Toe Tufts!

LeiLana80

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My Moosie is a big beautiful greyscale kitty with lovely long toe fur.

However, he is also a clumsy oaf.

So it got me wondering... those of you with furry-toed cats-: do you notice a difference in their walking, jumping, landing, etc? Do you notice they slide a lot more? Do they jump up and and slide, knocking half the table contents down to the floor? Do they jump down and FLOP in non-graceful landings?

This guy amuses us to no end, but I have never had a cat slide around so much! And we have had furry-footed cats before, but never noticed any differences.

So I figure either his toe fur is too slippery, or possibly hip issues (he was a stray; maybe he has weak hips? He kind of walks with his back feet facing slightly outward).

Anyway, just curious!! :biggrin:


Moooooose!
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...and his lovely toe fur!
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1CatOverTheLine

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Norwegian Forest Cats are notoriously graceless on smooth surfaces, and your observation about "sliding" on toe hair is very true. My little Bob (still a few ounces shy of 35 pounds) slid off the counter a couple of weeks ago, and I was afraid he might crash right through the wall when he was carried onto the floor by momentum. What they lack in grace, however, they make up in cuddleability.
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neely

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Our present cat and past cat both had long tufts of toe fur, come to think of it our dog had it too. :dunno: I never noticed it deterred either cat from walking, jumping, landing or sliding. Their gait was not effected either. Neely, our former cat, could have been an acrobat she was so well coordinated. Carleton, our present cat, is just a happy go lucky big guy who lumbers when he walks. :wink:
 

orange&white

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My new blue & cream kitten has toe fur like that too! I haven't messed with it so far.

I do trim my Corgi's toe fur because I was trained that letting dog's toe fur grow out can cover the paw pads and give them less traction (more slippery).

Will have to keep an eye on Farrell and see if she "slides" more than my short-haired senior cat who doesn't have toe fur. :think:

Your kitty is very beautiful! :lovecat:
 
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LeiLana80

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Thanks all!

I literally never thought of trimming him until I saw someone post a video on Facebook about it. It's such a strange thing to me... 33 years old and I'd never thought about it. (Never had a reason to- and I think usually, there IS no reason.)

But now we have ourselves a big ol' sliding klutz. :hearthrob:

He's pretty ticklish, though. I tried a little snip while he was laying on the table, and he was highly offended! haha.

I might try it one time, and see if there's a difference in his traction. If not, then hooray! I get to enjoy his long toe fur... and just make sure all glass items are safely packed away! :lol2:

I love hearing about everyone's kitties. Always up for cat stories!
 

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I occasionally trim Jasmine's toe fur, though it isn't as long as Moosie's. I've never noticed that it makes any difference to her ability to walk or jump without sliding; I just do it because once the fur is shorter it's much easier to trim her claws. So I'll spend a day or two occasionally trimming toe fur, which doesn't stress her out too badly, then a day or two trimming claws, but I'm spending much less time on each claw because I can see what I'm doing so she's less stressed by the claw clipping than she would be otherwise.

Sorry for the run-on sentence. Moosie looks adorable.

Margret
 

MoochNNoodles

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My mother's Olivia is a long-haired Polydactyl with some epic toe tufts. She is very quiet when she walks but she also seems very sensitive to getting her paws wet. Just walking across a damp floor has always had her shaking her paws. I haven't noticed her being more clumsy or anything like that though.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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Wow. I've never had a long-haired cat, so I learned something new today! Toe tufts - who knew?

Moose is so handsome!

My Moosie is ... a clumsy oaf.

So it got me wondering... those of you with furry-toed cats-: do you notice a difference in their walking, jumping, landing, etc? Do you notice they slide a lot more? Do they jump up and and slide, knocking half the table contents down to the floor? Do they jump down and FLOP in non-graceful landings?
..., or possibly hip issues (he was a stray; maybe he has weak hips? He kind of walks with his back feet facing slightly outward).
If it were me, I would have a vet check out his back legs, both physical exam and x-rays, etc., to make sure he doesn't have any congenital knee or hip issues that could get worse as he ages. (How old is he?)

My rescue kitty, Milly, was a victim of a backyard so-called "breeder", and she has congenital issues with her knees. It was her klutziness at ages 8-15 months that clued us in there was an issue. She has overly large patellas and narrow/shallow trochlear grooves. So far, she had to have surgery to correct her right knee and we are holding out hope that her left knee won't need surgery (for the luxating patellas).
 
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LeiLana80

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If it were me, I would have a vet check out his back legs, both physical exam and x-rays, etc., to make sure he doesn't have any congenital knee or hip issues that could get worse as he ages. (How old is he?)
That's something I'd like to do. He was a stray we adopted from Petsmart, and he's only like 3-5 years old (we only got him early this year). They had a hard time estimating his age because his teeth are in bad shape. He is not a smart or fast kitty... he's big, clumsy, and (bless his heart) dumb. There is NO way he could hunt. The way he acts around specifically Taco Bell food makes me think he was just a stray around one of their restaurants, and that's what he lived on. He gets ridiculously excited when we bring it home, and we have to take the trash out otherwise he will dig though the trash can to find it and go through the wrappers. He will not touch any cat food other than one specific kind of dry food (thank goodness for that, though).

Anyway, I bet at some point he was hit by a car, and who knows? Maybe he has some brain damage too... because seriously, he's SO easily overwhelmed by noise and movement. Luckily he doesn't have a mean bone in his body so his reaction is to cower or flee. But he's in a loving home, so there's nothing for him to worry about! Even my young kids know to speak softly to him and to approach him slowly so he doesn't feel overwhelmed lol.

Anyway, sorry for my ramblings.

I guess Moose is just a clumsy oaf, toe fur or not! haha
 

Margret

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:yeah:

Intelligence isn't necessarily the most important thing for a cat. My Jasmine is extremely intelligent, and the primary result is that she's figured out where the red dot comes from so she looks at the laser instead of the dot. :doh: What she can't seem to figure out is why it is that she has so little quality time with the red dot. :lol: Poor baby. Floppy, on the other hand, was not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but we loved her just the same.

Margret
 

haleyds

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My girl slides when she really gets a good run going on the tile floor in the kitchen, she makes a game out of tag and it's absolutely hilarious. I love the toe tufts! Your boys are so beautiful and so is he, even if he is a little different ;)
 
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LeiLana80

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Intelligence isn't necessarily the most important thing for a cat. My Jasmine is extremely intelligent, and the primary result is that she's figured out where the red dot comes from so she looks at the laser instead of the dot. :doh: What she can't seem to figure out is why it is that she has so little quality time with the red dot. :lol: Poor baby. Floppy, on the other hand, was not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but we loved her just the same.
Ha!!!!! My black cat Shadow (believe it or not, named for following us around constantly, not his color! haha) does the same- he sees the source of the laser and just sits below it until I can distract him enough to actually see the dot itself!
I actually love having different ranges of intelligence in the house- it makes their behaviors and personalities all so different and wonderful.

One of my parents cats (who passed away last year at 18) was a very simple minded skittish soul. He was as sweet as can be, though! But he was SO easily overwhelmed with the slightest things (actually very much like Moosie).
Well, a few years before the end, he wound up becoming deaf. First it was mild hearing loss, then eventually full on deafness.
He turned into a different cat!!! He NEVER was overwhelmed, always completely calm (unless there was a lot of visual movements, like from running children), and just completely chilled out and MUCH happier. It was amazing! It was actually a blessing in disguise for him! And I never would have guessed it if I wouldn't have seen it myself. I am glad his ending years were spent in quite peace! haha
 
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LeiLana80

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She is very quiet when she walks but she also seems very sensitive to getting her paws wet. Just walking across a damp floor has always had her shaking her paws.
Moose actually loves dipping his giant fluffy paws in water! He makes quite a fantastic mess!
 
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