Hi, my name is Hapi!
That is pronounced just like the word “happy,” but it is spelled differently. It’s my job this time to tell you about paws. I am going to tell you some things about the paws of Old-Style Siamese cats that I bet you did not know.
Let’s start with a few basics. You probably do already know that for us cats our paws are both our hands and our feet. We walk on all four paws, but we also use our paws to grab hold of our toys and other things. We especially like to use our front paws to box and grab, but sometimes we use our rear paws, also.
In the picture on the left, that’s me. I’m waving my paw because I see a toy in front of me and just above me. You can’t see the toy because the photographer was holding it just behind the camera. The photographer knew I would want that toy and would look at it. I wanted to get my paws on that toy so much that I couldn’t help raising one paw as I was thinking about it.
Old-Style Siamese, like all cats, have five toes on each of our front paws and four toes on each of our back paws. Humans have a total of twenty fingers and toes, but cats have a total of eighteen.
Our paws are not as flexible as human hands. We can’t use chopsticks to eat as humans can—well, as some humans can! We also can’t pick up a dime between index finger and thumb the way people can. But we can do some things with our paws that people cannot.
We cats have nails that are like scimitars. A scimitar is a curved sword. That is what our claws are, like curved swords. Our claws are our built-in weapons. We carry them with us wherever we go. If a burglar were to get in the house and try to steal us away from you, we would scratch his eyes out!
But also our claws are like pocket knives. We can use them to cut and tear things. If we were in the wilderness having to fend for ourselves, we could use our claws to hook into a mouse. Our claws would be like fish hooks. Mice and other small creatures can’t easily get away from us when we hook our claws in!
Because we don’t live in the wilderness the way our ancestors did, we now use our claws mostly to have fun. We can use them to tear up the newspapers. Or we can use them to tear up wrapping paper on Christmas Day. We can shred paper faster than a paper-shredding machine!
In the photo to the right, my friend Max has just finished shredding some paper napkins. Didn’t he do a great job?
Old-Style Siamese cats can also use their claws as grappling hooks. A grappling hook is a tool that humans use when they want to climb straight up a high wall. For us cats our claws are built-in grappling hooks. We can sink our claws into the carpet on a cat post or into the bark of a tree. We can climb up the pole or the tree even if it reaches all the way to the ceiling, or way up into the sky. The claws of cats are handy tools that can be used by us for many different things.
But that’s not all.
Did you ever wonder how cats sweat?
We sweat with our paws! That’s right. When cats get very hot, they get sweaty paws. Sometimes when the weather is warm you may notice that our paws smell like stinky socks. Kittens like me often have slightly stinky paws because we run around playing so much and work up a sweat. Also, sometimes when cats are nervous, they get sweaty paws. For example, we might get sweaty paws when you take us to visit the veterinarian.
Humans sweat with their hands and feet, too. But humans are different than cats. Humans can sweat all over their bodies. They can sweat under the arms, on their backs, on their faces, everywhere you can think of. But cats only sweat on their paws.
There is an advantage to not sweating very much. If you don’t sweat very much and you only sweat on your hands and feet, then you can easily wash them off. Also, you won’t smell as much if you don’t sweat all over your body when you are hot. Humans often have to use deodorant to stay smelling nice all day. But cats don’t need deodorants!
There is a disadvantage to not being able to sweat very much, though. Cats are not good at cooling off when they get very, very hot. Remember to never leave your cat in a hot car by himself. Never leave him shut in a hot room without any fresh air or air conditioning. Cats can easily die if they get too hot. They die from heat more easily than humans do.
You just learned that cats don’t usually need deodorants. Although cats don’t need deodorants, we do carry our own kind of personal perfume around with us. It doesn’t smell like anything to humans, but to cats it smells wonderful.
Cats carry their perfume in many different glands on their bodies.
One of the most important scent glands is in their cheeks. The cat in the photo to the right is not crazy. That is my friend Max again. Max is doing something perfectly normal for a cat. He is rubbing the perfume he carries in his cheek on a piece of furniture.
When Max rubs his perfume on the furniture, humans can’t smell it. But Max and other cats can smell it. They know that when Max puts his perfume there it means that Max likes that piece of furniture. He is saying that it belongs to him and is part of his home.
The perfume that cats carry around with them helps them identify what things belong to them and what things do not. We cats are a little funny. We feel very happy when we know what is ours and what is not ours. Having our perfume all over our home makes us feel happy.
Actually, that is not so strange, is it? Humans like to know what things belong to them and what things do not. Humans like to have their own things. You would not like it if a strange person put his things in your bedroom or in your house. Am I right?
Cats just like to make it clear to everyone what is theirs. They do that by rubbing their personal perfume on things they like and all over their home. People can’t smell the cat perfume, but other cats can.
Now can you guess what other part of a cat’s body has scent glands on it? That’s right. We cats have scent glands on our paws. When we scratch a scratching post, one of the things we are doing is putting our personal perfume on the post. Above and to the left, you can see my friend Kym putting her perfume on a piece of cat furniture in her home. She is enjoying herself so much that she is scratching and rubbing using all four paws at the same time!
Believe it or not, there are many other things we cats can do with our paws. I need to wait until another time to tell you about the rest of them.
Just remember that our paws are very important to us cats. We can’t do everything with them that you can do, but we can do some things with our paws that you can’t.
I especially like to use my paws to bat at toys. That’s me in the picture on the left having a conversation with a piece of tissue paper. Bye for now!
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