Category Archives: Living with cats

Why does your cat hunt his own tail ?

Who has ever seen a kitten spining on himself to catch his own tail ? It’s a show adorable and hilarious at the same time.

If it is a kitten

Playing to hunt his tail is completely normal for a kitten : indeed, a kitten is not still completely conscious that his tail is a part of his body, and this small thing which stirs behind him certainly has to be a toy, or a prey.

If it is a grown-up cat

A grown-up cat knows that his tail belongs to his body and doesn’t normally play to hunt it. Certain cats with infantile temperament can again do it briefly, very occasionally. There is no reason to worry about it for the majority of cats. Pixie still hunts her tail from time to time : two pirouettes, less than 10 seconds, then she goes to play with a ball or another toy.

But in certain cases, this “game” can degenerate and be the sign of a health problem or a behavior disorder. The cat can attack his tail and bite it violently : the pain he feels then and the situation are going to terrorize him. This scene can reproduce repeatedly, and the situation becomes more and more terrible for the cat. How to help him ?

Only a veterinarian, or better, a behaviouristic veterinarian, can propose an adequate treatment. The aggressive behavior of a grown-up cat to his tail can be due to an abscess, to an damage of the nervous system, to anxiety or still to hyperactivity.

Do you know cats who hunt their tail ?

How to make a cat people-friendly

PIXIE : Grandpa, Claire’s dad, came yesterday to celebrate his birthday at home. Zorro came to say hello to him, got petted, remained in the lounge with the humans, in brief, a perfect host. I did not even come to say hello. I crossed just once the lounge to show him that I was there, then I left in another room. I reappeared only when he had left. Claire says that I am a small savage, and she’s maybe right.

To feel at ease with humans other than his owns (or other animals), a kitten must be friendly manipulated by a maximum number of people (adults and children). Frequent different experiences, of moderate intensity, and not traumatizing, will help him to dread serenely the novelties that he will meet afterward.

This phase of socialization is short (as soon as the kitten opens eyes, between his second and his fifth week of life approximately) ; it’s there that the kitten is going to learn to communicate with the world which surrounds him and to react to new experiences. It’s during this period that it’s the easiest to accustom him to car trips and to his PTU by making him frequently do short trips.

But then, with a grown-up cat, how can it be done ?

All is not lost : we can accustom a grown-up cat to be less afraid of the unknowns in his familiar environment, or to live more serenely a transport for example, by confronting him little by little with these situations, daily but briefly, as far as he always feels safe, and as far as he can run away if he wishes.

We often merge “people-friendly” and “social” :
– getting people-friendly, I just spoke about it above : it’s the capacity to become integrated into his environment, to interact with it, and to react serenely to new experiences
– getting social takes place earlier, during the first month of life of the kitten until his third month approximately : it’s the integration of the kitten in the cat society, his capacity to communicate and to react as a cat among other cats, and his knowledge of the rules of feline propriety.

How does it happen with you ? Do you leave hiding UTB at the first ring, or do you come to say hello to the guests and to participate in the conversation ?

Game or fight ?

By seeing our photos last Wednesday, several of you wanted to know which of us had won : but even if there was all the same little excitement in the air this day, you all understood that it was about a wrestling game, about an update, and not about a serious fight.

However, for a human still little familiar with the body language of cats, it can be difficult to make the difference : game or fight ?

If it’s about a game or about an update between two cats who know each other, paw punches, quarrels, and spectacular pursuits can happen, but without real scratch and without serious bite. Cats mew little or not at all.

I remind Zorro to the order from time to time with a small brief mewing. He understands at once the message and plays less hardly.

If it’s about a serious fight, the protagonists have ears completely reduced behind, their pupils are dilated, the hairs of the spinal column and their mustaches are bristled, and their tail can be puffed. Cats hiss, mutter, and growl. If the intimidation is not enough, the battle begins : paw punches, quarrels, but this time the scratches are very real, and the bites also. The loser is then still pursued on a short distance by his opponent.

Pour les deux images : ©1991 Dorling Kindersley Limited pour l’édition originale – ©1991 Bruce Fogle pour les textes originaux – ©1992 Editions Solar, Paris, pour la version française – Titre original : Know your cat

The hardened tomcats wear the scars of these violent battles : their ears are sometimes torn, and a badly healed bite can cause an abscess.

Here is the video of real fight we found on YouTube (4 mn) :

Warning to kittens: very violent and explicit language
Warning to humans : turn off the sound if your cats are in the room !