July gives us reason to ‘paws’ for cats!

July gives us reason to ‘paws’ for cats! 

Happy 250th Independence Day this weekend!  Summer really did show up in Syracuse and wow, it is HOT.   Recently, there was a cat walking around on a shiny surface here at Rock The Cat Spa and they left paw prints.  Could it be because they were scared or hot and sweaty?  Paws can give us clues since cats can’t talk (that can be a good thing!) and are quite an interesting part of your kitty’s body. 

Leaving tracks…  Since the kitty was leaving paw prints all over, I realized that he was a bit nervous and therefore, had some sweaty paws.  Cats paws have sweat glands in them and sweat when nervous or hot.  Once, Daphne got overheated from being outside and I placed a cool wet towel on her paw pads and she quickly cooled off.  These glands aren’t the hardest workers so be aware when they are working as it could be a red flag. 

More can be better…  Here at the cat spa, there have been a lot of multi toe cats!  These cats have huge paws and are just adorable.  The official term is ‘polydactyl” and can be counted as 6 toes or 8 toes on the front paws instead of 5 like us humans.  These extras are a gene mutation and can cause excellent climbers but also are known as good luck to some people.  Maine Coon cats tend to be polydactyl more than any other breed. 

On average… for the regular felines, 5 toes on the front and 4 on the back.  The 5th toe on the front paw is the ‘dewclaw” and their thumb.  Watch them play or grab and it comes out. 

Match-y match…  Look at your cat's toe pads and the skin will match their fur color!   My sweet kitty, Daphne, has multi-colored pads. It's so cute! 

Shockingly good jumpers… As we know, cats are amazing jumpers and can always land on their feet. The pads are also shock absorbers and help cushion their fall! These are chocked full of nerves and can sense vibration, different surroundings ( such as sharp gravel) and are also super quiet with built in noise suppressors. Another reason cats are super sneaky! 

The ol’ leave behind… We think that cats want to be with us and they’ll get up and come back to us because they love us. Right?  Umm, kind of. Cats will leave their scent on us or the furniture ( hence the scratching!) and technically mark us with their scent gland that is hidden inside their paw pads. Anything that they touch will have their special scent on it. 

Hidden weapons…  Flex out a cat’s paw and suddenly, the little daggers of their nails will appear.  Out of nowhere, your cat will go from a sweet kitty to a dangerous weapon wielding beast just by opening their paw.  The claw sinks up into the paw and protects itself until ready to scratch or fight if need be.  Claws are essentially from your middle finger joint to the fingertip. When cats are declawed ( NY outlawed this barbaric practice years ago, thank goodness), it is the equivalent of chopping your fingers off at mid knuckle. No wonder some cats go mad from it. 

Walk like an…. Watch closely or listen and you will notice that cats walk on their toes. Their feet tend to turn up into their legs and they have their body up on their toes.  I used to hear one of my cats walking as her claws would be long and click on the floor!  The advantage to this toe walking is making them stealthy- fast and quick. 

And finally, why oh why do you knead me?   Us cat owners have all had it happen and it can be painful but they don’t mean to hurt us. Kneading us or ‘making biscuits’ is a feline way of saying they are happy, content and love us.  This practice goes back to when they were kittens and kneading their mama for milk and such happiness.  Air biscuits are my favorite! 

Doing a paw check every so often is great for your cat's well being.  Also, some non-clumping cat litter can become stuck and caked into your cat's paws so be careful with litter choices.  Paws can be very sensitive since they are full of nerves so respect your cats boundaries if they do not like you being all touchy feely with their paws. 

​Enjoy your holiday this bi-centennial year! 

• The photo was a kitty guest who used to sleep with his multi-colored pads out!