Young Tom licks fingers

One of our outdoor clan caught my wife's eye and heart in a big way and
lives inside now. He's an ordinary tabby male about 7 months old. He is
quite playful, ordinary in every way except for one peculiar habit.

This kitten will at every opportunity try to lick your fingertips. 'Never
seen anything like it and he gets fairly persistent about it too. He will
jump on my desk and go for the fingers while my hand is on the mouse at the
computer station. He will go after fingers when any of us are watching TV or
doing just about anything else. He was weaned normally and appeared to be
quite normal while living outside. This isn't any major issue with us since
he can be shooed off easily enough. Can anyone give me a clue why he does
this?

"RobZip" wrote in message
...
One of our outdoor clan caught my wife's eye and heart in a big way and
lives inside now. He's an ordinary tabby male about 7 months old. He is
quite playful, ordinary in every way except for one peculiar habit.

This kitten will at every opportunity try to lick your fingertips. 'Never
seen anything like it and he gets fairly persistent about it too. He will
jump on my desk and go for the fingers while my hand is on the mouse at
the
computer station. He will go after fingers when any of us are watching TV
or
doing just about anything else. He was weaned normally and appeared to be
quite normal while living outside. This isn't any major issue with us
since
he can be shooed off easily enough. Can anyone give me a clue why he does
this?

This reminds me of one of my mother's cats, Tiger.

Tiger has some very strange tastes which include mustard and - wait for it -
ear wax. I first discovered the latter interest when I spent some time on a
longish phone call while I was sitting him at my place. A few minutes later,
I heard the sound of the phone being moved in the cradle and looked over to
see Tiger licking the handset at the spot where my ear had just been. Then,
the next morning, I got awakened by him licking my ear; clearly, he thought
he'd hit the mother lode! My brother has also mentioned that Tiger has
licked his "toe jam" my brother's feet were dirty.

We've never figured out why Tiger does this but pushing him away a few times
seemed to be enough to stop the problem. He hasn't come after my ears since
that first time and I don't think he bothers my brother very much either.

Rhino