Why is my adult cat still trying to nurse?
Some cats never grow out of the nursing phase and continue the behavior into adulthood, leaving owners torn about whether to separate them. This persistent nursing creates anxiety for owners who feel guilty intervening, while forcing them to wait on veterinary guidance to break the cycle.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Allowing the behavior to continue if the mother cat does not mind and her skin or nipples are not damaged
- 2Waiting for the mother cat to handle weaning at her own pace
- 3Waiting for the kittens to naturally stop as they grow older
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Since a few others mentioned having kittens that never phased out of the nursing phase. She’s been doing this since we found her around 4/5 weeks old.”source ↗
“OJ (14 weeks) and his sister (not pictured) are still nursing. And shockingly, she has not kicked them off the nipple yet? Is she even producing milk?”source ↗
“in the middle of building a house right now and am broke so waiting back on the low cost veterinary place near my work to get an opening..after how could you separate these two? I'd be a monster if I did (OJ and Ava)”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 36Why does my anxious cat scream and panic over closed doors?
- 2Why does my cat refuse to use a dirty litter box?
- 7Why is my cat attacking me out of nowhere?
- 3Why is my kitten suddenly yelling all the time and growling?
- 2Why do cats get the zoomies after pooping?
- 7Cat licking and chewing fur until bald and raw