbull, it isn't how you raise them, its the luck of the dice- las yagas style.

De clawing is like cutting off the first nuckle of a human hand,it ISNT a nail cut.