Strange behaviour

[Shelley123]

Does anyone know anything about a certain nerve that cats have on their back near their tails. Recently a friend of my sons who used to help out at a cattery tickled my cats near their tails causing some very strange behaviour, they began franticaly licking their front paws whilst crouching down and yowling/growling. Obviously i told him to stop as i thought the cats were having a fit. He told me that cats have a nerve near there tails ?
Since then they sometimes start to groom near their tails and the behaviour starts again, they sometimes do end up falling onto their sides through twisting round

[dandysmom]

That's a new one to me; never heard that. Leia and my previous cats, would arch their tails if I rubbed their back just at the base by the tail, but never exhibited any strange behavior.... :smt017

[angieh]

I've never seen quite such extreme reaction, but all my cats have stuck their bottoms in the air if rubbed on their backs around the base of their tails. They stretch out and seem to enjoy it. Both male and female act the same and I assume the behaviour is sexual.

[dandysmom]

Yes, it was the same for my males and females both; I too assume it's a sexual response of a sort.

[Shelley123]

It is weird and looks quite scary, both our cats have has weak back legs all their lives and as they get older their legs get worse. The vet thinks its some kind of genetic problem as another male from the same litter had weak legs also. The female in the litter is ok. Perhaps the extreme reaction is something to do with this

[kado]

My brothers cat do it. There around 8ish both female and speyed. My neighbours tom neutered does it as well he loves it he is also about 8ish

[Shelley123]

Ours definately look distressed even when they are causing it to happen themselves

[angieh]

You may be right if their hind legs are weak it may distress them. Poor loves. I guess that it may take a while for the stimulation of that particular nerve to calm down. I wonder if a little Rescue Remedy gently massaged into their ears might calm them.

(Sorry, awful lot of "may"s there)

[catflap]

Yes, someone occasionally posts a YouTube of a cat making exceedingly strange gargling noises while being scratched just there. It's hard to tell if it's agony or ecstasy, frankly, but it's not a noise I'd like to hear coming out of my cat.

[Shelley123]

Thanks catflap, if you come across anything on youtube could you let me have the details. I will try searching.
Like you i find the noise and the way thy behave very uncomfortable.

[catflap]

Heh. As it happens, I saw one so recently, it was still in my YouTube history folder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A8uqpeSQ-A

That's pretty typical of the others I've seen. This cat's being brushed around the tail area. And, as usual, it's impossible to say where that's a happy or unhappy kitty.

[Shelley123]

Thanks for the youtube link. The behaviour looks very similar although i would say ours particularly Jerry appear more distressed. I believe there must be a lot of nerves around the base of the tail and when they begin to groom themselves it triggers this weird response. I looked at a few more vids and what i've seen tends to reinforce this idea