The Language of Cat Tails

             There is a certain elegance to a cat’s tail.  It can wrap photogenically around front paws as a cat sits upright.  It can cover a sleeping cat’s nose like a warm fur stole.  It can also communicate a number of emotions if you know how to read it.  If you google “cat tail language” some wonderful charts come up depicting about nine basic cat tail messages.  I’m  going to elaborate on the few that play a prominent part in our daily lives.

             The tail we most enjoy is a friendly tail.  This is a tail that sticks straight up like a fence post (unless you are Biff—his sticks straight up but then curls at the top like a question mark).  One variation is a vibrating straight up tail.  This indicates not only friendliness, but also an uncharacteristic “I’m so happy to see you.”  We usually only see this if we left the cats home alone all day with Frank and they need a break from him.

Biff oftens sports a "Question Mark" tail

             Speaking of Frank reminds me of the tucked down tail, which is listed as an indication of  submissiveness on the cat tail language charts.  At our house, it indicates defeat, as in, “Here comes Frank, I don’t have the will to fight him today so I’ll just let him be in charge.”  We don’t see it often but there are days when a couple of them show it.

             Frank doesn’t show the tucked down tail, but he is really good at displaying the flick and twitch tail.  This is a tail that at first glance seems to give a friendly wag but if you look closely, it moves intermittently… flick… pause… twitch… pause.  It is seen most often when a cat is not in the mood to be petted or coddled.  It often precedes a bite from Frank.  If you notice the flick and twitch tail, slowly back away and nobody will get hurt.

             Occasionally we hear a loud thumping coming from the dining room.  The thumping or thrashing tail indicates extreme excitement.  About the only thing that can bring it out in our cats is the presence of multiple squirrels just outside the window.  It is most likely to happen if several cats are watching together and it often ends with one of them forgetting about the window pane and lunging head first at the squirrels.

             The most fascinating and rare tail we see is the bottle brush tail (since Toby’s tail already looks like a bottle brush, it’s more of a Christmas tree tail on him).  This tail, in which the normal girth is quadrupled, manifests itself when a strange cat enters the yard.  Our clowder will tolerate each other’s presence as needed, but that’s where their hospitality ends.  As soon as a strange cat is sighted they bush up to look extra fierce and growl like dogs.  At that moment, your best bet is once again to slowly back away and for heaven’s sake don’t let them outdoors.

             This brings us to the most wonderful tail you can encounter—the sleeping swishy tail.  If a cat is relaxed and its tail is gently swishing back and forth like a hammock hanging from palm trees in some tropical paradise, it is completely safe to approach.  A cat with this tail will let you do almost anything to it—scratch its belly, rub its ears, pick it up and dance with it—all without the danger of bloodshed.

             Hopefully, this little guide has been helpful to you.  May you be blessed with sleeping swishy tails or, at the very least, a friendly question mark.