Hi, my cat had kittens on 18th June, 3 have left and I've kept one, she is fully weaned,eating nicely,mother has been spayed and is all dried up of milk, yet I have noticed the kittens still trying to suckle and the mother is letting her even though there is nothing coming out, is this normal, was thinking it was a comfort thing on the part of the kitten??
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Hailey, scunthorpe, england.

This is pretty normal. I've seen five-month-old cats that try to suckle on their own tails... it's just a comfort thing, like a baby sucking his or her thumb. Usually, the mother won't let her baby continue to try to nurse... because the babies grow teeth, and they are SHARP! (As any kitten owner knows!) Some mothers have such a strong maternal instinct that they don't really care. However, she'll probably get tired of letting the kitten nurse eventually... or the kitten will grow out of it. On the other hand, my 7-year-old cat STILL tries to nurse the back of my hand. It varies greatly between individual animals. On your part, I would try to discourage it.. if you see her doing it, just pick her up and move her away. Trust me, having an adult cat that drools and kneads and tries to nurse on EVERYTHING and EVERYONE can be very obnoxious.

The same thing happened to my cat's first litter! The kittens were almost the same size as their mother (I have a verrrry tiny breed of cat!) and they were still "nursing." In my opinion, the mother knows what to do with her children and if they shouldn't be nursing, she won't let them.