My calico girl pulls out her old nails

[KittyCatCove]

When she is grooming herself my calico girl Patches pulls out her old claws with her front baby corn teeth and spits them out onto the floor. No cat I've had has ever done this. Does anyone here have a cat that does this?

I think calico cats are a bit smarter than other cats... just my own observation.

 

[di and bob]

I really don't think they are the 'claws', they are the hard 'sheath' that covers the nails. Completely normal for a cat to pull them off if they don't do it on a scratching post or cardboard scratcher. It exposes the new growing, sharper nail underneath, and cats have to do this to keep their nails sharp. I find them all the time on the floor near the scratchers.

 

[KittyCatCove]

I really don't think they are the 'claws', they are the hard 'sheath' that covers the nails. Completely normal for a cat to pull them off if they don't do it on a scratching post or cardboard scratcher. It exposes the new growing, sharper nail underneath, and cats have to do this to keep their nails sharp. I find them all the time on the floor near the scratchers.

I don't think it is normal because I've never had or saw another cat that do this.

 

[Caspers Human]

All cats shed their nails.

Human nails grow from the base, toward the fingertip.
Cat nails grow from the inside out, like rings of a tree.

When a new layer of keratin (the substance that nails are made of) grows in from underneath the old, outer layer has to come off.

Cats’ nails often shed naturally as they walk or scratch on things. That’s why cats need to have a scratching post. They need to scratch off the old sheds. The old layer probably feels itchy when it's time to come off and that's one of the things that stimulates a cat to scratch.

This happens to all cats. It's natural and normal. Nothing wrong. Nothing to worry about. It's God's way.

If a cat's nails don't shed naturally, sometimes, the cat will bite them off and spit them out, just the same way a human might bite his nails. The only difference is that the cat has to do this in order to get the old sheds off. For humans, it's just a dirty habit.

Casper does it. He does it mostly with his back claws. He has three different scratching places, all around the house. We often find old, shed claws all around his scratching posts. Sometimes, he'll even scratch on his post then turn around and bite his nails. I never thought twice about it.

Just because you've never seen something it doesn't mean it isn't true.

Did you know that it snows in Australia? Yes, it does! I've never seen it snow in Australia. It might be a rare thing but that doesn't mean it can't happen just because I've never seen snow in Australia.

 

[di and bob]

Most cats don't chew/pull them off like yours, but some do. I have 1 now (out of three) that chews them off. PS I think calicos are special too, smarter. But don't tell them that......

 

[Caspers Human]

Casper does both, scratching and biting.
I think he scratches off what he can then finishes the job with his teeth.

No, I can't say that all cats bite their nails but I think it is a common thing, even if the humans rarely see it.

 

[susanm9006]

Usually a cat will pull them off when they are using the scratching surface of their choice. That is one of the main reasons that they feel the need to scratch in the first place. But sometimes they help it along by pulling the sheaths off with their teeth.

 

[KittyCatCove]

Most cats don't chew/pull them off like yours, but some do. I have 1 now (out of three) that chews them off. PS I think calicos are special too, smarter. But don't tell them that......

Compared to my other fur babies who mainly react on instinct, I look at my calico girl Patches and I can tell she's thinking and working out things in her head.

 

[susanm9006]

Compared to my other fur babies who mainly react on instinct, I look at my calico girl Patches and I can tell she's thinking and working out things in her head.
View attachment 389353

Then there is my calico girl (see my avatar). The sweetest cat in the world but most definitely not the brightest

 

[Juniper_Junebug]

I'm watching my kitty do this right now. She had been making biscuits on me and I noticed she got a tuft of blanket caught in her nail. I pulled it off and clipped the sharpie, but I noticed the outer sheath was half on, half off. She must have noticed too, because as soon as I was done, she started pulling it off with her teeth.

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

Neko-chan does that with her back claws. She'll be grooming herself and them start biting her back claws. I guess she needs to because she only scratches the post with her front paws.

 

[blumarine916]

Yes my cat Meffy (in the pic) does it too. Sometimes she goes on and on I worried she was gonna yank out the entire nail because she looks like she’s pulling real hard. But no injuries so far. I guess some kitties are just particular about their manipedi