Is my cat autistic? Understanding unique cat behaviors and traits.

Hi and thanks for your question about Fiona. From just judging by the pictures and her appearance alone, she appears to be enjoying the couch! I cannot judge from the pictures alone if she has a mental disorder or not. Mental disorders in animals are really not reported or studied as we do not have a good way to measure these in animals. Every cat is different and has their own unique personality to them, just like people have their own personalities. :) Best wishes and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Weebil is adorable and I love his name! He likely had a congenital defect or trauma at birth. I have seen the umbilical chord wrap around paws, legs and tails causing deformities. As for the head bobbing it could be just do to the lameness and paw deformities (use the head to balance) or he could have a mild form of cerebellar hypoplasia which is due to his mother being infected by panleukopenia while pregnant. Animals with this condition live a normal life but are "special." I wish you all the best!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. This is likely a genetic malformation during birth. The only thing I would watch out for is pain in the affected leg and any abrasions from the leg dragging on the ground. Otherwise, she should be able to adapt to her malformation. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Your kitten is adorable! The most common cause for ataxia in mild or severe forms in a kitten is Cerebellar hypoplasia (underdeveloped). This is a birth defect from the kitten's mother being exposed to feline panleukopenia (parvo virus) while she was pregnant. These kittens can live very full lives and there is nothing you need to do differently in raising her. Just be careful with stairs and climbing if you feel that her poor balance could cause her to injure herself. I hope this helps!

Housecats typically have their testicles descend fully into the scrotum by six to eight weeks of age, but it is not unheard of for this to be delayed for up to a few months in some instances. I would not operate under the assumption your kitty is a cryptorchid (no testicles in the scrotum) at this juncture, but would continue to monitor for their presence on a regular basis. Sometimes one testicle will descend but not the other. In cases where there is no sign of testicles in the scrotum and a client still wishes to neuter, testicles must be found within the abdomen or inguinal region of the body and removed surgically. This is not an extremely common procedure, but certainly one that most veterinarians will do at least a few times during their careers. It is obviously more difficult than a regular cat neuter, since you don't know precisely where the testicles are located anatomically. Anyway, my advise is that you should keep checking and be sure to have your vet verify your findings. Sometimes their testicles can be extremely small at this young of an age. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I'm sorry to hear Nova had an accident that caused a leg issue. I would recommend he be re-evaluated by a veterinarian, or even an orthopedic specialist. At his age, it may be permanent, but depending on the type of injury there may be a possibility for a procedure to improve things. Good luck!

Male cats will tend to do this behavior if they have not been neutered. If your cat has been neutered I would check with the vet who performed the surgery to ensure that both testicles were retrieved at the time of the surgery and that your cat does not have a retained testicle or is what we call a cryptorchid. Some cats fail to descend a testicle and it remains in the abdominal cavity. One of the signs that this has happened is latent "sexual activity such as "masturbation activity" such as your cat is doing. Not all cats who do this have retained testicles, but it can often be the case. If you and your vet know for 100% certainty that he had both testicles removed, then this may just be a behavior that your cat does. Your vet may have some suggestions to dissuade your cat from doing this, but it is generally nothing harmful and the cat is just acting out, will finish and there is nothing else to it. If the cat did retain a testicle, the vet can go in surgically to remove it. It is important to remove the retained testicles because they can become cancerous. I myself have a cat who does this (he had both his jewels removed successfully) so we just call it making "dirty biscuits". There really is no reason for his behavior, he just does it... But I made sure that there was no medical reason first! :) Usually I have a nice water bottle on hand and that seems to work great :)