I've been keeping my eye on our new 9 month old kitty Delilah for the week that we've had her, and from day one I noticed she was very strange - at least compared to the almost dozen of cats I grew up with and took care of. Her biggest thing? Her tail, and her reactions to it.
When I take a bath, she always sits on the edge of it and watches me, or bathes herself - her tail ends up in the water, and she never even notices it, or tries to dry it off unless I put it right in front of her face to show her that it's wet. She doesn't seem to notice when I touch her tail at all, and in a fit of worry I gave it a little tug, nothing hard, just enough to guarantee a reaction, and still nothing. If I touch any other part of her body, she instantly reacts every time.
I'm beginning to think maybe she can't FEEL her tail. It still moves, looks normal, inspections I did of it myself didn't really reveal anything out of the ordinary in my eyes, but maybe something's wrong beneath the skin that would cause this?
I feel it's backed up by other symptoms I've seen. Her balance is awful. She almost never lands on her feet, she can't really walk on thin surfaces without falling off, and jumping for her toys almost ensures she'll wind up on her side or back nearly every time. She seems very aware of this "handicap", and prefers to instead only climb surfaces with mesh or fabric, where she can use her claws rather than her tail for balance.
The vet can't get us in for a few weeks, so I was just wondering if anyone else had any suggestions or experiences with anything like this? Thanks!
When I take a bath, she always sits on the edge of it and watches me, or bathes herself - her tail ends up in the water, and she never even notices it, or tries to dry it off unless I put it right in front of her face to show her that it's wet. She doesn't seem to notice when I touch her tail at all, and in a fit of worry I gave it a little tug, nothing hard, just enough to guarantee a reaction, and still nothing. If I touch any other part of her body, she instantly reacts every time.
I'm beginning to think maybe she can't FEEL her tail. It still moves, looks normal, inspections I did of it myself didn't really reveal anything out of the ordinary in my eyes, but maybe something's wrong beneath the skin that would cause this?
I feel it's backed up by other symptoms I've seen. Her balance is awful. She almost never lands on her feet, she can't really walk on thin surfaces without falling off, and jumping for her toys almost ensures she'll wind up on her side or back nearly every time. She seems very aware of this "handicap", and prefers to instead only climb surfaces with mesh or fabric, where she can use her claws rather than her tail for balance.
The vet can't get us in for a few weeks, so I was just wondering if anyone else had any suggestions or experiences with anything like this? Thanks!