Singinficance of tail flicker in tomcat?

An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it
a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle
flame in the wind.

Does it mean that he is spraying?

Thanks!

223rem wrote:
An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it
a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle
flame in the wind.

Does it mean that he is spraying?

Thanks!

Our no-longer-intact-ex-tomcat Nico (1 yr 5 mo's) does this too. And
yes, I believe he thinks he's spraying, as nothing comes out - thank Bob
for that! Laku (5 yrs 8 mo's), on the other hand, doesn't flicker with
his tail, but backs up against a wall or such and treads with one or
both back paws in a funny, sweeping kinda way.

--
Christine in Vantaa, Finland
christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com
photos: http://photos.yahoo.com/christal63
photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/chkr63

Christine K. wrote:
223rem wrote:

An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it
a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle
flame in the wind.

Does it mean that he is spraying?

Thanks!


Our no-longer-intact-ex-tomcat Nico (1 yr 5 mo's) does this too. And
yes, I believe he thinks he's spraying, as nothing comes out - thank Bob
for that! Laku (5 yrs 8 mo's), on the other hand, doesn't flicker with
his tail, but backs up against a wall or such and treads with one or
both back paws in a funny, sweeping kinda way.


Thanks. The funny thing is that he is not spraying (if he is) anywhere
close to the house (thank god). He is spraying on a perimeter roughly 50 meters away
from the house (on a neighbor's porch, for example). Is that normal?

"Christine K." wrote in message
...
223rem wrote:
An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it
a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle
flame in the wind.

Does it mean that he is spraying?

Thanks!

Our no-longer-intact-ex-tomcat Nico (1 yr 5 mo's) does this too. And
yes, I believe he thinks he's spraying, as nothing comes out - thank Bob
for that! Laku (5 yrs 8 mo's), on the other hand, doesn't flicker with
his tail, but backs up against a wall or such and treads with one or
both back paws in a funny, sweeping kinda way.

--
Christine in Vantaa, Finland

Rudy (RB) used to do that. He did manage to spray, in spite of having been
neutered. Luckily, he started the flickering of the tail a bit before the
actual spraying, so it was sometimes possible to stop him in time.

Joy

"223rem" wrote in message
news:CfaCf.726833$x96.43041@attbi_s72...
An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it
a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle
flame in the wind.

Does it mean that he is spraying?

Thanks!

I see two possibilities here (but, first, he is *not* spraying -- you would
definitely smell it if an intact Tom were spraying).
(1) Your cat may be young enough so that he is not yet spraying...but will
do so soon. This is a very real possibility. You should have your cat
neutered as soon as possible. It will be better for you and also for him.
You are *not* going to be happy if he starts spraying indoors. Neutering
does not guarantee that he will not spray, but it greatly reduces the
possibility -- and it is more likely to have that result if he has never
started spraying in the first place.
(2) Even spayed or neutered cats will "shake their tails." It is sometimes
called the "happy shake" and seems to indicate a happy or content cat, but
not one that is trying to spray (even though it looks much like that is the
case).

MaryL
(take out the litter to reply)

Photos of Duffy and Holly: 'o'
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")

MaryL wrote:
"223rem" wrote in message
news:CfaCf.726833$x96.43041@attbi_s72...

An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it
a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle
flame in the wind.

Does it mean that he is spraying?

Thanks!


I see two possibilities here (but, first, he is *not* spraying -- you would
definitely smell it if an intact Tom were spraying).

No, he only does that far away from the house, so I only see this behavior
from the distance. He may be spraying for all I know.

On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 00:36:11 GMT, 223rem wrote:

MaryL wrote:
"223rem" wrote in message
news:CfaCf.726833$x96.43041@attbi_s72...

An intact tomcat holds tail straight up and briefly gives it
a rapid 'flickering', ondulating motion, kinda like a candle
flame in the wind.

Does it mean that he is spraying?

Thanks!


I see two possibilities here (but, first, he is *not* spraying -- you would
definitely smell it if an intact Tom were spraying).

No, he only does that far away from the house, so I only see this behavior
from the distance. He may be spraying for all I know.

Sound like he's probably marking off the boundaries of his
territory... in which case he's not bothering YOU but your neighbours
won't be amused! I know I wouldn't be... is there a reason why he's
not neutered?

--
~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
http://www.kajikitscorner.com
Online photo album - http://community.webshots.com/user/kajikit

Karen AKA Kajikit wrote:
is there a reason why he's not neutered?

No. As a fellow male, I probably identify with him...poor guy. He's
only 14 months old. But I will have him fixed once he grows fully
(he needs his testosterone for that)

Christine K. wrote:


Our no-longer-intact-ex-tomcat Nico (1 yr 5 mo's) does this too. And
yes, I believe he thinks he's spraying, as nothing comes out - thank Bob
for that! Laku (5 yrs 8 mo's), on the other hand, doesn't flicker with
his tail, but backs up against a wall or such and treads with one or
both back paws in a funny, sweeping kinda way.

Nikki, though a girl, used to do that. One of my niece's Russian Blues -
I think it was Emil (neutered boy), or maybe it was Kira (spayed girl) -
did that at Yule.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.
marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi
Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

"223rem" wrote in message
news:IsgCf.735157$_o.36917@attbi_s71...
Karen AKA Kajikit wrote:
is there a reason why he's not neutered?

No. As a fellow male, I probably identify with him...poor guy. He's
only 14 months old. But I will have him fixed once he grows fully
(he needs his testosterone for that)

No, that's a myth. He should be neutered as soon as possible. As Karen
indicated, your neighbors could become annoyed (no, *angry*) if he starts
marking their home. Much more important, the likelihood is that he has
already contributed to the overpopulation of cats because he is old enough
to be a "father." Our local newspaper had an excellent article this week on
euthanasia. The article concentrated on the psychological toll that is
taken on shelter workers who must carry out this horrible (but necessary)
task. This shelter has a staff who work very hard to find homes for animals
that are under their care. Even so, statistics for 2005 show that they
euthanized *73 percent* of the animals that were left at the shelter. So,
please don't attribute your own feelings about this to your cat -- and opt
for immediate neutering, which is the responsible thing to do and does not
have the type of adverse psychological effect you seem to be considering.

MaryL