At my wits end: cat attacking her tail

[NinjaPony]

I’ve been woken up early on a Sunday morning to the yowl that means my cat has one again bitten her own tail. She managed to injure the tip somehow in January, was duly rushed to the vet, given antibiotics etc and painkillers and a cone of shame. Tail healed up nicely, then at the first opportunity without the cone, she bit it again. Back to the vets where they found she had full anal glands. These were emptied, off we went home to heal. She was getting very frustrated in the plastic cone so I put her in a soft cone where she could just about reach the top once the tail had healed and scabs formed. All going well for several days and now I’ve woken up to a bloody tail having gone to sleep with a relaxed cat fast asleep on my bed.

I’ve got some hibiscrub at the yard so I’ll clean it up properly like they do at the vet but it’s bleeding and sore again.

I am despairing, she can’t stay in a cone forever but at this rate she’s going to lose the tip of the tail. I can’t understand it, she’s 3 and a half and has never even overgroomed herself, let alone self-harmed. She has a feliway plug in, the run of the house and is generally a lovely sweet cat who is confident and curious. Has anyone ever had to deal with something like this? What on Earth do you do??

 

[KittenInTheTree]

I would wonder if there was something wrong with her tail that was causing her to bite it, and would ask the vet to check.

 

[NinjaPony]

I also thought that, she’s had it checked the first and second time by the vet, it’s not broken or damaged other than the puncture wounds, she still has full function of it. She’s also had bloods done to check for infections and they came back with nothing. I had assumed if there was nerve damage it would affect the function of the tail. It was healing really well until she bit it again this morning, it feels like it’s become almost psychological? And each time she bites it, it causes pain, which then makes her bite it again? I’ll be taking her back to the vets again, I just don’t understand what’s going on with an otherwise perfectly well and normal cat. I had really hoped it was the anal glands causing discomfort and once they were cleared, the reason for the behaviour would go away but clearly not!

 

[EstherYoung]

Ours does this - she did bite off the end of her tail at one point. The cone of shame doesn't really work as tails are long and bendy.

The vet said it becomes a vicious circle - once they've got a scab, it itches as it heals which means they chew it more etc etc.

Once she had actually properly degloved the end, it healed up much better and she left it alone just long enough to enable that to happen. If it hadn't healed, the vet was talking about doing a proper neat amputation on the very end so that it would heal properly (but the cat did that to herself in the end).

It's been fine for a couple of years but she's just started chewing at again now though. Fingers crossed she doesn't damage it again.

 

[Highmileagereindeer]

It can start as a stress issue, like a person biting their nails, but often becomes a psychological issue, particularly if there is nerve damage. Think phantom pain from amputated limbs. Be careful using Hibiscrub and Savlon type scrubs around cats - sometimes plain old salt water is best.

 

[NinjaPony]

It can start as a stress issue, like a person biting their nails, but often becomes a psychological issue, particularly if there is nerve damage. Think phantom pain from amputated limbs. Be careful using Hibiscrub and Savlon type scrubs around cats - sometimes plain old salt water is best.

This ties in with what I’m thinking and what I’ll speak to the vets about as soon as they can book her in, good point re the phantom limbs

Savlon is toxic for cats so that’s a no go, hibiscrub is safe as long as it’s diluted (that’s what the vets use) but for now I’ve just bathed it in some warm water, dried it gently and sprayed with some pet wound spray, the rest I’ve leave to the vets but I didn’t want to leave it open with no kind of anti microbial/antisceptic protection as it’s a Sunday and she won’t get seen until at least tomorrow.

 

[PurBee]

My male cat when young had this. Biting at his tail sporadically, growling even. For him it was the middle of the tail area. It eventually was a bald patch.
Went through a few rounds of it healing well, and he’d leave it alone, to it being bothersome and him chewing at it, licking it sore.

Initially i could see puncture marks, and thought because he’s an outside rural mountain cat he had either been bitten by a rat as he attacked it, or a pine marten/stoat scrap, or a squirrel bite, or a fox scrap, or scrapping with another male cat somehow, but as there arent any male cats close-by, fighting with wildlife is more likely as he hunts anything.

My other male cat in suburbia would fight other neighbourhood male cats, and have scratch injuries sometimes on his tail.

Them licking it sore because it stings/itches, doesnt help it heal and makes it more sore. It can get frustratingly circular.
I would clean his with cool water and smear aloe vera gel on it, keeping him close-by while it soaked-in and dried, so it could work. I didnt want him licking it off.
That seemed to help reduce the itchiness/soreness as it’s a cooling gel, and he would leave it alone to dry the sore wound and allow healing.

It eventually fully healed and hasnt recurred, despite his hunting program in full swing!
I couldnt see any evidence of mites or any skin grubs, he was impeccable with grooming and very healthy apart from the tail issue.

We have ticks in the long grass fields here, and there’s a possibility one latched onto his tail, and due to them being very itchy when they are sunk into skin feeding off blood, (theyve got me too) it’s likely he could have bitten it off himself, causing an aggravated wound.

The aloe is all i used, sporadically, and it likely worked due to it being very soothing and cooling on any type of sunburnt, sore, itchy skin. As you said, they seem to go at their tail due to it being itchy/sore, so anything that helps reduce those sensations helps them to leave it alone to heal.

He often now does what dogs do - run and roll around in circles chasing his tail! Im not sure if its remnant memory of it being a bothersome appendage, or he’s having fun! At least he plays with it now rather than brutally attack it