Tail Chewing Behaviour

[pussiette]

Does anyone have a tail chewer?

What do you do?

 

[Yoda mom]

@pussiette , tagging @Xandria, and surely others will chime in.

found these Search results for query: tail chewing



hugs n head smooches.. which one tail chewing?

 

[tennisplayer]

Mine use to do this and from what I can tell she was bored, kinda like how humanz bite the nails. If noticed this while working on the computer and I would step away from the screen to play chase the red laser dot across the floor.

 

[tuffysmommy]

Paka would do this. She never knew her mother so she first sucked on her paw until it got raw but didn't break the skin. I would shield the paw from her by putting my arm in the way. Got her chew toys which she paid no attention to. A while later she changed to sucking her tail. It got me crazy. She did this mostly in bed with me. She didn't didn't break the skin. I again interceded. We noticed she did it mostly when she had an issue with us...fed too late in her opinion, someone getting petted instead of her, too much light when she didn't want it...worked to distract her or hold it down and pay attention to her. Always told her to stop it, it was my tail (haha). Finally she grew out of it.

 

[Demom]

I have 1 who used to always have the tip of his tail soggy. I just keep taking it out of his mouth and wiping it dry and telling him No. I guess he grew out of it. He's 3. Same like what someone shared, I think he was bothered that's why the tail chewing, some days good some days bad and he will hide somewhere to chew his tail.
I have a 7 months old tail chaser now though who chases her own tail like a dog and bites it when she catches it. But no wet tail so far.

 

[tuffysmommy]

I have 1 who used to always have the tip of his tail soggy. I just keep taking it out of his mouth and wiping it dry and telling him No. I guess he grew out of it. He's 3. Same like what someone shared, I think he was bothered that's why the tail chewing, some days good some days bad and he will hide somewhere to chew his tail.
I have a 7 months old tail chaser now though who chases her own tail like a dog and bites it when she catches it. But no wet tail so far.

Ah yes, the telltale soggy tail…”Miss Paka,” I would say, “why is your tail soggy?” —just that bit of fur that was at the tip remained if she had not done it defiantly one front of me…

 

[pussiette]

Paka would do this. She never knew her mother so she first sucked on her paw until it got raw but didn't break the skin. I would shield the paw from her by putting my arm in the way. Got her chew toys which she paid no attention to. A while later she changed to sucking her tail. It got me crazy. She did this mostly in bed with me. She didn't didn't break the skin. I again interceded. We noticed she did it mostly when she had an issue with us...fed too late in her opinion, someone getting petted instead of her, too much light when she didn't want it...worked to distract her or hold it down and pay attention to her. Always told her to stop it, it was my tail (haha). Finally she grew out of it.

Thanks so much can you please share which toys for chewing you bought have tried a few but no luck thanks

 

[tuffysmommy]

Thanks so much can you please share which toys for chewing you bought have tried a few but no luck thanks

They were all Petstages brand: there was a worm, a banana and a fresh mint stick. I will try to get pictures of them.

 

[tuffysmommy]

I looked on the Petstages website and there are many more than when I had investigated. Pictures of cat chew toys I bought:

Dental Cat Toys
There is a link at the bottom right....not sure how to make it easy to find......

 

[pussiette]

I looked on the Petstages website and there are many more than when I had investigated. Pictures of cat chew toys I bought:View attachment 107932View attachment 107933View attachment 107934Dental Cat Toys
There is a link at the bottom right....not sure how to make it easy to find......

Thanks so much for getting those pictures I have the worm and 3 mint sticks but he is not interested although I keep offering it to him each day and we also have a avocado shrimp and pretzel. The pretzel he loved but super dangerous and a choking hazard same company and they were unhelpful to deal with.

I haven’t seen the banana one so will look at that thanks!

I do find this one is the only one he likes but he only chews the tail and they last me about a week before they are unsafe unlike the pet stages one pretzel which lasted 15 minutes!

I am really interested to hear more please keep in touch.

Gigwi Dental Mesh Seahorse with Catnip

Help Keep Your Precious Cats Teeth Clean With These Fun Gigwi Dental Mesh Toys. These Cat Chew Toys Are Made With A Specially Formulated Mesh Material That Helps To Improve Your Cats Dental Health By Providing A Flossing And Cleaning Action To Their Teeth And Gums While Your Cats Chew. Cats Have...

woononapetfoods.com.au

 

[pussiette]

@tuffysmommy thanks so much I found the banana you suggested! I will give this a go I think I can get it from Amazon.

 

[tuffysmommy]

Imay not be much consolation but my vets were of the opinion that if she wasn’t breaking the skin, it was not really very worrisome.

 

[tuffysmommy]

Imay not be much consolation but my vets were of the opinion that if she wasn’t breaking the skin, it was not really very worrisome.

That said, it made me crazy but it did subside for years and literally came back to vex me. How old is your kitty?

 

[Bailey21]

My Yoda has chewed his tail since he was 6 months. I’ve tried plenty to stop him but I’ve given up. He loves his tail suckling and forever will. He doesn’t harm it so I let it be


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[pussiette]

@tuffysmommy thank you so much for the banana because I didn’t find that one on my travels and I bought it thanks to you …. it’s coming from overseas so it should be here sometime.

My other cat had the same behavioural problem tail biting and unfortunately she woke up one morning and overnight she had chewed the entire tip of her tail off right back to the bone …the bone was all that was left there the vet said they needed to amputate or we had to follow a strict regime to try to get the whole thing to grow back fortunately it did grow back so this can happen overnight….. I have lived through it and I don’t want to live through it again. He will be turning one in July. Your help is appreciated.

 

[tuffysmommy]

Oh my. That’s extreme. You shocked me into remembering there was something my vet gave me to spray on her tail. I’ll have to through the vet bills. I get a lot of information (this site included) from a blog called Pictures of Cats. In the case of tail biting he suggested making a log of when you see it happening and try to connect other things that are simultaneously happening which might trigger it. Licking I would think is comforting, biting not so much.

 

[pussiette]

Thanks @tuffysmommy for understanding ❤️

 

[tuffysmommy]

Dear me. He's a baby. Does he do it in front of you? Maybe keep a log of when it happens. Was your other cat a sphynx?

 

[pussiette]

He does it in front of me or when I am not looking like babies do! The banana has been ordered! The vet also suggested a bitterant. I also started kangaroo jerkey which he loves and interactive toys. He is very intelligent and gets bored easily. Yes my other girl is a Sphynx she bites hers habitually.

 

[tuffysmommy]

I put it out to the fellow at POC to find out if there is any research out there about this.

 

[tuffysmommy]

Why does my cat bite his tail (to the point of injury)? – PoC
This is his caveat: Well, I wrote a page about it or I updated an earlier page. It is a long page which pretty much signifies that I don't know the answer! But then again you will find, I believe, that most veterinarians don't really get to the bottom of these issues in domestic cats.

Hope it helps.

 

[Callie R]

Hi! Sorry to hear about this.

My 5 y/o M bites his tail on pretty regularly over the last few years. About 3 years ago we had to take a trip to the vet because he bit too hard and caused a pretty nasty gash. It recently became worse along with other anxiety behaviors (vet blames working from home COVID anxiety as I’m now back to work). He has a nakie sister at home with him so he is never alone.

He’s been on Prozac for 3 months now with negligible improvement. I have found he bites his tail as a compensatory behavior when he’s not getting attention all the time. I’d suggest chewy toys as others have, I use the pet stages ones. But he won’t seek the toys out on his own, but I find that he will seek out and find anything made of silicone in my house that’s not a toy and chew it up.

Distraction and replacement with a toy helps us! But it hasn’t gone away entirely.


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[pussiette]

@Callie R thank you so much.

Always on alert here too.

He is very bright and intelligent so needs to be stimulated but gets bored quickly.

Thanks for sharing your advice.

 

[tuffysmommy]

The more I think about this.....I still have to find the bitter thing the vet gave us for Paka's sucking but I was thinking, have you tried Feliway? It is supposed to relax them. I got it for my feral but haven't used it because I don't have an available electrical outlet. I may just try it this long weekend to see what it does and let you know.

 

[pussiette]

I did buy the vet recommended bitterant it’s a little helpful no to feliway I find he is stimulated 24/7 it’s ok …I think he is needy and bored very bright boy.