Sphynx Cat Tails

The tail of the Sphynx Cat

is one of the curiosities that draws attention whenever you introduce your Sphynx to someone unfamiliar with the breed. Cat owners will know that the cat’s tail is a source of amusement for kittens, a signal device to you and other cats about the mood of the feline, and something that can get shut in doors if you aren’t careful.

For the Sphynx the tail is also an extremity that is exposed directly to the cold and is the first place to feel it.

Sphynx cat Luna chooses to keep her tail warm by curling it into a tight coil, like a piggy’s tail. Then she sits on it, tucked between her legs and under her stomach; which conveniently has “fat pads” as a result of hormones after her desexing. There she keeps it warm and hidden away, although the tuft of hair at the end might be peeking out occassionally and become a “lure” for Sphynx Kitten Pierre… like an angler fish.

Pierre is still a long slim Sphynx kitten and has no extra pudding to keep his tail warm, so he stores it as most other cats do, by curling it backwards into the crevice over the top of his leg and against his side.

Pierre does have an issue with his tail, although the issue may be more to do with his brain than his tail. His kitten playfulness in “catching and killing” his tail may have developed into something more sinister. Without fur there is no protection for the Sphynx skin and scratches and scrapes do happen during boisterous play. Pierre’s tail tip has some scabbing on it from his biting it.

After some research on the web about cat obsessive-compulsive behaviour and feline hyperthesia syndrome and I am not convinced either to to be the issue. At this stage we are monitoring his behaviour to see if it escalates or is related to anything (like the house move recently) if it has not changed for the better in a month we will take him for a check up at the vet.

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