Response from Dr Patricia Simonet:

This behavior has the silly name of wool sucking. It is called this because the behavior you describe also tends to evolve into sucking on fabrics. This is usually exhibited in cats that have been weaned early. Now, I may get into trouble here, but I am going to say it anyway - the ideal age for a kitten to leave his mom is about 12 - 16 weeks! Now, most foster groups cannot keep a kitten nearly this long. Also, we want the kittens to be friendly toward people so we want them handled by people daily.

Okay. The kitten learns so much from mom, like hunting, that it takes this long. However, you can safely have a non-wool sucking kitten if he is weaned around 8 weeks of age. If the kitten is orphaned before that and starts exhibiting the behavior you described, then re-introduce a weaning bottle with watered down formula. When the kitten is hungry for attention and food, give the kitten a little bottle time.

Always the mad scientist, I experimented with the hypothesis that an early-weaned wool-sucking kitten could be fixed if the bottle was reintroduced. Guess what? It worked. So if you still have time with the kitten, start a bottle time just before bed, and first thing in the morning. I think you will see a reduction in ear lobe sucking. Good luck!

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Posted on SHARE Yahoo group Oct. 15, 2005