Standing hair makes your cat’s tail appear larger
- Foremost, standing hair makes the animal look larger. This is why it’s so useful in horrific situations. It’s beneficial to be large and scary if something threatens you. If you appear big and scary, you are more likely to scare the intruder away.
- An additional benefit is that puffy hair makes better heat insulation. So it’s why goosebumps show up when it’s cold. Standing hair traps air between the hairs which works well to preserve heat, just like mineral wool or a sweater does.
But why the tail? If appearing larges is so useful, why doesn’t the hair all over the body of the cat stand up? There isn’t a clear answer, but likely it’s because sometimes it may be needed to play it safe. Cats use their tails for communication a lot, and in certain situations, it is a useful “flag” to display.
Puffy tail quite often appears on cases when a cat has been startled by something but had not yet identified the source of it. It makes sense for a tail to puff, because, if held high, it may be the first thing the intruder notices. Large tail, by default, means large animal.
While the intruder investigates the tail, the rest of the cat’s body will adjust, depending on the size of the intruder. Too large intruder means it’s safer to appear small and invisible.
Note that nothing of this happens intentionally. Your cat is not able to control movements of hair, similarly like we can’t do anything when our goosebumps appear. When a cat is afraid, his puffy tail will appear. No way out of it. If you suspect your cat gets scared too often, learn to calm a fearful cat here.