Weird motion with paws?

I've been trying to think how to explain this for a while. Jasper is 10 months old and often does this strange thing with his front paws. It's like he wants to touch something right in front of his face but his paw goes out to the side of his body instead of straight ahead. It goes left paw to the right side, or vice versa. It's hard to describe. For example, I got some of those iPad apps for cats - where the cat has to touch a moving object on the screen. Instead of tapping the screen, usually (but not always) his paw goes off to the left or right while he looks directly at the screen. He just kind of swishes his paw around trying to touch it, but totally missing the iPad screen.

The iPad I could explain away as something to do with cats vision not being suited to the screen and I don't give it to him now, but he does it to all sorts of other things. Like he'll be lying on the floor sniffing the floor boards (weird I know), and his paw will be swishing around one side of his head but it looks like he's trying to touch the floor. Or pawing at a closed door but instead of putting his paw on the door he looks all uncoordinated with his paw waving around to one side of his body. But he doesn't do it all the time. And he is perfectly agile and has no problem whatsoever with catching his toys. It just seems to happen when he is reaching for something close to him. It doesn't seem to bother him much. I hope I've made sense. Is it common but I have just never seen this in a cat before? It doesn't seem like a big issue and I hope that's the case. But I'm curious if anyone knows what I'm talking about?

Do you know his background?  Some cats have a form of cerebral palsy that (cerebellar hypoplasia) that can cause problems with their movements.  We have a kitty with a mild form who trots, rather than walks.

Maybe a check by the vet would help.  I teared up a little when I read your post - as mild and endearing as this may be, imagine him outside on his own, trying to catch a meal.

Thank goodness he found a home with you.

BTW - my cats completely ignore that game on my iPad!

Thanks for replying.  That's the thing - I'm pretty sure he could hunt because we play with Da Bird and other toys and he's fine. He's fast and accurate. He runs and jumps just fine. That's why it's hard to explain - I can't tell under what specific conditions it happens. But I see him do it on most days for one reason or other. When he does it, it's obvious that his paw is not going where he wants it to, and he can't correct it. It's more likely when he is doing something like opening a door or feeling around for something that he can see or smell right in front of him. Yet he can play with his food, catch flies, push things off tables and paw at my face. So I really don't know. His background is a mystery. He was found in a backyard at a very young age and fostered until I adopted him. My first thought when I saw him do it was it looks neurological or vision related, but it doesn't seem to be predictable. I've just put it down as a quirk and hope that's it. I'll try and get video for the vet because I'm sure she'll think I'm the odd one!

I agree - it may just be a little quirky Jasper thing.  You will be able to tell if it causes problems in future and hopefully that never happens!

I'll just add it to the list of quirks then  It's one of those curious things. My gut feeling is that nothing is wrong, but I'll be keeping an eye on it. Thanks.

Cats are naturally farsighted. Unless he's walking into walls, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

ProCat said:

 
Cats are naturally farsighted.

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I didn't know that!  The things you learn ...

Ondine said:

 
I didn't know that!  The things you learn ...

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I looked it up one day after noticing something with my cat. She can spot a teeny-tiny spider from 25 feet away, but then when she gets within inches, she'll lose it and go into bobble-head mode.

Apparently their wider field of vision comes at the expense of short-range depth perception. 

Yeah, the vision thing makes sense. I notice that when I put a dried meat treat in front of Jasper he can't see it to save himself. He sniffs around and usually I have to pick it up and put it right under his nose. But that hasn't bothered me since I did know that cats have poor close-up vision. So I guess he just has a funny habit of waving his paws around at things he can't see sometimes. It still looks kinda frustrating for him but that's just my assumption. Thanks for your replies.