Does Anyone Else's Cat Do This?

Bochy has a weird and amusing quirk: just as she's about to be fed, she puffs her tail up to about 5x its normal size.  I call it her "bottle brush" tail. The tail stays puffed until she's just about finished eating. I managed to grab a quick one-handed pic of this phenomena the other day:


Does anyone else's cat do this or is my old girl unique?

Never seen this behavior before. We do have two that get into a friendly wrestling match every night as we portion out the food into dishes. As long as your Bochy doesn't seem distressed, I would say it is an amusing quirk.

I've never seen it in regards to feeding, just fear.  Maybe she is afraid you will snatch that food away?!

The 'experts' say that a puffed up tail means an angry cat but I don't think that's always the case.  I think it can mean an excited, happy cat too, as my 11 month old kitten, Dudley, puffs his tail when he's playing sideways crab pounce with me, when he's definitely not angry as it's one of his favourite games.  Brian used to sometimes puff his bolt upright tail slightly and wiggle/vibrate it when he had something extra scrumptious to eat.  Not anywhere near as puffed up as Bochy's, mind you.  She must really like her teatime 

She's clearly incredibly excited about her food.

A previous foster would do this if she managed to get hold of a hair bobble or an elastic band to play with.