Pregnancy, Birth, and Kittens

Q.: We have 5 kittens that we are feeding by hand until they are old enough to go to their new homes and 3 of them are constantly licking the others butts. It has gotten bad they do it all the time. Is there anything we can do to stop this. It is effecting the kittens skin?

A.:  If their mother was present she would be licking their butts all the time with a much larger tongue, so - although butt skin of course is delicate - I don't think it will hurt them.
Actually I think what you are observing is the normal social behavior within a cat litter. The social interaction among the kittens is as important to their development as that with their mother.

Back