There are many differences between dogs and cats. Many.
Physically, one of the most noticeable differences is their claws and nails. Because cat paws, in particular, and felines in general, are a true marvel of natural engineering.
Their most striking feature is retractability. This is something common in most felines.
Retractable Cat Claws
When the paw is relaxed, the claws are kept above the ground, without touching it. They do not retract into the body, but the fur covers them.
When they need to use them, they employ their tendons to make the claws emerge.
The evolutionary reason behind this is hunting. Most felines hunt individually, with exceptions like lions, so they rely on a quick sprint to catch their prey. They can’t let it escape, so they need sharp, curved, and large claws.
But if they couldn’t retract their claws, there would be two problems:
- First, their constant exposure to the environment would damage them.
- Second, imagine your cat walking on tiles, relying on its claws. It would be difficult to maintain stealth when your feet are doing a tap dance.
Dogs, derived from wolves, engaged in social hunting and were focused on exhausting their prey. You could afford to let it escape because the rest of the pack would be chasing it as well. Their nails, harder and more blunt, allow them to grip the ground during a sustained run.
That’s why you’ll see dogs digging in the ground, but rarely will you see a cat doing the same. A cat’s claws are too valuable to be worn down from curiosity.
Interestingly, one of the few felines that does not have retractable claws is the cheetah, due to its hunting method. Cheetahs use their claws while running to help them achieve greater speeds, making their paws more similar to a dog’s in that sense.
Claws are so important that cats perform regular maintenance on them.
When you see a cat scratching something, from a tree to your furniture (and, if you’re especially unlucky, your curtains), it’s for three main reasons:
- It helps sharpen their claws or remove remnants of them, even excess layers of the nail itself.
- They are marking their territory. Not just visually, but their paws leave a trail of pheromones that other animals can recognize. Cats have small glands in their paws to mark that they’ve been there when they scratch something.
- It helps relieve stress and relax. It’s their version of going to the gym.
Cat paws, including the claws, are highly sensitive. The claws themselves have a core of blood vessels and nerves that help them recognize what they are scratching and allow for their growth.
At the same time, this makes them vulnerable. Any damage to the claw that reaches this core is very painful and causes bleeding. That’s why it’s important to be very careful when trimming a cat’s nails to avoid hitting this area.
There is a process called onychectomy or declawing. In short, it involves removing a cat’s claws. But since the claws develop from the bone, part of the bone tissue from the paw must also be removed.
It’s a process that significantly alters a cat’s life. Aside from the health problems it causes, it creates mobility issues, prevents scratching, alters their behavior, and results in significant stress.
We are against this practice, and there are better alternatives for both the animal and the person.
Cats Have Their Own “Fingerprints”
Their paws recognize textures, temperature, and even vibrations. Just like our hands.
So similar in some ways that they even have “fingerprints”!
The pads on their paws have unique markings for each cat, allowing them to be recognized and identified by other cats.
Although no organization has yet dedicated itself to creating a police record for cats.
And being cats, they would probably find ways to fool us, even if we managed to do so. Deception is their favorite and constant area of experimentation.
People focus on claw care, but the pads can also be an issue for cats’ paws.
They are the part that remains in contact with the ground the longest. They must be protected, from the cold and ice in winter (and in some regions, from the salt used to prevent frost on the streets). In summer, from hot surfaces like asphalt that can cause burns.
It’s also recommended to check that the pads aren’t dry (easily fixed with moisturizing creams) or infected with bacteria or fungi.
Polydactyl Cats
Perhaps the most unexpected detail is that cats have a different number of toes.
The front paws have 5 toes, and the back paws have 4, making a total of 18 toes.
18 possible ways to scratch you.
It makes sense that the front paws have more toes than the back ones. The front paws are their “hands.” These are the ones they use to attack, defend themselves, and interact with their environment.
Having more toes allows them to increase the possible interactions they can perform.
Although if your cat has 6 toes on the front paws, it’s not like you have the next step in feline evolution living with you. What happens is that your cat has polydactyly.
Polydactyly is the presence of additional toes in a cat, regardless of which paw it occurs on. It is a genetic trait and is usually hereditary, likely dominant. If one parent has six toes, the probability that each offspring will have them is at least 50%.
If the parent has two alleles for polydactyly, the offspring will always have it.
Intentional breeding is even done between cats with this trait to obtain polydactyl kittens.
It’s believed that the record is held by a cat specifically from these breeding practices. Mickey was a cat from a polydactyl litter that had 32 toes. Among the Guinness World Records, we have Jake, a Canadian cat with 28.
Front paws are more prone to polydactyly than back paws. Only 10% of the cases have extra toes on the back paws.
In some breeds, it is more common than in others. Polydactyly is more frequent in breeds like the Maine Coon or the Norwegian Forest Cat.
Regionally, it is more common in feline populations in North America and the UK. The responsible genes haven’t become as widespread in other countries worldwide.
It’s not something you need to worry about. Unless in some exceptions, where the growth of the extra toe follows an irregular pattern and collides with the others (like a tooth growing crooked), it doesn’t pose any health risks.
It has not been proven that polydactyly correlates with any pathology or a predisposition to develop other genetic diseases in cats. What has been seen as useful for finding correlations is their genome. That’s why we recommend the Koko cat DNA test to check your pet’s health.