Hissing and growling at nothing, biting and attacking her tail?

We just "adopted" a stray cat and she is having some issues.  She started to have sores on her tail, and we took her to the vet and they said it looked like she was attached by another cat.  They gave her antibiotics, and it was getting better.  Then she disappeared for a day, and came back and is acting crazy.  She is spayed and almost 3 years old the vet thinks.  She was an outdoor only stray, and we started feeding her and letting her in the house when we were home.  Then we started letting her sleep in the living room, and then after getting attacked was indoor only for a week to heal, and now is outdoor/indoor.

She wonders around and starts hissing and growling at nothing, or at her tail.  She does it in all rooms, and under the bed too.  She is eating and drinking just fine, its just this crazy behavior.  You can see in the video, it just comes out of nowhere.  What could it be?  It is really scaring me!

Also, should I attempt to stop this behavior?  She doesn't really want to listen to me, but I feel like I can't just let her keep doing this.

 

I can't make head or tail of it, either. About the only thing that makes sense is your confusion. It's like she doesn't immediately recognize that her tail is a part of her and thinks an enemy cat is nearby or something.

Thank you!  As a first time cat rescuer (and cat owner), I was really thinking that I was losing it.  She seems to have calmed down after almost an hour straight of it, so I'm trying to be quiet and not wake her up.  Any other help is greatly appreciated!

Have you considered Feline Hyperesthesia? She exhibits similar behaviours to other kitties in online videos who have this strange syndrome.

One of my cats recently started with mild symptoms too - skin rippling, frantic licking, head shaking, and strange "out-of-it" behaviours. So far no tail attacks 

l don't know if that's what your kitty has - maybe she was having pain  .

Here's a video of someone's cat with similar symptoms:



here is useful info on this site about the syndrome, and also online. lt definitely warrants a conversation with her vet.

Good luck with whatever is afflicting her. Please keep us up to date on her progress 

My guess would be, definitely FHS. What a beautiful girl and hurray for you for rescuing her and giving her a forever home. I would find a vet who has more knowledge about cats and their disorders. There also are some very informative threads on FHS in this forum you may find helpful, you you do a forum search. Some are still active.

Sometimes the solution is a simple as a diet change to something that does not contain a lot of chemicalsor high allergen ingredients. Other people have had to medicate their beloved kitties. Some have had success with amitriptyline, some cases are so severe the kitty has to go on phenobarbital.

Get more video, and show it to the vet. Go to the appointment armed with information on Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome. So much more is known about this now, there is really no excuse for a vet to not have heard of it, in my opinion.

You can try to distract her by speaking softly too her, or petting her, or if she has a favorite toy, try to interest her in a game. I don't know if it will help or not.

And...please do keep her inside from now on.

Welcome to TCS, please do let us know how she is doing.

After doing some research, it seems like this FHS thing is a pretty good explanation.  Man, what luck!  First cat I've ever even liked, and we get one that's a little off!  Oh well, can't give up now!  

You mentioned something about food that "[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]does not contain a lot of chemicals or high allergen ingredients".  I am a cat newbie, so I'm not sure what this is.  Can anyone recommend a brand or something we can try?  I'm willing to try anything, before we have to try to medicate her for the rest of her life.  Mostly because I can't seem to outsmart her into taking a pill![/color]

[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Thank you everyone for your help!![/color]

question: does your cat get fed dry only or does she also get wet?

also you have checked for fleas, correct?

My old (RIP) cat used to have this problem for years and I'd bring him to the vet to try and figure it out and they'd check for fleas etc and they eventually assumed he was allergic to something. At the time I was feeding him a dry only diet. Eventually I realized he needed some wet (I know, I didn't know any better) and started to feed him some wet. This REALLY helped with his problems (He also used to have dandruff and dry skin, as well as constipation, which improved after I switched him to wet. He also stopped attacking his tail. I didn't know what FHS was either at the time, but now I know that is what he must have had)

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So this maybe try to get him on a wetter diet if you don't already, or start to feed him food that does not have a lot of the byproducts and species-inappropriate ingredients.

basically try to find a high quality, protein rich wet food that does not have a lot of grains or fish as many cats actually have allergies to these ingredients (and they aren't good for them besides).

some cats are also hyper allergic to fleas. They could have just ONE flea bite and they have a reaction to it. So if she is an outdoor cat, make sure she is on a prescription flea medicine (NOT over the counter stuff at the drug store).

Hope this helps and good luck with your poor little girl. 

She has been on flea treatments from the vet for a couple weeks now so hopefully she doesn't have any fleas anymore.    

She only gets dry, but only because she wouldn't touch wet foot anymore.  When we first started feeding her, I only bought wet food because we weren't sure if she was someone else's cat, or what so it was easier to buy than a big bag of dry food.  Eventually we bought dry food and she started to only eat that, even if we put the wet food in front of her.  What kind of brands would you suggest for the higher quality food?  I am a die-hard dog owner and cat newbie and have no idea what kind of stuff to buy.  Thank you!!

hi keo

go to the nutrition forum and ask that question as you'll get some help there, and also help to transition a dry food addict to wet.

but basically you want to look for a food that is high protein with no grains (corn, rice) and low in carbohydrates. You can also go raw or cooked (if correctly balanced) but you'll need to talk to the raw feeders on the raw forum to get the b est advice for that.

Some examples of grain free canned foods include

Wellness CORE

Blue Buffalo WILDERNESS formula

Before Grain

EVO

Weruva

Nature's Variety

but there are quite a few more.

My cat started acting like this after he started some new medication.  It totally freaked me out!  He would turn around and bite at his tail, start itching himself furiously and got very hyper.  His skin would "twitch" like muscle spasms.  The vet had no explanation,so I researched the Internet and came up with the same conclusion as the other replies.  However, I changed his medication and it seemed to stop.  It lasted about 24 hrs.  I sat up with him through the night because I was so worried. He still seems to have mild recurrences.  Good luck with your kitty!

I had a cat with FHS and Prozac saved the day. He had a lot of different issues but Prozac made life a lot better for him and all the cats and people around him.

I know you've already been given most of this information, but thought I'd share: http://consciouscat.net/2012/05/07/feline-hyperesthesia-syndrome/

For how important a wet food diet is, here are the basics of feline nutrition: http://www.catinfo.org On the right are links to more articles, one in particular is transitioning tips.

If you want to avoid the drugs, your best bet is most likely going to be a raw diet. I don't know where you're located, but in the U.S. and Canada there are a number of raw diet options available - and if she hunts when she's out, she may recognize raw as food even though she doesn't like canned food. If you want to learn more about the most species-appropriate diet there is for a cat (an obligate carnivore!), we can help in the raw forum. http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-feeding-for-cats

Just wanted to share the story of my cat's hissing/tail chasing behavior. About six months ago, my 8-year-old Casey started chasing his tail and growling late one evening (of course) and continued it throughout the night periodically -- he would calm down as long as I was petting him and would go to sleep for  a bit under a blanket (which he loves) but I would wake up to him doing the same thing. I started to suspect constipation, and possibly even impaction and was afraid it might be something he had eaten. But after a vet visit the next morning, he was sent home with "kitty valium" and a "normal amount of stool" that the vet didn't feel was a problem. Before giving him the meds, I fed him pumpkin and watched to make sure he pooped (with three, it's hard to keep track lol). He did and the next day or so, he was fine (without drugs) until he refused to eat the pumpkin -- then it started again. After a visit to a second vet, he started getting Miralax daily and instead of chicken-based canned cat food, he gets turkey because the vet suspected it might be a food allergy causing the digestive problem. For a while, he had to take the Miralax twice a day and if I skipped it, he would start the growling and biting (not as bad as before) and I knew to give him more. For the most part, we're down to once a day now -- so while it might be FHS, there might be other physical reasons for the behavior.

I've read all the responses and I think you should probably have the vet check her for FHS.  It could be a number of other things as well but FHS would be on the top of my list.  It could be diet but it is unlikely but the vet will probably want to know what her diet is anyway and can help you with that if need be.  Might be something totally unrelated to either as well.  Thank you for taking this kitty in and giving her such a wonderful home.  My best to both of you!!!
 

My cat has FHS and the video you shared is exactly what he was doing in the beginning.  That lasted for about a month until one day he mutilated his own tail so bad that there was blood everywhere.  Scared the crap out of me!  We rushed him to the vet but wasn't given any real reason why.  Long story, but eventually I self diagnosed him after multiple vets couldn't tell me what was wrong.  He is now on amitriptyline (has been for a year and a half) and is back to normal.  Unfortunately during all this and before trying the meds, I was talked into amputating his tail (by the vet).  DO NOT do that!  It does not help!!!!  

Ask and make sure your vet is familiar with FHS.  I can't tell you how many vets I called in my area and almost none had even heard of it. 

I'd be glad to answer any questions and help in any way I can - good luck with your baby!

Tina

Couldn't believe I found this site.  My 3 year old cat is hissing and biting his tail. I can calm him by petting, put pillow over his tail, but it is never ending.  And I even thought to have it cut off too.  Been to many vets . They have x-rayed, taken blood, and urine. nothing.  One of them gave me Prozac but he pukes it up .  will not eat anything but dry food and bacon sometimes.  I found him at 2 weeks and feed him with eye dropper and than bottle. He is my son. I love my cat more than anything and it is breaking my heart to see him go through this.  I am not sure what you are talking about with all the initials you use.  Please help.   jennifer

FHS = Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome. It's a neurological disorder (like seizures) that cause skin rippling and often, self-mutilation. There is no cure, though medication is available to help alleviate symptoms.

What's frustrating about his is hearing all the  evidence that vets aren't willing to turn over rock in order to diagnosis our cats.

Even I could guess what this and that's just from surfing cat sites. 

I'm sorry your Kitty is facing this challenge by the way. 

my cat does the same...and its not normal!!!.....if I try and stop him, I am attacked. my other much older cat is attacked by him, probably because he sees him as the enemy. my cat should be on a high dose of phenobarbital, and a whole slew of tests.  I contacted a cat behaviorist and now its just a waiting game.  Good luck.

Hi 

My kitten has Fsh she is on grain free food , naturesmenu .. and 25 mg of gabapentin , originally morning and evening , but now just once a day in the evening and she is doing well , she isnt cuddly it seems to upset her so i dont which is a shame coz she looks sooo cute lol !! deffinatly go for the grain free food , i have found if i introduce a food with grains she deteriorates rapidly !! i can feed he a little of the mostly meat  hi life pouches but not solely on them just to try to keep costs down , she hasnt had he vacs yet but will probably do them when she is neutured in the next couple of weeks , ask the vet to do bloods and ask her to check for thyroidism ..i think thats what its called as it can cause very similar symptoms , good luck