If You're Happy -- Vibrate Your Tail!

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More emergency. Couldn't post for a few days, but from now on I'm going to be more consistent.

Thankfully, Mittens is a healthy kitty now. The vet was very impressed, said that we’ve got ourselves a whole new cat. Well, maybe the equivalent of 2 new cats! She looked gaunt and emaciated like a concentration camp victim. The shaved patch on her foreleg – where they inserted the catheter – heightened that impression. You’d almost expect to see a number tattooed there.

Now Mittens looks sleek and happy. She’s gained 1.6 pounds, representing a 25% increase in weight.

Several months ago I started noticing something peculiar. Mittens' tail was vibrating! At first I thought that I’d just imagined it. But then she started to vibrate her tail regularly, almost every day, and I realized that I wasn’t seeing things. My first thought was that perhaps she was spraying. A quivering tail is one of the signs of a cat that’s about to spray urine. Cats spray to mark their territory. It’s more common with male cats but females can engage in spraying behavior too.

It’s evident though, from Mittens body language that she’s not trying to practice spray painting. Every time she vibrates, she sticks her tail straight up while gazing into my face, arching her back, and emitting meows that, to my ears, sound most decidedly happy. She shimmies her tail near her empty food bowls, like an entreaty of some sort. As well as right before she's about to eat, as if she's saying grace. At times she does a quick tail burr after she’s eaten her fill and when she sees me enter the room. Like a vibro-greeting.

I asked around to see why a cat might vibrate her tail. Most people, even long-term cat-lovers, said they had no idea—they’d never seen a cat vibrate her tail in the way that Mittens does. After more digging around, I discovered that I was right, whenever Mittens burred her tail, she was expressing excitement and joy! According to experts, a cat’s tail will vibrate when she’s happily anticipating something desirable, like a treat. Some cats may also quiver their tail when they’re excited but uncertain of a situation. Apparently, it’s a way to release pent-up energy! Maybe the way kids whoop and jump for joy?

Cats have different styles of vibrating their tail. One cat might quiver the tip of her tail while another might just shimmy the base of his tail really fast—like Mittens does.

But don’t confuse the vibro-tail with a tail slashing from side to side. That’s a sign of irritation or annoyance.

Anyway, next time your cat vibrates her tail when she sees you, take that as a compliment!