I've been looking for other cats to do it as well. My cat does it with his tail and I didn't know if it was just him or within his breed. By the way I'm not sure what breed my cat is (I think) a Balinese. Weird.

we had a cat in New Zealand in the 1970's that we called Springtail. He was just a moggy but his tail could also relax when he wanted to.

my cat is exactly the same joyce! he is like a turkish van/maine coon but his tail curls right over and lays on his spine!!!!

Hi,

Someone made a referrence between domestic cats with curley tails as being part ring tailed cats.

A ring tailed cat (also named miners cat) has coloration on the tail that is rings aroung the tail. They are not related to domestic cats that are curley tails.

We adopted two cats last year, a brother & sister. The male looks to be maine coon, the female has short hair with long hair mixed through out her body. Their markings are exactly alike as to where they are place. But.......

the female's tail curls under. When she is sleeping she rolls it right up into a roll, like if you were rolling up dough for cinnamon twist rolls.

I have had cats all my life, and so have other family members and friends and none of us has ever seen or heard of cats who can curly their tails in any shape. When she is awake, her tail stands completely straight up like if she had a ruler taped to it, and only the end of her tail moves.

Also the rings on her tail are unusual as well as the connect with a line of darker fur on the top of her tail all the way to the last section of her tail where the end is completely one color, a dark grey.

Both our cats have very soft meows and still sound like very young kittens. They are both 18 months old now and we enjoy everyday with them. They are so much fun. The female will play fetch. She likes for you to throw her toys for her and she will chase them and then bring them back. She also asks for you to play with her and will pick up one of her toys and tosses it around a few times to get your attention and then she will bring it to you and meow for you to play.

The male sits in the window and watches the birds and squirrels outside and barks at them. He also like to nuzzle your head and he purrs very loudly when he does this so that you will scratch him under his chin. He also comes and sits with my son in the morning, picks up his brush and holds it and then nudges it to my son for my son to brush him daily.

I could go on, They are such a joy and a treasure.

My cat is a mut, tuxedo color. we rescued him from a basement and named him smudge! His tail has always layed on his back. He puts it down when comfortable but when walking or stretching it lays right down his spine!! none of my other cats tails can even do this! I have watched our female and have tried to replicate it with her tail but it won't even bend back that far!! I guess we have cute loving, freaks of the cat world! lol!! your cat is quite cute btw!!

Actually, I thought she may have been a type of bob cat (except for the tail), or a lynx.But when I came across the Maine Coon cat she fits the description to a T. The pic shown on the site is very washed out and I am trying to grab on of her to show the beautiful colors and her tail when relaxed. Oh, and her tail begins the curl at the base falls along the middle of the back and then drapes to the side.

I got lucky with Kip. She and her brother were found in a paper bag on the side of the road. Whoever did that missed their big chance of a very loving and beautiful pet.

Oh I almost forgot, if you stroke her back she will curl her tail firmly around your arm and will do that to either side but it mainly curls the the right.

Thanks for the comment.

Hi Joyce, I think Kippling's tail is a variation on the American Ringtail cat's tail. Although it looks initially as if Kippling's tail just lies on her back.

It is caused by a genetic mutation. Quite a few cat breeds have been developed as a result of a genetic mutation as you probably know.

It is thought several genes are involved that dictate the wide range of variations on the same sort of tail position. Although on the American Ringtail page it says that there are two genes at work.

Here is a picture from Flickr of a curly tailed cat. A very different curl but a curl nonetheless!

You can see lots more on this page of the Messybeast site. Everyone a bit different:

Curly Tailed Cats (opens in a new window).

By the way your cat looks like a Maine Coon but you don't say this. Is your cat a Maine Coon?

Photo published under creative commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic.

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