This is a much-discussed topic in the feline world. Actually, by now every aspect of domestic cat behaviour has been analysed and explained many times over. That’s the nature of the internet but things have changed dramatically with the introduction of AI which has stolen all the articles and claimed them as their own. 😢😱
There are still millions of articles on the internet explaining why cat wool sucking is a deviant feline behaviour in some homes although Google no longer presents them in search results as it did before. This form of feline behaviour is quite rare but common enough to be listed in the lexicon of domestic cat behaviours that have gone wrong.
An alternative version of wool sucking is earlobe sucking. I mean the cat caregiver’s earlobe 😉. Same difference really. The adult cat wants to suckle at their mum’s breast but there is no real mom. As they regard their caregiver as a surrogate mom they suckle at the human hand or earlobe. Something they can accept as a nipple substitute.
Wool sucking is more dangerous as the cat can ingest wool fibres to an extent where it becomes a medical issue if the habit persists.
When I see cat wool sucking, I feel sad for the cat. The cat does not feel sad about it as they act instinctively but it means that they are in a kind of mental turmoil to a certain extent. Seeking out their mom for comfort.
I remember fostering a tabby cat for a rescue organisation and this cat had been weaned too early and liked to suck on my hand. I managed to find an adopter but she returned the cat to the shelter later. I did not find out why but I strongly suspect that it was the hand sucking habit which put the women off as she was a first-time adopter.
She was not experienced enough I think to cope with what to her must have seemed like a troublesome mental illness.
