kitten sucking on fur blanket

Question
hi,

well i could not find this exact possible problem that i think our new kitten haley is having,we got her when she was 14 weeks from the spca and she was a stray,she is now 20 weeks,anyway when we brought her home everything was fine and one night we noticed that she was licking or sucking (we dont know)on the fur like blanket that we keep at the end of the bed,like a throw blanket and this has now been going on for about 4 weeks,i guess being a stray we will never find out how early or not she was taken from her mom,will she grow out of it in time and if so how long should that take and also should we remove the throws for now until then.

Answer
Barry,

Yes, you are right on with your assessment.  The odds are she was removed from mama too early (for a whole host of possible reasons).

Yes, I would remove anything with wool fro the time being to see if she will grow out of it.  On the other hand, watch out for this behavior transferring to other behaviors.  If so you may want to give her some stuffed toys to see if she may want to chew on those instead of something of value.

I have heard of cats that have never grown out of the habit. We have a 25 pound (no fat at all) Maine Coon whole male who will chew on the type of plastic you get in plastic supermarket shopping bags.  We just do not allow him the opportunity!

Best regards... Norm.