Wondering about my foster...

 I had a cat one time that was a monster. She constantly wagged her tail and would want to be petted. BUT only on the head and under the chin. Pet her anywhere else you were going to get it. We had that cat since she was a itty bitty kitty. I think she was bipolar!!

 It's just that some cats get very easily stimulated from petting. Our Max cat, who we just lost to cancer, was one of our cats that was like that. However he was also our cat that craved the most attention. He'd be laying on my husband and if he heard me move, he'd look over and it was almost as if you could hear him say, "Oh dear, I forgot you were over there." Then he'd jump off of my husbands lap and over to me for a bit. After a couple of minutes, he'd look over at my husband again and "oh, gee I've got to go over and give my lovins over there." He'd go back and forth like that, for a few minutes, before settling in with one of us. He'd lay on me and suck on one of his extra toes on his front paw. But, if you pet him too much on the back, he'd get growly and hissy with us. We used to play with him, by getting him stimulated a bit, and he'd bite and attack our hands but just more in play. You didn't want to get him too stimulated over it though, as then he would get angry. I've seen a lot of cats that are like that and some may get a bit more upset than others. Petting a cat on the stomach is another spot that many don't like. The tail wagging would be telling me that the cat is getting over stimulated and to cut back on whatever I was doing. By working with it, I'm sure you could get the cat more tolerant, it would just take time. If he's young that is a big part of it also. Young cats have lots of the play devil in them.

Thanks for your responses, I will keep you updated on Basils progress.

How old is he? A lot of the bottle babies that I have fostered do this when they are nursing. Many of the older ones will do it when they are playing. I wouldn't worry about it too much =]

The shelter put him down as an 8 month old. but i believe him to be older. He's at least a yr to 2 yrs.

hm. I have an adult cat that does this when he's not too happy, like the angry kitty tail (not quite what we call it...)

I still wouldn't worry about it too much. As far as the bipolar business goes - some cats don't like to be held for long. They get sick of it - esp. the younger ones! I think he'll be just fine - he sounds like spunky, playful little guy

Thanks, he actually has calmed down quite a bit.
He still swats at the girls every once in a while, and hisses and growles at Max.

But I can pet him now, going down his back. I'm sure he just needed to adjust.

Thankyou for all your advice!

Jessie

there is a condition that causes a cat to twitch - it's almost like their skin hurts. I gotta go see if I can find the name of this.

http://www.cathealth.com/hyperesthesia.htm

marynh

there is a condition that causes a cat to twitch - it's almost like their skin hurts. I gotta go see if I can find the name of this.

http://www.cathealth.com/hyperesthesia.htm

This article has been very useful for me. Thank you very much Marynh.