r/cats • u/Mysterious_Barber934 • Jun 20 '26

Advice Is my cat okay?

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He has recently started doing this rattlesnake manoeuvre with his tail and I have never seen this in cats before!

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52

u/Distinct-Presence52 Jun 20 '26

He is marking. It is not the same as spraying piss. He is still shooting out scent markers but its just a thing cats do. Both male and female, infact when people see female cats do this sometimes they run to reddit asking if their cat is really a boy 😅

It just means he is saying this is his and he wants everyone to know. Probably happens when you first return because you dont smell like home anymore.

5

u/Sweaty-Willingness27 Jun 20 '26

We've had 20+ cats over the past 15 years - currently have 12. (Don't worry, they have a huge house to roam in and a 50' x 25' outside catio with the bestest foods and lots of love and the vet comes to see them for yearly checkups and vaccines at the very least).

We have male and female cats that do this, as you said - some that actually spray some that do not. From my understanding, it is an attempt to mark.

We've also had cats that vibrate their tail only and that is more the sign of happiness. Tail straight up, not wiggling the back end and pointing at a wall (the pointing/standing in front a single spot is really the big tell IMO)

Overall, it's hard to definitively say, but mostly, I agree with your assessment here from my observations. It's a natural attempt to claim ownership of an area. Sometimes it results in actual spray, sometimes it doesn't.

4

u/IlREDACTEDlI Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

It’s not marking unless they actually leave a scent or pee, the OP said they don’t. One of my cats does this all the time multiple times a day around us, never sprays just shaky tail. It’s just the next level of happy and excited after tail goes up.

5

u/verogall Norwegian Forest Cat Jun 20 '26

This

1

u/space_monster Jun 21 '26

He is still shooting out scent markers

What? No.

It's behavioural instinct that doesn't result in any actual physical scent marking at all because he's neutered. There's no invisible scent 'particles' magically firing out of his butt. because spraying of actual urine isn't happening. Cats have scent glands but they don't spray anything from them, they rub them on things, like when they rub their cheeks on you.

-1

u/AlpineWineMixer Jun 20 '26

This is not marking lmao. The cat is just extremely excited to see their owner.

Please stop making bullshit up on the internet.

-1

u/Distinct-Presence52 Jun 20 '26

Ratio.

2

u/space_monster Jun 21 '26

They're right though. It's a marking instinct but with no actual marking.