Cat quivering their tail meaning

Cat quivering their tail meaning? It means the cat is excited; normally because they are pleased to see you.

I can provide the answer the answer to this aspect of feline body language with great accuracy I believe as I have seen it firsthand under a very distinct circumstance which I remember extremely well even though it was around 37 years ago. I rescued a cat from the streets of Notting Hill Gate where I was living at the time.

My cat who taught me the meaning of the tail quiver decades ago. Image: MikeB

I saw this female cat in the basement of a neighbouring house about 100 yards from mine. It looked as if she had been abandoned by her owner who was also the owner of the house. The woman had just left. A classic method of cat abandonment and very cruel.

I spoke to the cat and carried on. Soon after she was under a car outside my house. She looked up at me and her tail quivered excitedly. She instinctively knew I was friendly from the tone of my voice and was in effectively asking me to rescue her. 

I did. I lived with her for a dozen years after that. She died of kidney disease at the age of 18. A good age. She was a very gentle cat. I loved her. I feel nostalgic for those days. It hurts to think of them.

The tail quiver is an expression of excitement and pleasure and it probably accompanies a meow and even a purr.

There is another circumstance when it happens which is entirely different: spraying urine against a vertical object to mark territory.

When the urine is ejected against the object the tail quivers at the same time.

These are the two occasion when a cat quivers her tail.

Some people ask Google for the answer to a similar question: Cat shaking their tail meaning? I believe that they mean quivering.

I hope this helps. I am sure that I am correct.

Tip of cat tail bone exposed. Cause?

Here is a link to a slightly disturbing picture of the degloving of the tip of a cat's tail. I am linking to the picture in case it upsets some advertisers. It is not that bad though. It just depends how sensitive you are. The bone at the tip of the tail is exposed. The fur and skin are missing.  

It is the sort of injury that could lead to an infection and, yes, the cause is probably an injury because the tail was trapped in a door and the cat moved forward at the same time causing the skin to tear off. It is unusual to see bare bone like this.

Click to see injured tail tip 

Although trapped tails are probably not that unusual as they trail behind a cat. And cats linger around the feet of their owner. How it happens: the owner fails to see their cat at their feet and closes the patio door at the moment he/she is coming inside the home. Bingo, the tail is trapped and the skin torn off. 

The moral (one I have learned after stepping on my cat) is to always check you feet when closing doors and when feeding your cat in the kitchen.

This problem is one which come about because of the enormous size difference between cat and human. They can be almost invisible if they follow you around unless you look down all the time. There is a real danger of injury to a domestic cat if they are very attached to their owner. We are giants in the eyes of our cat companions. It is good sometimes to lie on the grass with your cat to get down to their height. I find that my cat appreciates it 😉.

A common injury with respect to the tail occurs when a car runs over the tail which pulls apart the sacral-lumbar or coccygeal vertebrae, stretching the nerves that go to the bladder, rectum and tail.

Why does a cat wag its tail? Indecision.

Note that I am referring to a specific tail movement, that of wagging, which is back-and-forth on the same plane. Cats will move their tail for other reasons and in other ways but the movement is not true "wagging" 😎. Often, you will read articles on the Internet which state that a cat wags their tail because they are angry. This is only partially true. It's more about indecision perhaps leading to frustration.

Cat stalking and tail wagging. The open ground does not provide cover for the cat which leads to indecision as to whether they should advance or not. This can result in tail wagging.  Photo: in public domain with arrows added.

A domestic cat may be more irritated than angry when they are wagging their tail because they are in a state of mental conflict. The cat wants to do two things at the same time and is unsure which is the best choice. 

I remember seeing my late, now deceased, female cat sitting on a lawn where there was no cover for her to hide while she had a mind to stalk a bird. She wanted to chase the bird but did not have the cover to do it successfully and was in two minds whether to go or stay, and so she wagged her tail.

In another example, your domestic cat might like to go outside. You open the door and your cat encounters pouring rain and thinks twice about whether to go outside or not. Their mind is in conflict and this mental state is made visible in a wagging tail.

The interesting thing about a cat wagging her tail is how it originated. Desmond Morris, the well-known animal behaviourist and biologist, says that it originated from the fact that the cat's tail is a means of balance; the tail helps the domestic cat to balance.

You will notice that the tree dwelling wild cats have thick and long tails. The most noticeable tail on a wild cat is the rope-like tail of the snow leopard. The snow leopard has to negotiate very steep rocky slopes when hunting. You will notice that the snow leopard's tail moves from left to right all the time to help the cat to keep balance.

The argument is that the physical action of keeping balance through a swishing tale has evolved into an expression of the state of the mind of the cat when the cat's thought processes are in balance because he or she is uncertain about what to do next. Of course, not all cats all the time will be in this state of emotional indecision when stalking prey. It depends on the cat and the circumstances.

You can recognise the nice symmetry in the argument. Both physical and mental balancing is expressed in a wagging tail movement. It is really neat.

Domestic cat bites off the end of her tail. Why?

The owner of this cat, Cleo, suggests that she plays with her tail because she was raised with dogs. The problem has deteriorated to the point where she growls and is more aggressive with her tail. She actually bit off the end off, which is self-mutilation and this cannot be normal. 

Kitten plays with tail. Photo: Warren Photographic published her with his express permission.

Perhaps a domestic cat might get into a habit of playing with their tail more often than normal and it may go wrong but I don't think a domestic cat can bite off the end of her tail unless something is wrong. I would suggest, therefore, that she has a mental health problem or she feels pain in her tail.

MENTAL CONFLICT

Firstly, she is in mental conflict or in a state of anxiety and is engaged in displacement activity. Displacement activity is when a cat does something which displaces their emotional state which is uncomfortable. The classic example of it is when a cat licks their nose. Humans do it when they bite their fingernails. Over grooming is also a form of displacement activity.

Sometimes the cat's owner may intervene in the wrong way, perhaps in an indelicate way which exacerbates the situation. And if a tail has been damaged in this way it may also exacerbate the situation because there would be pain. The tail may have to be amputated. The underlying mental condition would remain, however. They would need to be an assessment of the cat's mental state i.e. mental conflict causing this 'compulsive disorder'. And the pain would have to be managed. 

A barrier to biting the tail would have to be introduced e.g. a collar.

A veterinarian might prescribe mind altering drugs to calm the cat and also the owner can do a lot by creating regular routines and providing daily interactions. I think a lot of this sort of problem is due to anxieties which are difficult to detect.

BEHAVIOURAL

A second possibility but one which is probably much less likely would be that a cat has become too aggressive when playing with their tail. It is commonplace for a cat to play with their tail. I think that it can often be due to boredom and they have this natural hunting instinct so they hunt their own tail. It might develop into something which is too aggressive causing self-mutilation. If this is the cause then it is relatively harmless but once again a way out of it would be for the human guardian to engage with their cat more often in play and to ensure that their cat was fully stimulated.

PAIN

A third possibility would be pain in her tail. There should be an attempt to alleviate it. There would have to be a full veterinary assessment to look for conditions such as neurologic diseases and dermatologic disorders. Animals do try and resolve pain by nibbling and biting and when it gets worse, they may end up self-mutilating. Along that way of thinking, there appears to be three overall possibilities. 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion the three possibilities are (1) mental conflict (2) overaggressive play (3) disease causing pain and discomfort.

P.S. I am not a vet just a concerned cat owner.

Why do cats wag their tails?

Definition: wagging a tail means moving it from left to right horizontally. Cats do this when they are unsure of what to do. It is an indicator of uncertainty which may lead to irritation. Some say tail wagging indicates annoyance. I disagree, unless the irritation leads to annoyance.

Tail wagging in cats reflects an uncertain state of mind. Picture: MikeB

CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE IF YOU WISH.

Tail wagging mirrors the tail's function as a balancing tool. It moves from right to left horizontally when a cat - wild or domestic - needs to correct balance usually when climbing.

The word 'balance' is important because a state of uncertainty is a mentally balanced state. A position between two outcomes. 

So, the tail reflects a state of mind which is between two decisions. When the decision is made the tail stops wagging. Tail up is a friendly greeting. 

You will find that some websites state that when a cat wags her tail, she is annoyed. In short, it is a symptom of annoyance. I think this is probably incorrect but "annoyance" is very close to "uncertainty". I'm arguing that a cat wags her tail when she is uncertain about what to do next as a kind of visual balancing act between making one decision and another. Uncertainty creates a little bit of irritation and irritation is quite close to annoyance and therefore I see an overlap here.

The thing is that dogs wag their tail as a clear signal of happiness and excitement and perhaps a bit of nervousness. This knowledge may misguide us in interpreting domestic cat body language and behaviour.

I am following, and I agree with, the best expert on the planet in respect of domestic cat behaviour. His name is Dr. Desmond Morris. He wrote the world-renowned book CATWATCHING. And he starts off his page about cat tail wagging by stating, "Most people imagine that if a cat wags its tail it must be angry, but this is only a partial truth."

He then goes on to say that "the real answer is that the cat is in a state of conflict". The cat wants to do two things at once and each desire blocks the other. You might see this when your cat wants to go outside but it is raining. His tail may start to wag as he sits behind the cat flap trying to decide to go out. 

He may go out but becomes wet and therefore more uncertain about his decision and so his tail may wag more furiously. He decides to come in again. At that point he's made his mind up and his tail stops wagging. This is because he had resolved his conflict. The mood is not one of anger but of frustration and irritation.

This balancing act between two decisions occurs under a wide range of circumstances. That said, I do not see my cat wagging his tail very often. If he does, it'll be because he is on the lawn behind an object waiting to stalk a pigeon feeding on birdseed. 

He will have to traverse the lawn in his final rush to capture the pigeon. He is uncertain as to whether he can be successful or not. Can he make it to the pigeon before the pigeon flies off? Should he hold back? His mind is in mental conflict and as a consequence he wags his tail by being brushed across the lawn from left to right.

Wrong To Say "My Cat Thinks He's A Dog"

It is wrong for people to say that their cat thinks he's a dog or behaves like a dog. There are tons of videos and whatever, online, that proclaim with astonishment that their cat behaves like a dog as if the cat is confused and mixed up, or strange. It makes me laugh actually.

Incidentally, you don't hear people saying that their dog behaves like a cat. Interesting that. I think the cat-behaving-like-a-dog cult is part of the internet fad about cats; usually funny pictures of cats. Without wishing to come over as a grumpy old man, I think it is slightly disrespectful of the cat.

There is a lot of overlapping behavior in cats and dogs. This is particularly the case with respect to substitutes for hunting prey. I am thinking of playing fetch. Cats will play fetch. Many cats play fetch. This is not dog-like behavior. It is simply the behavior of a domesticated predator expressing deep seated behavioral drives. Both dogs and cats are predators.

Examples of other forms of cat behavior that people think are dog-like are:

• wagging tail
• panting
• sitting on command

Cats wag their tails all the time for a whole range of reasons. The side to side tail swish, which is dog-like can be a sign of uncertainty.

Panting is not uncommon in cats. Cats don't cool themselves by sweating. They cool themselves by evaporating saliva on their fur and some sweating on the feet. But panting is also a way of cooling down. Stress and illness can cause panting too.

The cats in videos who are panting are also playing fetch so they are hot. The two go together naturally. This is not a cat who thinks she is a dog or cat behaving like a dog. She is a cat behaving like a cat.

A cat can be trained to do all sorts of things one of which is sitting on command. This a person training a cat to do something that dogs do. That is all it is.

Cats with Squirrel tails

Cats with Squirrel tails are not hugely uncommon. Squirrels let their tales droop at the top - real cute I think but not so good perhaps if you are in the show cat business. Squirrels also have plumed tails.

The Squitten is a mutated cat with defective and shortened forelimbs that looks a bit like a squirrel particularly when the cat has a plumed tail. These are squirrel tailed cats I presume.

There is one cat, an extremely rare cat, that has a squirrel tail plus. This is the American Ringtail cat. The tail can fold over in the shape of a ring. In the Ringtail cat the tail is very much like a Husky dog's tail and is due to a benign genetic mutation. By benign I mean the mutation does not cause other nasty disorders.

If cats with squirrel tails are not Squittens they are probably cats with the usual genetic make up (i.e. the tail is not due to a genetic disorder) but the cartilage in the tail is probably a bit less stiff so the tail flops forwards at the end when held high. Although it may be due to a recessive genetic mutation.

Although the term might just mean cats with plumed tails (bushy tails).

Two cats with cartilage that is different and which affects different parts of the anatomy are the American Curl, with Curly ear flaps and the dwarf cats, with short legs. Both conditions are due to genetic mutations.