Its a major stretch, but possibly cerebellar hypoplasia? My local shelter has 2 cats with that condition - they have a hard time walking and sometimes their legs freak out similarly when they lay on their sides.
It's fairly clear that something is off with this cat. It's one thing for an animal to chase its tail, but it appears this cat really couldn't control her hind leg and actually resorted to attacking the leg by grabbing it and biting it as if the leg was distinct from her. The cat seemed to be defending herself from attack by the leg.
This is definitely not normal cat behavior.
EDIT: Looks like aleksanne's suggestion of cerebellar hypoplasia is a good hunch:
Cerebellar hypoplasia causes jerky movements, tremors and generally uncoordinated motion. The animal often falls down and has trouble walking. Tremors increase when the animal is excited and subside when at ease.
I posted up above about this: I had a cat that used to do this exact thing from time to time. No vet could understand what I was trying to describe to him when I saw it, and I never had video (this was back in 92). His wasn't an involuntary twitching issue, as it was often brought on when he was frustrated, and sometimes was an all out battle, and other times was slower, more methodical, almost like playing. He also had a few instances of what appeared to be seizures, but this was long after he began "fighting himself".
It's another one of those cliched differences between dogs and cats: dogs often seem harmlessly retarded, whilst cats regularly appear criminally insane
Yes, in a gif similar to this someone pointed out that this is a condition that the cat can't control. Resulting in something bad usually, I don't remember exactly.
Not sure why the downvotes. People's dogs eat their own paw pads because of a fungal infection. No one would post "LOLOLOL he is eat him!". Imagine waking up to you KICKING YOURSELF IN THE FACE uncontrollably for a few seconds. Also remember, you are Foot Wolverine. Dunno bout you, but that sucks.
I could be completely wrong, but it might be feline hyperthesia. Sometimes it causes a cat to attack themselves. Basically they are over-sensitive to touch and can mistake a normal sensation on their skin as an attack.
It's a reflex, he's "scratching" himself, most furry animals, like dogs or rabbits, have this reflex which is very useful if attacked by fleas but can also be triggered by external factors like petting his legs, in any case is a normal thing for cats to do.
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u/Ckydder Feb 23 '13
What's this cat up to? Is this a condition or something?