Our two adorable kittens, Blake and Chaucer, are just about 9 and 7 weeks old now. We've had them just over two weeks. For those who didn't follow the other threads, they came from a shelter, we DID NOT take them from their mothers early. They were already taken and in the shelter and we gave them a home. It would appear that Chaucer was at the shelter from about 4 weeks old, so he was probably not weaned properly at all.

Here's my question---today he has started chewing on things, like his brother, a blanket, his brother's tail, etc. I know he's way too young to be getting adult teeth, and the vet didn't really detect abnormalities with his baby teeth given his age (or not that he mentioned to us--he's a new vet since we moved, so the jury is still out on him). But since nursing helps their baby teeth develop and such, is it possible that he's a little behind the normal curve and his gums are bothering him? Or is he just hitting a feisty stage?

I should probably add that he's an avid nurser. He loves to suck on parts of my clothing, my chin, nose and ears. It tickles! It seems to make him happy and sometimes he does it when hungry, but a lot of times he does it for comfort.

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong

I think it's probably the fact that he was left without mom too early. These kittens tend to have this business 'unfinished' for longer.

My Ari and her siblings were found by themselves at 4 weeks of age and I remember when I first saw her at the shelter, her brother was licking and chewing her ears a lot! Ari has long stopped suckling jumpers and blankets (she's one year old now) but she still does the kneading on her favourite blanket before going to sleep.

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