Insane Cat Behavior!!!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Misskiminy

New Member
I'm really hoping that someone on this board can give me some advise!!!

I have a CRAZY cat!!! LOL

She is wonderfully lovable, vocal, effectionate and sweet, but she has a habit that started about a year ago that I just can't understand.

She attacks her tail! She also will run AWAY from her own tail as if the devil him self were chasing her! This goes on for several minutes, during that time if you attempt to pet her or stop her from grabbing her tail she'll howl and take off at break neck speed! I never really gave it much thought she was behaving silly and I thought that it might be something like fleas (we treat her all the time) that didn't help, then I thought maybe she was bored so we started introducing more toys... thus far nothing has helped. It's nearly impossible to explain to the vet and he has his hands full helping us manage our diabetic cat Mojo. He has said that he could "run tests" but I fear the cost would break me, and we are only just getting use to the cost of insulin ect.
Anyways I was hoping that maybe someone has had something like this plague their pet and might have some insight to what the heck is going on inside that cat brain of hers.

Any help is go appriciated!!!

All the best

Kim
 
do you notice anything else like any twitching for instance? wild look in the eyes right before taking off? by twitching i mean like have you ever just barely touched a cat's back and they twitch their hair? any odd jerking of the front feet from time to time?

what came to my mind when i read your post was FHS, feline hyperesthesia syndrome. not sure if it really fits what you are describing though. google it and see what you think?

my Mousie has what i would call mild FHS and she'll sit there and twitch the hair on her back a few times, her eyes get wild, she might jerk a front foot once or twice, then she takes off like a bat out of hell. stop, and do it all over again. i found that if i can catch her and give her a real good scratching, the behavior stops

eta: here's one link to read but if you google it you will find plenty, even videos http://ezinearticles.com/?Feline-Hypere ... id=3211294
 
This:
Cindy + Mousie said:
... feline hyperesthesia syndrome....
Click to expand...

Do some reading, then discuss with vet. Think of it as being hyper sensitive to any stimulus - what seems small to us is perceived intensely by the cat and the response is extreme because of it. There are some meds which can be tried and these may be compounded into an ointment which may be rubbed into the ear, if pilling is difficult (or the ear is in use for frequent testing!).

http://www.purelypets.com/articles/felinehyperesthesia.htm
This site has a note about how some of the symptoms overlap with hypoglycemic symptoms!
 
oh my. tomtom does this every so often and then in spurts and at first i thought he was in pain...then i figured it was just kitty crazy stuff. and he does twitch his skin on his back quite often....no flea's...and it seems not to bother him.
 
how come every time i find a new illness or syndrome i discover tom has it????
i read the links and specially the one cindy posted and tom does exactly that!
he has asthma which i discovered only by watching a video last year of a cat having an asthma attack. until then i thought he was just trying to cough up a hair ball,,,,he never did cough it up.
i have seen tom dash, appear to be running from himself becuase he's in pain. i follow him and call to him and he'll start chewing on himself wild eyed. i rub him down and then he jets away! it is infrequent and then in spurts. he ripples his skin....often? i don't know, it's just something i thought he'd always done.
as of late i have caught him staring into space. it's weird and did catch my attn. i just never thought it was anything other than cat crazies. except the part where i instinctively felt he was running away from pain.
WOW.
well you are obviously not alone with this.
the things i learn on this board never seem to end.
lori
and tomtom
 
I've got a cat who tries to attack and bite off his own back feet and tail while simulatiously screaming battle cries and kicking himself in the head. We just assume he's insane. He's perfectly healthy, he does not flip out if you scritch the back of his tail. He's been doing it since he was a kitten and nobody would play with him. Now that he has Kerry to play with he does it a little more. The only 2 things that seem to be able to stop him mid-fit are to either have Kerry pounce on him and give him somebody else to attack, or to throw a blanket over him. If you throw a blanket over him he will sit down, shut up, and promptly fall asleep. He will happily stay under the blanket for hours. He often crawls under the blanket himself when he's having a rough day.

A few of my others also chase their tail into circles, bite it and then run through the house. It usually is the start of a several minute long romp around the house at breakneck speeds. We just call it "reindeer games"...

I think sometimes cats are just cats.... In the wild they hunt stuff, in the house they get bored. It reminds me a little of college during finals week. The counselers would schedule scream breaks - at prescribed times at night before quiet hours. Everybody would just scream and yell and make a racket for a few minutes, then sometimes they'd put on a midnight buffet in the cafeteria for us.
 
In the extreme this sounds scary to watch! Over the years I've had cats that would jump up and sprint around like they were being chased but never to that extent. We always called it "cat sillies"

Houdini does this too with the twitchy skin but like Cindy (& Mousie) a good scratch usually stops it.
 
Sometimes they are just entertaining themselves. Many cats do not believe the tail is part of them. Have you seen America's Funniest Home Videos where the dog with the bone acts as if his own back foot is trying to steal the bone?
 
the wierd thing with this behavior, for my cat anyway, is i do sense that he is suddenly in pain and trying to escape it by running. i've basically accepted it, it's not often, but to know that it is a syndrome!
it's different than just a crazy run...maybe he has a sudden cramp. don't know why they run tho. maybe it's that fight or flight instinct and they don't know what to fight.
 
Thank you a million times over for the help.

We have noticed that she gets a WILD look in her eyes and her pupils are like saucers they are HUGE!!

If you start petting her when she is in one of these "fits' she'll howl at you and take off running. I'm reading the Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome information as we speak and am going to try and talk to the vet about some sort of treatment that doens't involve putting her on drugs or something, I hate making them take stuff and would rather something "natural"

Has anyone found something calming in a "natural" form? Creams, sprays, aroma's?

You guys are great and make me feel a heck of a lot better knowing that there are more crazy kitties out there too!!!

Kim & Cisco!
 
well, like cindy said...it's not so much a pet as a rub down...vigourous. cindy said scratching. i give tom such a vigorous rub down that i think it does for him what he can't do for himself. shake it off, or something like that.
now not all cats like a good rub down. i don't do it as vigorously unless that episode is happening but tom is accustomed to being massaged.
try that.
i would think that petting would be far to gentle.
 
Jojo, a vet tech who's been around fdmb for many many years, told me to give Mousie a little Calms Forte to help her. I believe Jojo uses the same for one of her kitties who has FHS too.
 
Cindy + Mousie said:
Jojo, a vet tech who's been around fdmb for many many years, told me to give Mousie a little Calms Forte to help her. I believe Jojo uses the same for one of her kitties who has FHS too.
Click to expand...

What would be the doseage? I live in Canada and I don't think that is something that is readily available here.

Would something like a anti anxiety all natural type thing work? I think that there are a few "drops" that you can purchase at pet shops in Toronto.

Thanks again!

K
 
If you want something calming to try, I have a crazy civvie who has become a totally different cat since I got her a calming collar. go to Petsmart, ask for the calming collar. I figured for $15 how could I go wrong.
Booboo did not the things mentioned but she was an angry girl and is super calm now since putting the collar on her. I noticed the change the very first day.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top