My cat has a twitch, almost like a nervous tic?

Question

She is 8 years old, spayed, and we have had her since she was a kitten. In the last few months she has occatinally started freaking out about her tail. She will usually start by agressivly licking the base of her tail, but it is like it is hard for her to do it, like she is thinking about running away from it, then she will sprint around the house a few times, obviously trying to escape her tail. She stops and lays down in front of me like she wants help. I have found that if I scratch it is seems to make it worse, but if I rub her hips firmly it seems to help. The problem is it seems to be getting worse, I don't know if it is the change in season, but she is an indoor cat so that shouldn't matter. I would take her to the vet, but I don't want to if there just gonna say, it may be, it might be, try this....
Any ideas, anyone?

Answer 1

I'm SO glad you didn't say the twitch was in the front leg!!! We lost a cat to cardiomyopathy in September and that was one of the signs of the disease, we didn't know it at the time.

Yours sounds like it's a nerve problem. Twitchy back, tail jerking in spasms suddenly, running. I bet her pupils are huge when this happens too.

The vet can check on this, there's something that can be given to calm this down for her, a friend had a cat who had this and they got him on medication for it. She's since moved so I can't contact her about what the name of it was.

Next time she goes in for a checkup, ask the vet to check her tail/hips and describe what your cat is going through. It could be neurological or nerve damage at the base. The cat does need some comfort for this, so getting it treated is important.