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Strage Licking Behavior

suzie0023 Jul 23, 2007 02:22 AM

I have two 3 month old domestic shorthair kittens. They were dropped off at a shelter at 1 day old and were hand raised and bottle fed and taken excellent care of by the shelter. They are completely healthy, have gone through there 1st round of boosters, and will be going again for their second round next week. The larger one, Hunter, does something very bizzare, and it is starting to concern me.

Once and awhile, most often after or while he's eating, he looks off into space and licking (although it kinda looks like panting) very rapidly. He'll do it for as long as five minutes but most of the time we'll snap him out of it by picking him up and petting him. When he snaps out of it he licks his lips a few times like he just got done eating and is purring. While he is doing this, he seems totally spaced out and not really with it, as if he is daydreaming. He does this usually a couple times a day but today he's done it about five or six times. When we first brought him home he only licked his food but since then he has gotten the hang of it. He is eating normally (quite a bit!) , and growing and otherwise acting like a normal kitten. I've never seen a cat do this before and his brother does not do this at all and has never had any problems eating. Is there anything wrong with my little Hunter?

Replies (1)

PHKitkat Jul 23, 2007 06:13 PM

Hi There,

It's impossible to say whether or not anything is really wrong with Hunter, but just as a precaution I would ask the vet to listen to his chest carefully the next time you take him in. Just in case the "panting" is being caused by a heart or lung problem.

Do you have any history on the kittens other than they were brought to the shelter at one day of age? Just on the off chance that there may have been some head trauma to Hunter while he was tiny.

My gut feeling is that this strange behavior is really nothing to be concerned about but I can tell that you are as paranoid about your babies as I am with mine! It never hurts to have something checked out.

I think it's wonderful that the shelter has the means to bottle raise kittens. So many don't and these precious babies have no chance at life.

Take care, and please let us know what the vet says. I'll keep Hunter in my thoughts and prayers.

Regards,
PHKitkat

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