odd behavior

My cat Da-Ku will be sound asleep or just lounging around or something, anything really and just all of a sudden act like he has a bad itch around the base of his tail. He will sort of skip and hop across the room, stopping occasionally to frantically lick or nibble around that area. It honestly looks like there is a bug or something itchy crawling around his lower back the way he acts. My cats don't have fleas, I treat them, check them constantly and it is the middle of winter so fleas aren't exactly living outside at the moment.

Any thoughts on this? Is this just sort of an obsessive compulsive thing? Usually after this episode, he seeks out Kinks for a good grooming or he sits and grooms himself.

Oh in case it matters, he is about 3 years old, neutered, not overweight but he is a large cat, he has very healthy fur and skin and has a healthy appetite and good litterbox habits.

Has this behavior just recently started? What does he do if you scratch or rub that area? Maybe there's something causing pain or a weird sensation there - that would be my guess if everything else was ruled out.

has he had any shots recently or anything which he is reacting to??

perhaps take him to a vet just in case so he can check incase their is some skin condition or bug or something that has embedded in the skin

No fleas, right? No intestinal parasites?

It might be time for a quick vet visit. There are glands in that area that can get infected and cause some of this behavior.

My Metallica (RB) used to do that. She had an allergy problem I don't know, that's what the vet said. Her skin got really dry and really ichy and she would do exactly what your cat does. Jump up and go crazy about the itch. All we had to do was give her a bath with some conditioning shampoo from the vet every month or so. And oddly enough it was the base of the tail/back area as well.

It could just be a reaction to a dry skin patch, imagine if you had an itch but couldnt reach it or use a back scratcher, i think i might act similarly. I recon, same as humans have areas prone to dry skin, so do cats, my upper arms and cheeks are always itchy and dry... and my parents cat, Jess, pulls the fur out of a dry patch on her back (same spot again from the sounds of it) and is always scratching it. The vet said it was dry skin (altho we could tell that really by looking at it) we were told to try and make sure she ate a more balanced diet. We recon it was because her brother Jasper always claims rights to the food first... he licks all the jelly off and leaves the other bits for her. lol.

He doesn't have fleas, no worms either. He has really healthy skin and fur from what it appears. There are no bugs or anything weird in the area. I don't think its the anal glands as someone mentioned but I will check/take care of that just in case. He has done it maybe off and on for the past year or so. I will try to make note of when he does it and see if I notice any patterns.

I'm going to cheat a little and copy/paste a reply that I put in a message in the Health & Nutrition Forum.

Have you ever considered FELINE HYPERESTHESIA SYNDROME? My Maggie exhibits some of these symptoms, but I don't think she has full blown FHS. She sometimes has the rippling back skin, whips her tail back and forth, and runs throught the house like her tail is on fire! She doesn't have the problem with over grooming that FHS cats display, or the vocalizations. She's terribly timid, and is often frightened by simple things, like a quick movement or loud noise. I've tried putting her on meds for it, but trying to pill her is extremely traumatic for her. My vet prescribed Elavil for her, but I had to discontinue it before I saw any benefit from the medication. She is so timid that she became afraid of me after only a couple of days of pills.

That is Da-Ku to a TEE. He might over groom compared to the other cats but I never thought of him having a problem with it, he doesn't do it THAT much, but definitely more then the others. He also is very timid and jumpy at every little thing, you could be holding him and looking right at him and quietly clear your throat and he will jump a mile and take off, only to come slinking back in the room like he is embarassed lol. He is also very vocal.

EDIT: ok not to a tee, he doesn't have an obsession with his tail... its his whole back end that freaks him out lol.