Cat Attacking Own Tail

[catzorz]

Hi guys!

My cat has been attacking her own tail. She's got little scabs under her hair from injuring herself. She bites and scratches at it.

We took her to the vet and decided to try laser therapy to see if there could be pain or inflammation that we could take down/see if that might help.

Has anyone else seen this before?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Maybe there's something here that might help you;

Why Does My Cat Chase Its Own Tail?

Health Issues In Tails

 

[1 bruce 1]

Our cat did this, he has Feline Hyperesthesia. Big scabs on his tail, hair loss, etc.
We haven't done laser for him, but have done laser therapy on other pets...but I would be very interested to see if this helps, my guess is it will, or will do no harm.

 

[catzorz]

Furballsmom 1 bruce 1

Thank you for the articles! The vet mentioned that it could be:
- hyperesthesia...but she never has the rippling back...although he did say it could just be in the tail.
- seizures...but she's totally mentally present for it...I can distract her from her tail with her favourite toys.
- an injury or accidental scratch that is just making her nuts, causing her to keep going after the tail and making it worse.
- stress...but she's a super chill cat.
- probably mentioned other stuff that i don't remember

When we got her three years ago as a kitten, she actually had no hair on the tip of her tail and no one knew why (she was a stray kitten). Maybe she had pulled it out herself!

 

[1 bruce 1]

Furballsmom 1 bruce 1

Thank you for the articles! The vet mentioned that it could be:
- hyperesthesia...but she never has the rippling back...although he did say it could just be in the tail.
- seizures...but she's totally mentally present for it...I can distract her from her tail with her favourite toys.
- an injury or accidental scratch that is just making her nuts, causing her to keep going after the tail and making it worse.
- stress...but she's a super chill cat.
- probably mentioned other stuff that i don't remember

When we got her three years ago as a kitten, she actually had no hair on the tip of her tail and no one knew why (she was a stray kitten). Maybe she had pulled it out herself!

Did they check her really good for fleas?
FH can look like a mentally present seizure, they go crazy, licking their backs, dilating their eyes and pouncing on nothing.
Our cat used to have a big, fluffy, beautiful tail and now it looks like a fire poker, or one of those things you use to clean lint from the clothes dryer, from years of pulling his own hair out.
If you can (or haven't already), get a video if possible of her doing what she does and show your vet. This can help because they never seem to show symptoms while at the vets.

 

[catzorz]

1 bruce 1
Great idea with the video! It really doesn't seem like FH to me. She's totally normal aside from hating her tail. I'll take a video of it tonight and show the vet when we go back on Monday for more laser therapy.

 

[1 bruce 1]

1 bruce 1
Great idea with the video! It really doesn't seem like FH to me. She's totally normal aside from hating her tail. I'll take a video of it tonight and show the vet when we go back on Monday for more laser therapy.

Good news if it's NOT FH!
The laser might help, it might be something simple like lower back pain that's causing this (their tails are part of the spine, after all.)