Ear Licking & Kneading

Question
Hello,

My boyfriend and I got a 6 week old kitten a couple of months ago, and by the time she was 8 weeks old, she started a behavior that we find to be very odd.  If we are petting her and she starts to purr, she'll climb up to our ears and start kneading, licking, and even sucking on them while purring loudly.  Every time she gets really comfortable with us, she'll do this.  The only thing that I thought could be the issue was that she thought it was a nipple.  I'm really interested to find out what the cause of this could be.

Answer
I'm pretty sure she DOES think it is a nipple. She associates being happy and purring with nursing, and I hate to tell you this, but she was taken away from her mother too early. 6 weeks is much too young. Kittens really should not leave their mothers until at least 10 weeks and most breeders I know (including me) keep them until 12 weeks. She misses her mommy and at the same time she thinks you and your boyfriend are mommy!

She will probably do this less as she gets older but unless it is driving you totally nuts, I would not suggest trying to break her of it -- I think that will stress her and that could cause other problems or behaviors that are harder to deal with. Just try to be patient with her and maybe find a couple of toys she especially likes so that you can distract her with something fun when she starts doing it.

Hope this helps.

iris