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.

Does your cat circle the food bowl as if scavenging from a dead animal?

Perhaps my cat is unusual but I don't think he is. There is one aspect of him which is a little unusual in that he was raised for the first six or so weeks of his life as a feral cat by his mother in the urban environment of West London. Therefore perhaps he has a little bit more of the wild in him than is typical of domestic cats. 

Picture: MikeB. He behaves like a North African wildcat.

Nonetheless, he sometimes likes to circle a food bowl when I put the food down as if he is gingerly and cautiously approaching the carcass of an animal that he has found in the wild and which he wants to scavenge from. He is unsure about food in the bowl even though he has been fed it countless times before. He sniffs the food carefully before consuming it. This is also part of an instinctively cautious approach to feeding which must be a throwback to his wild cat ancestor, the North African wild cat.

It is another reminder that domestic cats are a whisker away from their wild ancestor. Doctor John Bradshaw says that one of the big differences between domestic cats and domestic dogs is that dogs are more fully domesticated. And they've been domesticated for far longer than cats.

It is estimated that dogs have been domesticated for around 20,000 years although the experts are unsure. In contrast, it is believed that cats have been domesticated for half that time at around 10,000 years.

Can we speculate and argue that in a further 10,000 years domestic cats will be behaving more like dogs!? It is highly plausible. Domestic cats are on a road of domestication. It is an ongoing process. The journey is not over and I would expect the character and behaviour of the domestic cat to evolve through future domestication to one which is quite different to today.

Are felines nocturnal?

The answer to the question depends upon the species of feline that you are referring to and the circumstances under which they are living. There is no simple black-and-white answer to the question. For example, the domestic cat tends to be nocturnal or a better description is crepuscular which means active at dawn and dusk when prey is about.

Tiger at night. This is not real because there are no white tigers in the wild. Photo: Pixabay.

But domestic cats are also active during the daytime sometimes. They just tend to be more active when daylight is subdued or it is dark. But the domestic cat is only one species of about 36 (the number of cat species is still contentious). I'm not going to go through every single wild cat species to tell you whether they are nocturnal or not but I'll mention one or two to give you an idea about what I'm talking about.

The American bobcat is distributed across America except for a 'hole' in the middle of it near the Great Lakes so it is a very well known wild cat. Bobcats are primarily crepuscular like the domestic cat. They are most active in the few hours before and after sunset and sunrise. There are exceptions

Some studies have found that bobcats are mainly nocturnal while other reports have found that they may be active at any time of the day or that they are arrhythmic (without any pattern or rhythm). In some places bobcats are more active during the daytime in winter because they must spend more time searching for food. In essence it would seem that a bobcat's activity coincides with the activity of the animals that it hunts. That makes sense. As I said the answer to the question the title has to be nuanced.

Canada lynx. Photo: Pixabay.

Taking another well-known medium-sized wild cat species living in North America, the Canada lynx, this cat is primarily nocturnal although they may be seen moving about at any time of the day. The animals that they mainly prey upon, snowshoe hares, are basically nocturnal which is why the Canada lynx is also mainly nocturnal. Once again you can see that the activity of the cat is dependent upon the activity of the prey.

The ocelot is a very well known small to medium-sized wildcat. Its coat has made the coats of many rich and famous people in the past. They are primarily nocturnal but they also hunt during the daytime especially when the weather is cloudy and rainy. They may be entirely nocturnal in areas where they are hunted by people. That sentence would apply to the past in America because as far as I'm aware they are no longer hunted by people because they are protected in North America if they are still extant on that continent.

The mountain lion lives in both North America and South America. They have a huge range in terms of distribution. These cats can be found hunting at any time of the day or night. In most areas the peak activity is reported to be around dawn and dusk i.e. crepuscular. They rest during the middle of the day. Once again their activity levels coincide with that of their major prey animals. Therefore it is seasonal and it depends upon where they live. For example, in the Idaho Primitive Area they are active during daytime to hunt ground squirrels. Where humans are more active such as where they are logging timber, mountain lions avoid them by being more active at night.

The concept of wild cats being more active at night to avoid people is also apparent with leopards. And you will find that lions also behave like this when necessary. They tend to avoid people by becoming nocturnal. Lions are apparently primarily nocturnal but there are no hard and fast rules as mentioned. It depends on the availability of prey animals to kill to eat and the type of habitat where they live which provides cover when stalking. Activity levels also depend upon the seasons and temperatures. And lastly it depends upon whether they are disturbed by people.

There have been reports of lions becoming nocturnal to avoid trophy hunters killing them. In the Serengeti there are two major peaks of activity, one of which is just after dark and the other between two and four in the morning.

Lastly, as I'm just giving you an idea as to whether cats are nocturnal or not, I will mention the tiger. Once again, in response to the activity of people, in certain parts of the world they have become totally nocturnal. If they are undisturbed by people they can be seen to hunt at any time of the day or night. Once again, also, their activity levels depend upon the activity of their prey animals. In other words it mirrors the activity patterns of the animals that they kill to eat. For example, in Chitwan National Park both male and female tigers mainly travelled at night for about 10 to 12 hours.

If you want to read more about the wild cat species and whether they are nocturnal or not then I would suggest that you search for those details on the main website which you can access by clicking here.