My cat’s tail is always down

[GorgeousLadyofWrestling]

She’s about 18 months old and we found her on the street starving and dehydrated when she was about six weeks old. For context we have two slightly older cats, female, and at that time had a one year old boy - all cats neutered/ spayed.

She has always been a very happy cat and as a kitten, she loved roughhousing with the boy cat. Unfortunately he died about ten months ago and so then it was just the 3 female cats. None of them get on particularly well but give each other a wide berth and there’s not really any issues. All exhibit happy and settled behaviour.

Six months ago, we got a new boy kitten - the boy we’d had who had died was a much loved favourite for all of us but particularly my youngest DD who is also autistic. She was struggling to move on from our beloved boy’s death and having a new boy kitten helped heal some of that pain.

At first Indie (the cat with the sad tail) got on really well with him. We got him when he was 9 weeks old, and much like she did with our original boy cat, she would play fight with the kitten and they’d sleep together and she really took him under her wing. As he’s got older and bolshier (he’s also half bengal), she’s had enough of his BS and is fed up with the playfighting and now largely ignores him. But he’s still always pouncing on her and generally being a bit of a dick.

We've noticed in the last few weeks her tail is down constantly. Not curled between her legs, but just not up when it would normally be question mark shape to show happiness. She still exhibits happy moods and behaviour, purring lots and wanting lots of cuddles and loves, and when you stroke her, the base of her tail moves up slightly but her tail doesn’t actually come up - it just sort of hangs there. We’ve examined her tail and she doesn’t show any signs of being in pain nor are there any external injuries. The vet examined her and said she seemed fine, and offered to do an MRI but that would be £1200 and there’s no guarantee there’s anything physically wrong.

Could she just be really pissed off with the boy cat? He’s reaching sexual maturity and will be neutered on Tuesday. I was wondering if he was giving off hormones that are unsettling her. The other two slightly older girls haven’t changed in any noticeable way.

Can she move it at all? It could be broken

It sounds like it could be broken - could she have had a tail pull injury at all? Can she hold it out of the way when pooing/weeing? I’d seek another opinion from a different vet to be honest.

She can yes - she can hold it straight out / up slightly when weeing/pooing

If the tail gets caught/pulled it can damage the spinal nerves (and break it if hard enough), and affect the tail movement. If it’s not broken, and the cat is not having problems with toileting, then the nerves can improve and regrow but it can take a few months.

It could be that she has had some kind of tail pull injury or got it caught somehow, and it’s damaged the nerves to the tail but not completely. If it’s hanging limp and she can’t move it in the usual full range of movement, I might get a second opinion, as they can do an X-Ray to see if any joints in the lower spine/tail are damaged and it’s not as expensive as an MRI.

I think it’s reasonable to think that a cat might be a bit down/depressed by a new addition to the household, but your post makes it sound like there’s a medical issue, and I don’t think not liking a new cat would make it impossible for her to raise her tail the way she normally would.

I would personally bet it is going to be one of two things, she is unwell, or he just needs his neutering done.

youll soon find out if it was the neutering though as she should be back to normal in a couple of weeks :)