# Does your cat quiver its tail? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695 "2011-10-25T01:45:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/1 "2011-10-25T01:45:29Z")
My cat, George, when he is in a playful mood, will often jump up onto my desk, when I’m at my desk on the computer, stand in front of my monitor, meow, put his tail straight up into the air, and then “quiver” his tail. What I mean is, his tail starts shaking - not shaking as in, flicking from side to side or something, but shaking the way a rattlesnake’s tail shakes. Actually visibly vibrating. He also sometimes does this after he plays with the catnip-scented bubbles I like to blow for him. I’ve never seen another cat do this, but according to what I’ve read online, cats sometimes do it. Does your cat do it? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/2 "2011-10-25T03:12:07Z")
I assume he’s been neutered. Otherwise, you’d be all stinkin’ wet. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/3 "2011-10-25T04:22:01Z")
What do you mean? Is this tail quivering associated with pissing, or spraying scent, in cats? ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/4 "2011-10-25T04:27:48Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > What do you mean? Is this tail quivering associated with pissing, or spraying scent, in cats? Yes ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/5 "2011-10-25T04:30:18Z")
Yes. One of my current cats does it, and one of my now deceased cats used to do it, both when they were excited. Both female, and both spayed. ---
**Author:** ![MissesA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@MissesA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissesA)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/6 "2011-10-25T04:40:17Z")
He’s spraying or trying too. Male cats do that. And yes they will in fact spray people. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/7 "2011-10-25T04:44:53Z")
No. I don’t have a cat. I don’t like cats. I have a thing about friends with cats: I don’t have friends with cats. \ What’s _wrong_ with you? ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/8 "2011-10-25T04:58:11Z")
All of my cats do that, even Cleo [my girl kitty]. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/9 "2011-10-25T05:06:33Z")
My female cat does this when she is excited about something. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/10 "2011-10-25T05:06:35Z")
I’ve only had one cat that does it, Jasmine. She always quivers her tail when I come home from work (she greets me at the door, like a dog) and when she smells a can of something being opened for her. From what I’ve read cats only do it when they’re extremely happy. It is just like a vibrating, like a rattlesnake’s tail. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/11 "2011-10-25T05:18:07Z")
All three of my cats do that when they’re happy, and sometimes right when waking up. All boys, all fixed, if that matters. ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/12 "2011-10-25T15:20:48Z")
> [@MissesA](#): > > He’s spraying or trying too. Not necessarily. You have to take context into it. A behaviorist once told me that the tail quiver when being greeted is the only true sign of affection you get from a cat. It means they are happy/excited. All other signs of affection (kneading/bunting are self-serving for the cat). ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/13 "2011-10-25T16:29:01Z")
> [@Mauvaise](#): > > Not necessarily. You have to take context into it. > > A behaviorist once told me that the tail quiver when being greeted is the only true sign of affection you get from a cat. It means they are happy/excited. All other signs of affection (kneading/bunting are self-serving for the cat). Sounds odd to me. Cats have many ways of showing affection. How can anyone tell which are “true”? ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/14 "2011-10-25T21:07:06Z")
Smoke, our gray female cat, does this when she is trying to get my attention by yapping at me loudly, especially when I’m ignoring her. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/15 "2011-10-25T23:51:00Z")
> [@MissesA](#): > > He’s spraying or trying too. If he wanted to, he would. Contrary to popular belief, neutered males are perfectly capable of spraying, as are females. It’s just that neutering tends to mostly eliminate the urge to do so and almost as importantly apparently cuts down on the worst bit of the odor. It’s not 100%, especially if the cat is neutered when they are older and are used to spraying. But it is highly effective, otherwise probably nobody would own a male cat :). But he really _wanted_ to spray, he could and would. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/16 "2011-10-26T02:10:30Z")
We had a cat that would do that when he saw us go into the kitchen - he knew that’s where the food was, lol. (We used to call it “shimmy tail”) ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/17 "2011-10-26T02:21:53Z")
My WonTon (fixed male) does it but I’ve never seen my girls do it. I always thought it was a boy thing. I had a cat once who wasn’t fixed who did it when he was about to spray. ---
**Author:** ![ladysorrowfree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@ladysorrowfree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladysorrowfree)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/18 "2011-10-26T03:53:53Z")
My cat (huge, male, fixed since kittenhood) only quivers his tail when he’s frustrated about something or doesn’t get what he wants. Generally he then stalks off to his litterbox, faces his rear to the wall, and sprays. In the interest of anger management for everyone, we engineered him a litterbox big, tall, high, and covered. All his spray runs right back down into the litter. Now he gets to make his occasional statement, and we don’t have to clean up after it. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/19 "2011-10-26T04:30:11Z")
Yes, my neutered male cat does it. I call it “shivery tail.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695/20 "2011-10-26T04:39:10Z")
My cat does the tail quiver–spayed female. I enjoy making her do this by withholding her kitty treats for a few seconds after pulling them from the bag. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-cat-quiver-its-tail/600695.md?page=2)