# Cat suddenly chasing her tail a LOT



## Yorkshirecats (Oct 5, 2016)

Hello

My female kitten (almost 6 months old) has suddenly started chasing her tail a lot these past 2 days. She is runnnng round and round at manic speed after her tail until she gets dizzy. At first I assumed that this is normal kitten play, as both of my kittens have done this a few times over the months- but not as obsessively as this!

- She is due to be spayed next Friday

- Eating/ Drinking normally.

- I have checked her tail for any injury/ bald patches etc and it looks normal. 

Any experiences on this? Should I be concerned?

Thank you


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

No experience with this in kittens but my adult male has on occasions done this when he has fleas (we went through a bad year when fleas were becoming immune to fipronil and treatment didn't work).

I would ask the vet to give the little one a check over.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

a few questions:

Can the behavior be interrupted? 
Can you distract her with other play? 
Is she biting it or just chasing it? 
If biting, is she biting the tip or the root (where it is attached to her body?)

kittih makes a good point about fleas. A cat with a flea allergy can be driven crazy by even one flea bite.

As an aside, my almost 7 year old still plays with her tail on a daily basis, everywhere. I call it her Portable Game.
. 
My 13 year old also still chases her tail, but she only does it in private when she thinks I am not watching. (She's always been that way about it)


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## Yorkshirecats (Oct 5, 2016)

Hiya

She has been regularly flead and wormed since we got her and has not yet been outside so I am not sure it could be fleas?

- She is not actually biting or gnawing at her tail- just running around and round after it until she gets dizzy and then lies down. She will then get up and do it again.

- You can interrupt her with other play (I have the scratches to prove it, lol!) I have been picking her up for cuddles/ playing when she is doing it to try to break the cycle.

I am hoping it is just a new 'oh look I have a tail' fad, but just concerned it is very frequent and a new behaviour.


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

In which case perhaps let her have a short play then interupt the behaviour to her chasing something else like a fishing rod toy so she doesn't become obsessed. She will probably grow out of it


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## Mirandashell (Jan 10, 2017)

Is it possible that she just likes the feeling of being dizzy? I ask because it's a thing young children also like to do.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

kittih said:


> In which case perhaps let her have a short play then interupt the behaviour to her chasing something else like a fishing rod toy so she doesn't become obsessed. She will probably grow out of it


Exactly what I was going to say.



Yorkshirecats said:


> You can interrupt her with other play (I have the scratches to prove it, lol!) I have been picking her up for cuddles/ playing when she is doing it to try to break the cycle.


I wouldn't do it like that. As kittih suggested, use a wand toy of some sort. You don't want to encourage scratching your hands or arms, and most kittens/cats don't like to be grabbed at all. Just interrupt the chasing/spinning by dragging a wand toy or string on a stick toy in front of her. make it more exciting by dragging it under something, like a newspaper makes fun noise when pounced on) or rug


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## Yorkshirecats (Oct 5, 2016)

I'll give it a go! I bought a wand toy the other day (which lasted about 5 mins before they broke it and the male cat sat growling with the fish in it's mouth and wouldn't let anyone take it off him!). 

Re: picking them up- I totally wouldn't do this if they weren't 100% comfortable for me to do so. They really seem to like it and will snuggle under my chin, purr, lick my face/ears and they settle down. 

I'll try some more distracting tactics!


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Yorkshirecats said:


> I'll give it a go! I bought a wand toy the other day (which lasted about 5 mins before they broke it and the male cat sat growling with the fish in it's mouth and wouldn't let anyone take it off him!).
> 
> Re: picking them up- I totally wouldn't do this if they weren't 100% comfortable for me to do so. They really seem to like it and will snuggle under my chin, purr, lick my face/ears and they settle down.
> 
> I'll try some more distracting tactics!


Yes picking them up is fine, of course you want your cats used to being picked up. I just mean, the timing of it. Rather than interrupt the spinning around with the tail with picking up, interrupt with a distrusting game first.


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## Yorkshirecats (Oct 5, 2016)

Podge is still chasing her tail, and sometimes for a very long time..... having read some similar threads on the subject on here I am slightly worried she could have FHS. Though, I am probably just an over-concerned first time cat parent!

The thing that leads me to believe this is she gets completely lost in the tail chasing- her pupils are the size of dinner plates.

I have also noticed that her back skin ripples/rolls. I thought nothing of that just a nerve twitch but it could be linked? 

I don't know if you can tag people on here- but Chillminx posted something about this? 

I will discuss with the vet but other than distraction (which only works temporarily) is there anything else I can do? Calming diffusers?


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## Greydrift (Oct 13, 2015)

The skin rippling may be significant.

With us, we had the pupil dilation until the eyes were black - no colour left, apart from black. That pointed to autonomic.

There was the crazy time, and our kitten could be terrifying when it occurred, black-eyed, lashing out, squealing.... uncontrollable and tearing around. I'd not encountered anything like it before. This was not kitten high-jinks. Then it would wear off, and the kitten would calm down. He was never 'normal', but became slightly more normal-like as the months went on. Our kitten (male) also displayed odd sexual behaviour from a very early point, and this continued, despite being neutered at 4 months. He also went nuts at being confined indoors, absolutely, disturbingly, bonkers. Letting him into the garden and field helped a lot. He could race around the field, run full pelt up trees... this lessened the instances where he would launch from the floor to your head, eyes as black orbs, claws scrabbling, until he was ratcheted into your scalp, ready to attack goodness-knows-what.

There was something tangible about him, that meant you could tell when a bout was about to hit. A bit like a human migraine prodrome. By trial and error, we learnt to distract and 'manage' by getting him running up and down the stairs after a ping-pong ball. However, he wasn't a tail chaser, like yours.

He had a peculiar, intermittent 'catch' to his gait. He'd be walking/trotting along, then something would draw the eye to one of his back limbs. For an instant. Then it would be gone. Vet checks on limbs/body were all negative.

As he approached a year old, the frequency of the bouts began to decrease. Thankfully, for all concerned.

The skin rippling was seen only once, days before he vanished from our lives, while we were discussing veterinary approaches... looking at epilepsy/autonomic aspects. The finally-observed skin rippling would likely have further focused attention on these, and a Feline Hyperesthesia type syndrome.

Interestingly, whereas reading & research often pointed to hyperaesthesia, he did NOT exhibit the usual diagnostic rippling/tail biting until that one time when he was almost 18 months old.

We also noted more 'smacking' of the lips than normal, which again could tie in with the onset of a bout.

Edit: we instituted a no-hands play rule, early, when he was a kitten. Our hands both over-excited him, and seemed to bring on some bouts - at which point he could rip you with flailing limbs and claws. When a bout had already started, we moved away, and let it run its course - if you attempted to pick him up, you'd risk being badly slashed. However, when we sensed a bout coming on, while he was still quiet (I.e. out of the blue), that's when the ping-pong ball came into its own.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Yorkshirecats said:


> Podge is still chasing her tail, and sometimes for a very long time..... having read some similar threads on the subject on here I am slightly worried she could have FHS. Though, I am probably just an over-concerned first time cat parent!
> 
> The thing that leads me to believe this is she gets completely lost in the tail chasing- her pupils are the size of dinner plates.
> 
> ...


That's why I was asking about if she was biting it. FHS often presents as tail mutilation. Yes, FHS can be a possibility especially if you are seeing the rolling skin syndrome. Sometimes it can be managed with diet. What are you feeding them?


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## Yorkshirecats (Oct 5, 2016)

We currently feed them both on wet food, a pouch each in the morning, a shared pouch mixed with a little dry food at 6pm, and a pouch of wet each at bedtime. The odd treat of cooked meat/fish, cat yoghurt or cat milk too.

I am aware it probably not the best wet brand..... usually whiskers. Could this make a significant difference? 

Has anyone used the plug in diffusers to 'calm' them down with success? I appreciate all your feedback


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Yorkshirecats said:


> We currently feed them both on wet food, a pouch each in the morning, a shared pouch mixed with a little dry food at 6pm, and a pouch of wet each at bedtime. The odd treat of cooked meat/fish, cat yoghurt or cat milk too.
> 
> *I am aware it probably not the best wet brand..... usually whiskers. Could this make a significant difference? *
> 
> Has anyone used the plug in diffusers to 'calm' them down with success? I appreciate all your feedback


Absolutely. Have a look at the ingredients on those pouches of Whiskas. Grains and sugars. Things that cats do not need, can't digest, and most definitely can affect health and behavior.

Get them onto some good quality canned foods, foods that contain meat and the added vitamins and minerals, and nothing else. And no dry food. It's not good for them either.

Possibly just getting her off the sugary food will make a big difference.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@Yorkshirecats - I agree with lorilu, if it is FHS then diet can make a difference. My cat used to suffer frequently from episodes of FHS, and it was upsetting to see him as he would become very frightened and hide under the table for an hour after an attack, refusing to allow me to comfort him. He is normally a very confident affectionate cat.

As a result of putting him on an exclusion diet I discovered he is intolerant of beef, lamb, and rabbit.. He is Ok with chicken, turkey, duck and fish (e.g. salmon or white fish). I feed him grain free foods some of which are single protein.

From Zooplus UK these are:

Animonda Vom Feinsten trays in Pure Turkey, Turkey and Trout and Turkey and Salmon.
Leonardo canned chicken
Miamor Ragout Royale Chicken pouches
Miamor Chicken & Ham trays
Miamor Chicken & Trout trays
Miamor Chicken & Salmon trays
Granatapet Duck & Poultry
Granatapet Pure Chicken

and from The Happy Kitty Co

Tundra canned Pure Turkey
Tundra canned Pure Chicken

He still has FHS attacks occasionally, and is definitely worse in the summer when warm sunny weather often seems to be the trigger. The attacks are mild compared to what they used to be. Nowadays during an attack he still rushes around madly with the skin on his back rippling, his tail swishing, his ears flattened, his pupils dilated, and he looks very frightened. But the difference is he no longer hides and instead allows me to comfort him by gently stroking him, talking soothingly to him, and to distract him with a couple of Beaphar Calming cat treats.


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