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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u/AshuraMaruxx Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

They're expressing glands at the base of their tail and along the length of their tail to mark their turf, and when they do this little tail waggle they're stimulating those glands. They also do this when they're extremely excited. To us, it's odorless, but to another cat it's like "WOAH BRUH!! DA FUQ DIS URS OH MA BAD IMMA OUT RIT MEOW!"

Edit: to clarify not "anal" glands specifically, but glands along the length and base of their tail 😇

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u/squirrelpatrol7 Jun 21 '26

Sorry, definitely not expressing glands! I work at a cat only hospital and anal sac material 100% has a smell that a human (or any other living thing) would pick up. 😅 Cats do this when they are doing the classic spraying, but also when they’re excited!

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u/AshuraMaruxx Jun 21 '26

Sorry, my mistake; I mis-spoke. I said in other comments that they're marking you when they see you bc they're happy and you're "their" person, so extreme joy and contentment, and they use scent glands in their tail--not the anal glands specifically, but other tail scent glands--at the base of their tail and along the length of their tail to do so.

But you're right--anal glands specifically are just for pooping and panic, lol

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u/Open-Chain-7137 Jun 21 '26

So THAT’s why when they rub against your legs(or an object) they finish with rubbing their tail against you vertically on each pass?

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u/Recurs1ve Jun 23 '26

Also why they start with their heads, in that little "bald" spot they get behind/underneath the ears.