What does it mean if my cat's tail is vibrating?

hannahcompi

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When I come home or if I'm around she's recently started vibrating her tail and shifting her weight on her back two legs back and forth (kind of like a kid who looks like they have to pee). I imagine that she's just really excited when she does that. Her tail is practically straight up when she does and she's a very emotionally dependent cat, some sites said that it's annoyance when a cat does that but my cat is never angry or misbehaves to me personally so that doesn't really seem like her.
 
tristessa

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My female cat does this when she is very happy and excited.  Her tail goes straight up and it vibrates while the hair bristles near the base of the tail.  She tends to get this excited when I groom her or when she wants her back scratched.
 
Neth3rtwist

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tristessa said:
My female cat does this when she is very happy and excited. Her tail goes straight up and it vibrates while the hair bristles near the base of the tail. She tends to get this excited when I groom her or when she wants her back scratched.
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I have a female tabby who is four months old and this is the first cat I’ve ever seen do this. And of course I found quite a few. She seems to do this when she really wants something, such as a squirt of whip cream or if she really wants my attention and affection. I have seen no such sign of anxiety, nervousness, or uncertainty.
 
TobiDaDog

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I've only had one cat that ever did this but it was adorable!! He would do it every SINGLE time I said his name. I could repeat his name over and over without fail, just a huge meow and that tail shivering happily from base to tip. He was a riot!
 
rosegold

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Yep, my girl does this too! Including the “back toe muffins” and lots of purring and trilling as well! Usually in the direction of my other cat (who she LOVES) but sometimes at me when she wants petting. I assumed the back toe muffins were due to her only having one front leg, so it’s cute to hear that other cats do this too!
 
CL56

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We call that a Happy Tail.
My Merlin that passed in December had a marvelous Happy Tail !
I could do a higher pitched baby talk "Merlie - are you a happy boy?" and that tail would shoot right up and do the shimmy !
 
golondrina

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Sombra does it when she knows she is going to get her treats as a reward after I brush her and when I'm givng her the chicken and liver paté she adores so much.
 
golondrina

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Geoffrey is happily excited. :hyper:
Sombra does that when she knows she is going to get her treats after a brushing. Also when she can smell her wet food while I am tranferring it to her dish.

OOps, I'm replying twice to the same post. I'm watching a soccer match between France versus Uruguay and as usual in this situation I don't know what I'm doing. :blush:
 
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DreamerRose

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Mingo does the tail thing when he is peeing standing up. Luckily, I have a high-sided litter pan. That's the only time he does it.
 
golondrina

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hannahcompi said:
When I come home or if I'm around she's recently started vibrating her tail and shifting her weight on her back two legs back and forth (kind of like a kid who looks like they have to pee). I imagine that she's just really excited when she does that. Her tail is practically straight up when she does and she's a very emotionally dependent cat, some sites said that it's annoyance when a cat does that but my cat is never angry or misbehaves to me personally so that doesn't really seem like her.
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Hi hannahcompi, the sites who said THAT probably thought you were consulting on the times a cat waves his/her tail from side to side when annoyed but in those cases the tail is kept down and not up.
 
PushPurrCatPaws

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I thought it was a sort of marking behavior, like it was "faux spraying".

My kitty Milly does this at times, like when she comes in the bathroom in the morning while I'm putting in my contact lenses. She'll brush by, or almost "hug", the nearby claw foot tub and do that tail shaking thing and back tippy toes bounce. To me, it looks like she thinks she's spraying the tub -- after all, it's "her" tub.
:)
 
KarenKat

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CL56 said:
We call that a Happy Tail.
My Merlin that passed in December had a marvelous Happy Tail !
I could do a higher pitched baby talk "Merlie - are you a happy boy?" and that tail would shoot right up and do the shimmy !
Click to expand...
We also call that Happy Tail when Gohan does that. He does that when he is being especially affectionate. He just had some type of injury to his back which caused lack of movement in his tail recently. After a month rest and pain meds, he's mostly back to normal except his tail only reaches half-mast often. So now when he "happy tails" it's all floppy. Both hilarious and sad at the same time.

 
CL56

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KarenKat said:
We also call that Happy Tail when Gohan does that. He does that when he is being especially affectionate. He just had some type of injury to his back which caused lack of movement in his tail recently. After a month rest and pain meds, he's mostly back to normal except his tail only reaches half-mast often. So now when he "happy tails" it's all floppy. Both hilarious and sad at the same time.

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Awww...poor Gohan !
What a handsome boy !
 
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