 Purred: Thu Jan 25, '07 7:48pm PST |
 | |  | | Hello from Davinci and his person, Kaelen!
I (Kaelen) was about to post about an issue my Davinci has when I saw your post and read the responses, and I hope you don't mind but it seems like a good place to add his situation because it is virutally the same. Except that he sucks his nipples.
He is a ragdoll, and was with his mother, father, siblings and several other cats for a full 12 weeks. The breeder seems to know what she is doing, and was mentored by a well-known and respected breeder in the midatlantic region (USA) when she started.
Originally he was shaved because when he was neutered at 12 weeks old, the day before we picked him up, his second testicle had not descended, so they had to make an incision in his abdomen to get it. I'm told it was removed successfully. At first he was just licking at the wound, and we watched him VERY closely for about three days and manually stopped him again and again and again because we were afraid he would tear it open he was going at it so vigorously. The stitches were desolvable but I think he tried to pull them out so the vet, at his wellness check, said to put the bitter apple directly on him.
I did this for a couple of days but it made him sneeze and wretch like he had a hair ball and poot some really stinky poots. He hated the way it felt, which was cold and wet (and stinks strongly of alcohol). Anyway...somewhere along the line, while messing with the incision, he discovered his bald nipples. After several days it looked like his incision was doing very well, and the vet had said it was, so I stopped using the bitter apple and he quickly developed a strong habit of nipple sucking instead of incision sucking. His entire tummy is drenched in drool, he gets so into it...purring, kneading the air or his tail, purring loudly. He actually falls asleep doing it, and if he wakes up to change position he does it again. He goes so far into the zone we can vacuum, pick him up and put him down somewhere else and he doesn't even stop to look around. I think we could juggle with him and he wouldn't notice.
I thought putting my post in with yours would keep all the "sucking issues" responses in one spot instead of dividing them with a separate post, since I imagine it is the same thing and maybe the same cure. The vet suggested a baby's "onsie" with the snaps cut off, but I don't think that would deter my boy because he would just push it up until he got to his belly. He sucks so hard, I swear there are little hickies, blue and red spots around the incision and nipples. He doesn't like me messing with his belly at all, which I really wasn't expecting from a 14 month old Ragdoll. Its kind of a bummer because the only time he isn't playing madly, and isn't asleep, is when he is tuckered out and winding down, and while I appreciate that he likes to do his thing on my lap, I would like to share more of that time with him, and also not have his belly sopping wet. He's pretty much oblivious to me when he does it.
Anyway, maybe some garment would work for the tail, or maybe the bitter apple would be enough and wouldn't bother yours the same way. The vet's assistant had a tail sucking Ragdoll and she gave him a soft stuffed animal his size to groom and cuddle with. I've tried that with Davinci, though and he wasn't interested. I would also like to know if the cat pacifier product works well. I don't even know how much it costs because the website didn't work right when I clicked any of the links. Hopefully something will work! I put more bitter apple on him for tonight, anyway.
Kaelen and Davinci |  |  | |  |
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