Why when I stroke my cat lifts the tail

Are you one of those who, as soon as they see a cat, come to greet him and / or live with one? Then you will know that you can find that they run away and no longer want to know more about you in a while as they demand you caresses and attention. This is because, although they generally like to go about their business, they also enjoy a good session of caresses and company. Have you noticed that when you caress them, the cats raise their tails and curve their backs while purring and demanding more caresses? If you have ever seen it and you are curious to know the reason why they put their backs up, continue reading this article and discover the answer to your question about " why when I stroke my cat raises its tail? ".

He communicates with you by raising his tail when you caress him

The first thing we have to keep in mind is that a cat always communicates with us in one way or another and, in general, it is almost always with body language that goes unnoticed. Although it is also true that in order to try to communicate with us, they meow, in most cases they will be trying to transmit what they want or need with the positions and gestures of their body . When the cats move their tails, they express an infinity of things and, together with the position of their back, can transmit from a great joy and desire of affection, to dominance, fear or anger, among many more emotions and behaviors. But when we caress them on the back, what does it mean to lift the spine and tail?

Is it sexual behavior?

What many people think when a cat lifts its back and tail when we caress its back and purrs, is that it is sexual behavior. But, it is a mistake to think that they raise the back and the tail as a gesture of sexuality, since this behavior is done by cats of all types and in many different situations. We can see it in domestic cats of all ages, even in those too young to still have no impulse or behavior related to reproduction, and we can also see that they do male and female, regardless of whether they are castrated or sterilized. Therefore, we can say that this gesture when we touch your back is not related to hormones and definitely has nothing to do with sexual behavior.

What a cat communicates by raising its tail when you caress it

If when we caress a cat it raises the back and tail, along with a soft purr, it is telling us that we are welcome. It is a relaxed and close attitude that aims to make us understand that you want to continue receiving caresses and pampering and that, in addition, we are scratching or caressing at a point where you want a lot at that time, so you will surely return the gesture with loving butts and more purrs. These heads will make them rub against us, thus exchanging smells, something very positive and important in the relationship with a domestic cat.

The fact that they raise their tails and expose their genitals, although it can be uncomfortable for us, for cats is a gesture that shows that they are calm with you . In addition, lift the back while the tail do to intensify the caress and tell us they want more. In short, if when you caress a feline on the back you respond with this gesture, lifting the back and tail, it means that there is a good atmosphere in your relationship at that time, there are signs of trust, affection and complicity, but Attentive to other possible signs that may indicate other different things.

Another meaning of your cat raising its tail when you caress it

What we have commented so far is the most usual, but it is really possible that when we touch a cat can raise the back for other reasons and, therefore, it is vital that we pay attention to other possible signs or gestures that are trying to communicate anything else. For example, in the positive case that we have already mentioned before, usually you also hear soft purrs and the cat returns the caresses rubbing his head against us and even nibble at our fingers but, although it is somewhat less frequent, if instead of a purr we hear a moan or a nervous meow at the same time that the cat arches the back and tries to leave, probably what will happen is that the area that we have touched is hurting. It can be a wound on the skin or some problem or condition in the spine or kidneys, among other possibilities. For this reason, it is important that we stop touching him immediately so that he calms down and then we try to find out what causes him that discomfort or pain. You can try to observe the skin and hair of the area to detect a wound, but if you do not see anything and the feline keeps complaining, it is best to approach your trusted veterinarian to review it and if necessary do some test for a good diagnosis.

If you liked to know why cats lift the back when you caress them you will surely love reading this other article that is about why cats lick.