Cat's paw

“ Every cat within a circle of a half-mile hears the familiar sounds and accepts the challenge, frequently fifty or one hundred appearing simultaneously upon the battle-ground, ready to buckle in. The swelling tail invites combat and they attack old “Ironsides,” who no sooner feels the weight of a paw upon his hide than a spring is touched off, his paws revolve in all directions with lightning rapidity and the adversaries within six feet of him are torn to shreds! ”

“ It would be a fatal mistake to think that a cat's-paw would always remain docile and faithful to its employer. Especially when it is frequently used and abused it becomes conscious of its own usefulness and real strength ”

“ In consequence of this, the paw of a Dog is by no means such a perfect weapon as that of a Cat; and, as a matter of fact, the Dogs are distinguished from the Cats by their habit of always attacking the prey at once with their teeth, and never beginning the attack with a blow of the paw. ”

“ To instruct the cat, it is well to commence by teaching her to give her paw, like a dog. When this is learned, place the paw on the handle of the organ, which may have a loop of tape or ribbon attached to keep the paw in place, and give it a few turns. Let go, but continue the circular movement of your hand near her paw, as an encouragement for her to move her paw in the same manner. Should she not do so after a few moments, take hold of her paw again and repeat the movement as before. As soon as she turns the handle even in the slightest degree without your holding her paw, reward her. ”

“ Nor is the soft foot, with its skilfully sheathed and ever sharp claws, without a moral too; for whilst there is nothing [Pg 43] commendable in anything approaching to spite, passion, or revenge, a character that is all softness is certainly defective. The velvety paw is very well, but it will be the better appreciated when it is known that it carries within it something that is not soft, and which can make itself felt, and sharply felt, on occasion. A cat rolled up into a ball, or crouched with its paws folded underneath it, seems an emblem of repose and contentment. ”

“ And the reason for this is that a cat's claws are sharper than a dog's, and they are what are called "retractile." That is they can be pushed out and drawn in again. If you have ever taken pussy's paw, and gently pressed it, you have seen her claws come out from the little sheaths, or pockets of skin, in which they are kept under her fur. ”

“ Every time he shows himself above water the cat climbs up on his back from behind and scratches and bites him so mercilessly that he has no choice but to dive again.
He treads water, bristles up, and arches his back; while Grey Puss spits, gurgles, and splutters. He makes an attempt to bite; but a claw plunges into his snout and stops there....
He puts up a forepaw to free his snout; but a lightning bite paralyses the paw.... ”

“ Wallace flushed to the roots of his sandy hair. “Kitty never had very much use for me,” he admitted, rather bitterly. “She—she—seems to be tired—”
“Of being a cat’s paw?”
“Mrs. Parsons!” Wallace was on his feet, his eyes snapping with anger.
“Don’t go,” Mrs. Parsons’ smile was ingratiating. “Forgive me if I blunder, Leigh. Sometimes an outsider sees most of the game. Will you take a friendly piece of advice—”
“Surely,” but Wallace was slow in reseating himself.
“Then avoid Ben Potter.” Mrs. Parsons picked up her neglected embroidery, and did not trouble to glance at her guest. ”

“ Hoping to effect his purpose, he let air again into the receiver, which as soon as the cat perceived, she withdrew her paw from the aperture; but when he attempted to exhaust the receiver, she applied her paw as before. All the spectators clapped their hands in admiration of the wonderful sagacity of the animal, and the lecturer found himself under the necessity of liberating her, and substituting another in her place, that possessed less penetration, and enabled him to exhibit the cruel experiment.”—Naturalist. ”

“ The natural posture is forward and outward, so as to catch sounds proceeding from the front and sides. The upper half, however, is moveable, and by means of a thin layer of muscular fibres, it is made to curve backwards and receive sounds from the rear. Although a Cat cannot lick its face and head, it nevertheless cleans these parts thoroughly; in fact, as we often observe, a Cat licks its right paw for a long time, and then brushes down the corresponding side of the head and face; and when this is accomplished, it does the same with the other paw and corresponding side. ”

“ The cat licked her singed fur, then, with a faint “mew,” started in the direction of the secretary. A second later a graceful leap had landed her on the chair beside it, and she purred contentedly as the intruder turned and gently stroked her head. ”

“ When there was room on the ledge outside of the pots and boxes for a cat, the cat was there -- in sunny weather -- stretched at full length, asleep and blissful, with her furry belly to the sun and a paw curved over her nose. Then that house was complete, and its contentment and peace were made manifest to the world by this symbol, whose testimony is infallible. A home without a cat -- and a well-fed, well-petted, and properly revered cat -- may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title? ”

“ Thus drawn into their case, the claws do not project beyond the paw and cannot strike the ground. To this first advantage of not making any noise in walking is added another not less useful to the cat. ”

“ A loud wail from Mouchette caused her to start convulsively, and the Angora cat, switching her injured tail, back and forth, sprang on Kitty’s vacant chair and from there to the tea table.
“That cat is always under my feet, horrid beast!” Mrs. Parsons, conscious of appearing ridiculous, for Wallace had not restrained a chuckle, spoke with irritation.
“Let me help you,” and Craige, who with the other men had risen on the widow’s entrance, assisted her in removing her wrap. ”

“ Potter started for the house and Mitchell kept pace with him. “Kitty has quite a craze that way—does good work for an amateur. Some of her animal studies are excellent, especially of her cat, Mouchette.” ”

“ A startled look crept into Craige’s ever shifting eyes. “Why, I found the cat playing with the syringe when I first entered this room. I knew that I had dropped it on Sunday, probably when I reëntered the library after Susan Baird screamed.” A shudder shook him, in spite of his iron self-control. “Seeing it here this afternoon, I supposed it had rolled in some corner, and been overlooked. I judged that the cat had selected it as a plaything.”
“It’s a wonder the cat didn’t poison herself,” commented Mitchell. ”

“ When they were good I let them play with my tail; but I always kept one paw ready to punish them if they bit me, or bit each other. I took great comfort with my dear kittens. They understood everything I said to them. One was taken from me, but I tried to be contented with what were left.
“They soon grew big enough to follow me all over the house, and I took them to many places. One room was always shut. I did not like that. No cat likes to have a door kept shut.
“One day a woman went in that room and worked and moved the things ”

“ The cat joined the Reeducation Committee and was very active in it for some days. She was seen one day sitting on a roof and talking to some sparrows who were just out of her reach. She was telling them that all animals were now comrades and that any sparrow who chose could come and perch on her paw; but the sparrows kept their distance. ”

“ We value our Cats too slightly because we detest their thievish propensities, fear their claws and love their enemy, the dog, and we are not able to show equal friendship and admiration for those two opposite natures.
“Let us examine the Cat’s qualities. We are impressed by its agility, yet its mind is as flexible as its body. Its cleanliness of habit is as much a matter of mental bias as physical choice, for it is constantly licking and cleaning itself. Every hair of its fur must be in perfect order; it never forgets as much as the tip of its tail. ”

“ He looks older too, if a ghost can look older. I am not afraid of him any more. I am bored by him, and don't care to raise so much as a paw to him.
I am really a very happy cat. I never worry. I eat brown bread. The only bad thing that could happen to me, I think, would be that my new mistress, Rosamond Gilmour, should go and choose a Mr. Fox for herself, and then I should be thrown on the world again.
Of course, she may marry, but I believe in that case she would take me with her, and luckily the tribe of Foxes is not common. ”

“ Domestic cats often run away to the woods and subsist on their own hunting; but these are not to be taken for the real wild cat. The female of the latter is the smaller of the two, and retires into the fissures of rocks, or takes possession of some large bird's nest, when she is about to have young ones. They are found all through Germany, Russia, Hungary, and the North of Asia, where their fur is much more valued than it is here, probably on account of the length and quality of the hair.
Our house cats are, by most naturalists, supposed not to have descended from the above wild species. ”

“ She climbs with her claws. She catches things with them—mice, rats, or any thing that you hold out for her to run after. She strikes with her paws, just as angry children and men sometimes do with their hands. When the cat moves her kittens from one place to another, she takes them up with her teeth by the nape of the neck. There is no other way in which she can do it. She can not walk on her hind feet and carry them with her fore paws. It seems as if it would hurt a kitten to carry it in the way that she does, but it does not.
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“ Wash yourself twelve times in the day, from the end of your nose to the tip of your tail. Take particular pains with your paws. A cat of refinement is known by the delicacy and cleanliness of her feet. Farewell! After three days, meet me here again.'
"You can imagine how faithfully Furry-Purry followed these directions—how with her sharp tongue she smoothed and stroked every hair of her pretty coat, and washed her face again and again with her wet paws.
"'You are wretchedly thin!' Mrs. Tabitha said at their next meeting. 'That fault can only be remedied by a generous diet. ”

“ To make velvet paws the cat doesn’t have to do anything at all; the claws go in of their own accord and stay in their sheaths; and if they have to be drawn out, the cords or tendons give a pull, and the thing is done.”
“To be shod with soft slippers which both admit of a noiseless approach to the hunted prey and can, on the instant, change into terrible weapons of attack, is not alone sufficient for the hunter’s success; he must also have eyes to guide him in the darkness of midnight, the hour most favorable for an ambuscade. In this respect the cat is admirably equipped. ”

“ It had been hunting in the river bank close by and caught a rabbit, or perhaps a musk-rat, and the warmth had attracted it into the circle of the little camp. It was a cat. A wild cat, of course, one of the great strong specimens that the trappers called catamounts, and quite possibly mate to the one that had bitten Andrew Lindsay. It carried its prey with head held rather high, as a household cat carries a mouse, and it stepped with the same wonderfully cautious delicacy, the big bushy tail drooping. ”

“ They eat sitting on the hind legs, in a very prone position, the back shot up, the head and fore limbs low. Water they lick in the same way as a dog. The meal finished, the face and snout are cleaned with the fore paws, very much on the same principle as that employed by the Cat, but, contrary to the Cat, they use both fore paws at once, one on each side of the face. ”

“ Then, nothing can be more beautiful in animal action than the exquisitely precise and graceful manner in which the cat exerts the exact amount of effort requisite to land it at the height and spot it wishes to reach at one bound. The neat and delicately precise manner in which cats use their paws when playing with those who habitually treat them with gentle kindness is truly admirable. ”

“ In cats the senses of sight, hearing, and touch are very highly developed, and the intelligence is proportionately great. That they exhibit great adroitness in catching their prey is well known, but the climax is reached in certain recorded cases where a young bird was used as a decoy for its parents, and where crumbs were scattered or scraped from beneath the snow to attract sparrows. A remarkable case is recorded of a cat which, being accidentally ignited by paraffin, ran one hundred yards and plunged into a trough of water. ”

“ If a hole or shelter be near, it waits for an opportunity, or until its enemy looks away, and then rushes under cover, or runs up a tree or a wall, and immediately sits down and watches its enemy. If driven to an actual encounter, the smallness of its mouth and jaws preclude the use of its teeth to any great extent, but it can inflict considerable injury and acute pain with its sharp claws, which, perhaps, no dog, except a bulldog, can bear; indeed, few dogs like to attack a Cat at bay, though they all run after them. ”

“ As for the hair, cats are divided into two classes, the long-haired and the short-haired, the Persian and Angora being notable for the length of their hair. Most common among our cats is the soot-colored or gray, known as the "tabby," which has black stripes going round its legs, neck, and tail, and also down its sides. These show a return to the wild-cat in color, though tabby is as tame as her rivals.
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The cat is not lacking in brain power nor in affection, for in many cases it shows warm love for its mistress. There are various anecdotes of cat logic, of which a few may be told. ”