I have a cat problem

[Mr Bean]

I have a cat problem, her name is Gizmo


Gizmo is a ten month old Garfield coloration cat. She does not hate Monday's nor does she love lasagna. She however does have a few issues, the first is of course general cat-insanity (IE randomly doing 0-60 round the apartment, trying to eat the dog-food and drink from the dog's water-dish when she has perfectly good cat-food awaiting her in her own room.)

Now a little background. This is not my own cat, it is my roommate's cat, and she is rather attatched to said cat, and has threatened me with a job change to "Professional Eunuch" if I hurt her cat. So that option is out(Lets get that out now)

So anyway on to my problem. This cat has a bad habit of suckling on my arms, or any exposed body part it can get on. I'm not sure why she thinks sucking on my arm hair will do, but then I know little about cats.

So my question is two fold, one why is she doing this, two how do I get her to stop?

Please remember, the violence option IS officially off the table.

[NeoGoomba]

Obviously, you must shave your arm hair or die.

[Singular Intellect]

Be prepared to run some electrical current through your body just as the cat makes contact...that would probably work.

[Chardok]

It's just an attachment thing. It's like a pacifier for a baby. it's the same reason that cats do that kneading thing when you pet them. The only way to get the cat to stop, unfortunately, is to paint your arm with habaero juice, or shoo her away when she tries it.

On the plus side, it means that she feels you're a source of comfort and safety. It's kind of cute, actually.

[Sea Skimmer]

So anyway on to my problem. This cat has a bad habit of suckling on my arms, or any exposed body part it can get on. I'm not sure why she thinks sucking on my arm hair will do, but then I know little about cats.

Sometimes cats lick or suck on human skin and or hair because they’ve got a salt craving going on, and they know skin has salt on it. However I’m not really sure how y you’d deal with that problem and the cat might be doing it for a different reason.

[Aaron]

Spray her with water every time she does it. Don't let her see you do it though, eventually she'll associate sucking on your arm with getting wet and will stop.

[Alferd Packer]

Spray her with water every time she does it. Don't let her see you do it though, eventually she'll associate sucking on your arm with getting wet and will stop.

I was gonna suggest giving her a bath, but this is basically the same idea.

[Chardok]

You've got a wool sucker. You ain't gonna break her without drugs.

Wool sucking is a compulsive, misdirected form of nursing behavior. But will it harm your cat?

In nature, the drive to nurse must be strong or a smaller kitten might give up in the often uneven struggle for mom's milk. Kittens nurse fairly actively for the first seven weeks of their lives, with mom rebuffing them at the latter end of the period in order to "teach" them to fend for themselves. Comfort nursing, running to mom for a couple of quick sucks (even when the milk bar is dry), is normal kitten behavior, even up to 6 months of age. As the kitten grows older and shifts its preference to solid food, the drive to nurse fades, or at least transmutes. But what if this natural progression is interrupted by abrupt early weaning while a kitten's nursing drive is still powerful and still in gear?

The answer is that the kitten displaces its nursing onto non-nutritional, maternal look-alike substrates, or more specifically, "feel alikes.

" They may begin sucking on themselves, their littermates, or certain wooly materials, especially wool itself (also acrylic...they're not proud). Human infants show similar behavior when they suck their thumbs or a pacifier. A kitten without mom's nipple to nurse on is like a human baby without mom, or a bottle, or a pacifier.

At an early stage of wool sucking, kittens are not necessarily in serious trouble – but things may progress. The younger a kitten is when weaned, the stronger the drive to nurse will be, and the more persistent non-nutritional sucking may become. Also, some kittens seem to have a stronger drive to nurse than others and are more likely to "wool suck" following abrupt weaning – even at a relatively "normal" age. In extreme cases (where strong drives are involved), you may be sent scuttling to the vet's office for advice regarding the strange and worrisome behavior - and not without due cause.

As with most other phenomena in behavioral medicine, wool sucking will either fade in time as the kitten gets other interests or it will remain. Even for those kittens whose wool sucking has apparently faded into oblivion, a vague recollection of this past behavior will persist throughout life. In moments of stress or conflict in later life, the behavior may resurface as a comfort behavior and, in some cases, may assume compulsive proportions. In other cats, wool sucking doesn't resurface either because serious conflict does not arise. Occasional wool sucking may persist throughout the lives of some mildly affected cats.

If your cat exhibits wool sucking, it may not be a problem – as long as the behavior remains at the "wool sucking only" stage of development. But think what happens to the nursing drive during the course of normal development – it transmutes to the eating of solid food. Your "wool sucker" may, gradually or rather suddenly, progress to ingesting the non-nutritional materials. You may start to find big holes in your sweaters or blankets and your cat's preference may broaden to include certain other materials, like shoelaces, running/exercising gear, and plastic (often in the form of shower curtains). Living with a wool sucker of this degree is like living with a 10-pound moth. And keep in mind that because the material is actually eaten, this type of wool sucking represents a potentially serious problem for your cat. S/he may suffer intestinal obstruction from the ingested material and surgery and/or death may be the end result.

What Can You Do About Wool sucking?

If wool sucking is mild and does not involve ingestion of inedible material, it may not require treatment. However, once a cat begins to ingest the foreign material, it may be in danger and you will need to consult your veterinarian. He or she may wish to run medical tests to rule out other contributing problems.

Treatment typically involves the following measures:

Removal of sources of stress Eliminate any possible stressors in your cat's life that may promote wool sucking behavior. Typical stressors include: in-fighting between resident cats, unwelcome visitors to your yard, and separation anxiety.

Divert the wool-eating attempts Offer other things for your cat to chew on, such as a sock with a ball in it or a cat toy. You might also provide a constant supply of high fiber cat food so that your cat has a choice - wool or real food. Your cat may just might make the healthy choice.

Drug Therapy Your veterinarian may prescribe medication. Believe it or not, human anti-obsessional drugs, like clomipramine (Clomicalm®), fluoxetine (Prozac®), paroxetine (Paxil®) and sertraline (Zoloft®) are all effective. However, these drugs may take four to six weeks to start working. The peak effects may not be seen for up to three to four months. Specific anti-anxiety medications are also sometimes employed when anti-depressants do not work. The anxiolytic drug buspirone (BuSpar®) is sometimes effective.

[seanrobertson]

To elaborate on what's been said:

The cat suckles on your arm both out of affection and in an effort to demonstrate (or, rather, curry enough favor for you to mistake her efforts with) supplicance, Mr. Bean.

On the other hand, when a cat's a bit older, the same behavior can indicate just the opposite intention.

For example, when he was young, my Siamese, Bucky, used to do what my parents called "smurgling." He'd suckle at a furry toy's hair or the like almost as if he was drawing milk from the teet.

Now that he's approaching 6, however, he doesn't "smurgle" anymore. Instead, he suckles at my dad's feet for a bit, then "mounts" the foot with a humping action

Bucky is fixed, but this quasi-masturbatory act is supposedly rooted in Bucky's effort to show he's the number-one cat.

I don't know that such is applicable to you, Mr. Bean ... my feeling is Gizmo is suckling at your arm mostly out of affection.

How to get her to stop?

Yeesh. That's a damned good question. There's always the water bottle consequence, as previously mentioned.

But other than that or popping Gizmo on the flank, you might consider noise conditioning. If Gizmo jumps on your arm and starts suckling, you might activate a vacuum cleaner or another offensive device. I know Bucky HATES the high-pitched whine produced by a "Swivel Sweeper"; interestingly enough, aside from the sound of nearby thunder, it's the only sound he'll retreat from.

[MKSheppard]

Kill it. Claim it wandered outside and never came back. She'll buy it.

[Anarchist Bunny]

Rub Tabasco sauce or similar offensive taste to a part of bare skin and then offer it up to her.

Do so until Classical Conditioning kicks in.

[Damaramu]

As an owner of two cats, I can tell you the spicy stuff don't work all that well.

You wanna scare the cats away with smell and flavor? Citrus is your best friend. Cats hate the smell of oranges and will make the cats withdraw with a quickness. Try it.

[Turin]

But other than that or popping Gizmo on the flank, you might consider noise conditioning. If Gizmo jumps on your arm and starts suckling, you might activate a vacuum cleaner or another offensive device. I know Bucky HATES the high-pitched whine produced by a "Swivel Sweeper"; interestingly enough, aside from the sound of nearby thunder, it's the only sound he'll retreat from.

I've lived with a cat that had similar obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and one of current my girlfriend's cats has the same. I've been told by several vets that these sorts of "conditioning" attempts actually can make the problem worse. It's best to neither reward nor punish the behaviors, but instead try to remove/reduce the stressors that are triggering the behavior (as much as that's practical).

[Meest]

I wouldn't spray the cat with water there's no need to punish it for showing affection. Have you tried catnip? Some cats will just chill out and zone out when they get some.

[Phantasee]

So Meest, you believe that drugs are the answer to life's problems?

[Mr Bean]

So Meest, you believe that drugs are the answer to life's problems?

Doping eh? It just might work!
Keep the cat so stoned it can't bother me just might work.

[Civil War Man]

Keep the cat so stoned it can't bother me just might work.

Nah. It'll still suck on your arm. It will just start thinking that your arm tastes like purple.

[His Divine Shadow]

I think she'll grow out of it. In the meantime it's adorable.

[KlavoHunter]

I don't get it, why would you WANT to make her stop? Having an affectionate cat is NICE.

[Andrew J.]

Put some long sleeves on. Or just let her do it, take pictures, and turn them into cat macros.

[Shroom Man 777]

Give it a huuggg! And wuv it and pet it and all sorts of stuff until you, like, smother it like a pillow. It might end up getting annoyed.

Or, like, gnaw or nom its head.

[Big Orange]

Christ, at least your cat probably does not routinely have a huge crap in our family's bathtub, like my mum's...