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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / January 2006Singinficance of tail flicker in tomcat?
An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle flame in the wind. Does it mean that he is spraying? Thanks! > An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it > a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Thanks! Our no-longer-intact-ex-tomcat Nico (1 yr 5 mo's) does this too. And yes, I believe he thinks he's spraying, as nothing comes out - thank Bob for that! Laku (5 yrs 8 mo's), on the other hand, doesn't flicker with his tail, but backs up against a wall or such and treads with one or both back paws in a funny, sweeping kinda way.  SignatureChristine in Vantaa, Finland christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com photos: http://photos.yahoo.com/christal63 photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/chkr63 >> An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it >> a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > his tail, but backs up against a wall or such and treads with one or > both back paws in a funny, sweeping kinda way. Thanks. The funny thing is that he is not spraying (if he is) anywhere close to the house (thank god). He is spraying on a perimeter roughly 50 meters away from the house (on a neighbor's porch, for example). Is that normal? >Thanks. The funny thing is that he is not spraying (if he is) anywhere >close to the house (thank god). He is spraying on a perimeter roughly 50 meters away >from the house (on a neighbor's porch, for example). Is that normal? He's establishing a perimeter, I believe. Jane - owned and operated by Princess Rita > > An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it > > a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > his tail, but backs up against a wall or such and treads with one or > both back paws in a funny, sweeping kinda way. Rudy (RB) used to do that. He did manage to spray, in spite of having been neutered. Luckily, he started the flickering of the tail a bit before the actual spraying, so it was sometimes possible to stop him in time. Joy > Our no-longer-intact-ex-tomcat Nico (1 yr 5 mo's) does this too. And > yes, I believe he thinks he's spraying, as nothing comes out - thank Bob > for that! Laku (5 yrs 8 mo's), on the other hand, doesn't flicker with > his tail, but backs up against a wall or such and treads with one or > both back paws in a funny, sweeping kinda way. Nikki, though a girl, used to do that. One of my niece's Russian Blues - I think it was Emil (neutered boy), or maybe it was Kira (spayed girl) - did that at Yule. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki > An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it > a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Thanks! I see two possibilities here (but, first, he is *not* spraying -- you would definitely smell it if an intact Tom were spraying). (1) Your cat may be young enough so that he is not yet spraying...but will do so soon. This is a very real possibility. You should have your cat neutered as soon as possible. It will be better for you and also for him. You are *not* going to be happy if he starts spraying indoors. Neutering does not guarantee that he will not spray, but it greatly reduces the possibility -- and it is more likely to have that result if he has never started spraying in the first place. (2) Even spayed or neutered cats will "shake their tails." It is sometimes called the "happy shake" and seems to indicate a happy or content cat, but not one that is trying to spray (even though it looks much like that is the case). MaryL (take out the litter to reply) Photos of Duffy and Holly: >'o'< http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly) http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in") >>An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it >>a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > I see two possibilities here (but, first, he is *not* spraying -- you would > definitely smell it if an intact Tom were spraying). No, he only does that far away from the house, so I only see this behavior from the distance. He may be spraying for all I know. >>>An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it >>>a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >No, he only does that far away from the house, so I only see this behavior >from the distance. He may be spraying for all I know. Sound like he's probably marking off the boundaries of his territory... in which case he's not bothering YOU but your neighbours won't be amused! I know I wouldn't be... is there a reason why he's not neutered? Signature~Karen aka Kajikit Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life http://www.kajikitscorner.com Online photo album - http://community.webshots.com/user/kajikit > is there a reason why he's not neutered? No. As a fellow male, I probably identify with him...poor guy. He's only 14 months old. But I will have him fixed once he grows fully (he needs his testosterone for that) >> is there a reason why he's not neutered? > > No. As a fellow male, I probably identify with him...poor guy. He's > only 14 months old. But I will have him fixed once he grows fully > (he needs his testosterone for that) No, that's a myth. He should be neutered as soon as possible. As Karen indicated, your neighbors could become annoyed (no, *angry*) if he starts marking their home. Much more important, the likelihood is that he has already contributed to the overpopulation of cats because he is old enough to be a "father." Our local newspaper had an excellent article this week on euthanasia. The article concentrated on the psychological toll that is taken on shelter workers who must carry out this horrible (but necessary) task. This shelter has a staff who work very hard to find homes for animals that are under their care. Even so, statistics for 2005 show that they euthanized *73 percent* of the animals that were left at the shelter. So, please don't attribute your own feelings about this to your cat -- and opt for immediate neutering, which is the responsible thing to do and does not have the type of adverse psychological effect you seem to be considering. MaryL You make me feel guilty :( I'll call the vet to schedule him for ballcutting. Maybe he'll stay home at night after that. > You make me feel guilty :( > > I'll call the vet to schedule him for ballcutting. Maybe he'll > stay home at night after that. Thanks! I wanted to make you "feel guilty" only in the sense of motivating you to do this. Many people simply are not aware of how enormous the cat and dog overpopulation problem is -- and how many completely healthy animals are euthanized as a result. Here is the article I was quoting from, in case you would like to read it. It actually concentrates on the psychological toll this takes on shelter workers who must carry out this terrible (but necessary) task. http://www.dailysentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/01/25/20060125NDSani mal.html MaryL >>> is there a reason why he's not neutered? >> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > >MaryL And even if you subscribe to the theory, 14 months old is well past the point where they've reached their full growth, except if it's a Maine Coon. Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com Make Levees, Not War |
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