Cat attacking own tail - anyone experienced this?!

[Catlady724]

Sorry in advance, this may be long… My 3 year old cat attacks her own tail pretty much every day. Usually in the evening but sometimes in the morning too. She acts as if it’s a foreign object and chases it and hisses, has bitten it and sprayed blood around many times. When she’s not having one of her episodes she’s the softest loveliest cat, I don’t think it’s stress. She’s not stressed the other 22 hours a day, she’s happy and well bonded with us.

We’ve had multiple vet visits about this now and I’m getting nowhere, I don’t think they have a clue and they are a bit fed up of me now. We’ve tried steroid injections, painkillers, antibiotics (no effect), had an X-ray (all fine, no injuries) and lastly tried gabapentin (the lowest dose, seems to help a bit but not eliminate the problem and they won’t increase the dose).

Anal glands have been checked several times - one time they were full and infected so that was sorted, every time since they’ve only had a small amount in them and no infection. She ‘scoots’ all the time though as though her bum is bothering her.

When the attacks happen her back is all twitchy and she runs around trying to get away from her tail, ears back and often hissing. From my constant googling I think it could be feline hyperesthesia but the vets have dismissed this, I don’t know why, they don’t seem to have anything to say when I’ve suggested it?

I’m at the end of my tether with it. It’s so stressful when she starts up and I just want to solve it for her, poor thing. Has anyone experienced this with a cat before and if so did you manage to fix them?!

I'm wondering what her poos are like? Could she be a bit constipated?

She can be sometimes, she much prefers dry food and ignores nearly all the wet food I’ve tried with her. The only wet she’ll entertain is Applaws chicken which isn’t complete so I still need to feed her some dry as well. She does poo every day, sometimes it looks normal and sometimes a bit constipated. She looks bloated to me and she’s gained quite a bit of weight. But the vet has felt her tummy and said there’s no back up of poo in there…

Have you tried things like cat soup or lick-e-lix to get some more liquid into her? If she's constipated she could be hurting, and attacking her tail as it's the easiest "target", if that makes sense?

I know when our dog is constipated, he goes for his tail!

My cat chases his tail most nights for a few minutes. I've always thought it was just part of the zoomies. He never actually bites it though, so maybe not the same thing at all.

It does sound like it could be feline hyperesthesia. My cat has it and I suggested this to the vet at the beginning of investigations. We had to go through food and environmental allergy trials to rule those out first though.

It was only after no other causes could be identified, and I showed a video of her back rippling uncontrollably, that the vet agreed that it was hyperesthesia. She is on gabapentin now and she only has the occasional bout of being uncomfortable - she would lick her fur on her back and her tail frantically until she was almost bald.

@biscuitsandbooks she has at least one lick-e-Lix a day, sometimes 2, this is the only way I can get the gabapentin in her! Never tried cat soup though…

@Timefordrama unfortunately it’s not just a playful thing, she is really distressed and it goes on for up to a couple of hours, blood spraying around when she’s bitten it. She’s hissing and yowling as if she’s in a cat fight, but it’s with her own tail.

@casualobserver it sounds like your vet was more knowledgeable about it than mine then, mine won’t even discuss it really as an option. They just said it’s very rare and therefore it won’t be that?! They also haven’t discussed potential allergies… can I ask what dose of gabapentin is working for your cat? I’m glad you’ve found a solution!

Oh poor cat, that sounds horrible. I had never heard of this before.

Like a pp my ginger boy likes to chase his tail (once did it whilst up a tree) but nothing like that.

Hope you find some answers

Could it be sensitive skin/allergy? You say she scoots so maybe her back end is itchy and her tail feels like it's part of the same itch?
My little fella has very sensitive skin and we switched him to Royal Canin sensitivity control food, and he's better now. Though he never drew blood from his tail, he did sometimes scratch his skin raw. The food comes in a complete dry biscuit variety and he seems to like it.

Tbh, my vet was sceptical when I first suggested it as it is rare and allergies are much more common and in theory easier to fix without ongoing medication.

She is on 25mg twice a day. We crush it up into half a tube of Lili Lix. Gabapentin is short lived within her system and we can sometimes see that her back is beginning to irritate her just before her next dose is due. Her lower spine area is still sensitive if we touch her there.

She was a five year old rescue, and when we got her it was obvious that she overgroomed. This was put down to stress to start with, until I began to see that she was reacting to a sensitive back. It makes me sad that she maybe suffered with this for years.

I hope that you get your cat sorted out.

I echo what @casualobserver mentioned above that it sounds like feline hyperesthesia. My cat had this too and fortunately it was diagnosed on the Litter Tray because my vet didn’t have a clue about it. My cat would make a terrible noise when having an episode but it’s the rippling along the back that gives it away.
At a later appointment with my cat, a different vet congratulated his colleague on diagnosing it as it’s so rare until I told him that Mumsnet diagnosed my cat’s illness 😂.

A long time ago a bf's cat did this constantly, they amputated it in the end, was still a mad cat but no more injuries and no more blood up the wall!
With the scooting though it's possible it's more related to the bottom, and allergy perhaps to certain food/meat?

The person that advised me on here that it was feline hyperesthesia suggested I look at videos on YouTube and it confirmed to me that my cat did indeed have it.

It was difficult time because my cat was really struggling with it - I don’t want to be a scaremonger but it can be serious so please do your homework so that the vet takes it seriously and please feel free to ask for advice on here if the vet isn’t forthcoming x

Dreamies gave my cat the runs.
I now use them if she's a bit constipated.
Seems to work well and she's not complaining!

Perhaps you could try that for a few days and see if she has easier bowel movements.

Then if no tail related symptoms happen (or if they still do) then constipation could be ruled in or out as a cause.

@SlinkyDog1 thank you, is your cat being successfully treated for it?

@BobbyBiscuits thanks, yes I guess it’s possible that it’s a skin allergy… it’s not something my vets have mentioned / explored but it’s possible. I might try that food, thank you. Anything is worth a try.

@RentalWoesNotFun thank you but Dreamies don’t give her the runs I’m afraid, nothing does! I don’t think it’s constipation causing it as she’s not consistently constipated, or even ever badly constipated, she’s goes every day and most of the time it looks pretty normal… and the vet doesn’t feel a back up inside her on examination. So I don’t think that’s the issue but I do think food is worth looking at…

@Catlady724 yeah...it could be skin or internal allergy, like her bum/back passage feels itchy? Even if it doesn't cause the runs etc.
Poor kitty. I hope you get to the bottom of it, pardon the pun! Could you put some kind of protective bandage on the tail to stop the wounding? I guess they hate things stuck to the tail so that might not work.
Has the vet checked with the special light for ringworm? That can also make skin very itchy.

@BobbyBiscuits no ringworm hasn’t been mentioned at all! I know nothing about this so I’ll have to google. I think my vets have been a bit useless to be honest! We must have had 6 or so visits in the last 4 months and I’m none the wiser. The very first visit they found that her anal glands were very full and infected, so I thought hurrah that’s the reason then, we can solve it. But they drained them twice and she’s had about 3 courses of antibiotics and she’s no better. But every time they’ve checked her glands again they say they’re fine.

@Catlady724 I’ve name changed since I posted about it originally on the Litter Tray but we went through the wringer at the time. It was a case of me being in the wrong place, at the wrong time but I put my hand out to sooth my cat when she was having an episode and she bit me, very hard. She had no idea she was doing it because in her agitated state she was chasing her tail. I have read that some cats can bite their tail off when they are having one of their episodes.
In the end the Gabapentin didn’t really work completely so we switched, at our vet’s suggestion, to human antidepressants for our cat and that did stop the rippling and chasing the tail and she settled down but she was on the antidepressants for the rest of her life.

@Catlady724 I had a really useless vet who kept on misdiagnosing my poor little fella. I ended up switching vets and they diagnosed ringworm straight away.
But he had red patches on his skin so you could check for those, but they need an ultraviolet light which shows it up properly.
Maybe time to try another vet? Is there one locally? S/he clearly can't seem to find what's wrong with your poor little cat.

@SlinkyDog1 that sounds traumatic! It’s awful watching the episodes and not being able to help them. It’s like my lovely cuddly cat becomes possessed when it happens. I’ve heard of Prozac being used, I can’t imagine my vet being open to this though, they are very dismissive of feline hyperesthesia and I had to really press for gabapentin.

@BobbyBiscuits I’ve done some googling of ringworm and I don’t think she has this, well there are no visual signs at all. She doesn’t scratch a lot or overgroom, no scabby / red / hairless patches, all skin that I can see looks healthy. You never know I guess so I’ll keep it in mind!

Definitely think it might be time for a change of vets. I have seen 3 different vets at my current practice and none have been a lot of use or seemed that interested. There is another vets a bit further away that someone has recommended to me for cats so I might try there. I think my current vets are more interested in dogs.

Hi @Catlady724 at the time, my cat had her episodes at night, in the dark, and the noise and her actions were off the scale just because it was so out of character and not like a cat at all.

I agree that a change in vets may be needed and perhaps before you switch maybe have a telephone call with the new vet to see if they are willing to listen and are open minded?

Once my vet was onboard with the diagnosis they were fine with prescribing Prozac for my cat, I’d pay for a prescription from the vet and then take that to a chemist for the tablets. Because of the nature of the medication, my vet would only prescribe a certain amount (I think maybe 3 months worth) and I’d get a repeat prescription every few months. The chemist was really good about it all and processed the prescription as a private prescription which isn’t that unusual by the sounds of it, it was just a bit strange when they called out my cat’s name once the tablets were dispensed 😀

I have a cat with hyperestesia and yours sounds like a classic case. I was lucky that after seeing a few vets I got a knowledgeable one who diagnosed it. She’s on 25mg of gabapentin twice a day and she is much better - at the times a dose is due she sometimes ‘ripples’ and licks her back so she clearly needs the gabapentin.
There are YouTube videos of cats with hyperestesia - show one to the vet. There is also a U.K. based Facebook group where you can get advice.

Can you switch vets? My vet was also a bit useless and supposedly it was a cat-friendly clinic, but at my current clinic my cat is much more relaxed and they take my concerns seriously. A different clinic could make a world of difference.

@Catlady724 yeah, it nearly always has red scabby patches with ringworm but occasionally not. It's quite uncommon in cats over a year old as well. The quest continues?! I wish your cat well x

Thanks everyone for posting, I think the most likely thing is hyperesthesia to be honest. But I will also try dietary changes as well. She’s on gabapentin now which I haven’t been super consistent with as it’s sometimes hard to get in her given she doesn’t really like wet food. But I’m going to be consistent about keeping to 2 doses a day and see how it goes. The vet gave her a steroid injection yesterday and she’s quite drowsy / sad looking today 🙁

Will definitely look at changing vets though if the consistent gabapentin doesn’t solve it.