My oldest cat, Edward Stubble-Hands (Stubbles, Stubby, or Bubby for short), was already front declawed when I took him in (This is where his name comes from looool). He belonged to a neighbor of my mom and decided that he would rather live with us than them. I don't really blame him as they were overall pretty terrible to all the pets they had. Dogs with terrible matting kept outside in all weather, malnourished cats, and cats having kittens they didn't even know about to name a few examples. After many attempts to encourage him back to his owners we eventually gave up and when I moved out of my mom's house my boyfriend and I brought him with as he had grown very attached to us, and didn't much like the other cats at my mom's. I guess my point in explaining all this is that because of this is that I'm not really sure at what point in life he was declawed.
We believe he is between 8 to 10 years old now and he is a very healthy, very huge guy. Now, I know that declawing is inhumane and I would never elect to have it done on a cat of mine, but of course I had no say in this with Stubby. Thankfully, he has not had any negative impacts from the loss of his claws. It doesn't seem like he experiences any pain as he likes to have his hands massaged and walks around just fine. He does, on the other hand, exhibit some strange behaviors that I can really only equate to him being declawed.
First, he has an obsession with "grabbing edges" as we call it. He will grab the edges of things with his front paws and pull them towards him and let them go. Pieces of paper, books, backpacks, rugs, boxes, the sides of our mattress...if it has an edge he will grab it. He does this especially when he is very happy or excited.
Second, he "chest humps" door frames. He will go up to door frames and hug them with his front paws with his chest close to the frame, and pull at them over and over again making a loud noise. He's not literally humping in the sense of trying to mate, this it just the best way we've been able to describe this habit. I might try to get a video of him doing this to make it make more sense. Again, he usually does this when he's happy or excited. Also sometimes to wake us up or get our attention when he needs something.
Third, he loves to play "slappy paws" (sorry for all the terms in quotes, I don't know what to call these things he does since I've never heard of them in other cats). He'll be play fighting and will get on his back with his hands in the air and get you to slap his paws and he will slap your hands. He absolutely loves this and can smack surprisingly hard for a cat. Funnily, I was playing with our 2 year old, Beebee, the other day and totally forgot that he has her claws intact (stupid me). I went to play slappy paws and I now have a nice gash down my hand and index finger.
Also, not so much a habit, but something else I think could be caused by his lack of claws. He is a terrible jumper and typically will usually test jump (Gets his front half off the ground, but doesn't actually jump up) several times before actually leaping up onto the couch/table/ect. He is also very unsure of himself when jumping down from places and honestly kind of clumsy overall in cat terms. He's bad at balancing and things of the sort.
I suppose I'm just wondering if anyone has/had or know of cats doing these sorts of things when declawed or otherwise. I've searched many times on the web and have not been able to find anything. To me it almost seems like he has heightened feeling in his paws and this is why he does all these weird things with them. What are you're all's opinions on this? Also do you think his clumsiness is caused by this or could it be something else? He's been clumsy the whole ~4 years I've owned him, so I don't think it's just because of him getting older.
Here's some pictures of him 'cause he's just so super handsome:
He walks on a leash
And enjoys rides in the car.
He loves to lay on his back and show of his Bubby Boobies.
And look out the window with Beebee (although they usually fight over who gets to sit in the sill).
He's a pretty pretty boy.
And here's him, Beebee, and Molly (A kitten that actually came from one of the litters of kittens that my mom's neighbors didn't know one of their cats had. We found her at 3 months and were able to socialize and rehome her. The rest weren't found until months later, and by that point they were mostly feral. They ended up going to a farm where they're still doing well, killing mice and such.)
We believe he is between 8 to 10 years old now and he is a very healthy, very huge guy. Now, I know that declawing is inhumane and I would never elect to have it done on a cat of mine, but of course I had no say in this with Stubby. Thankfully, he has not had any negative impacts from the loss of his claws. It doesn't seem like he experiences any pain as he likes to have his hands massaged and walks around just fine. He does, on the other hand, exhibit some strange behaviors that I can really only equate to him being declawed.
First, he has an obsession with "grabbing edges" as we call it. He will grab the edges of things with his front paws and pull them towards him and let them go. Pieces of paper, books, backpacks, rugs, boxes, the sides of our mattress...if it has an edge he will grab it. He does this especially when he is very happy or excited.
Second, he "chest humps" door frames. He will go up to door frames and hug them with his front paws with his chest close to the frame, and pull at them over and over again making a loud noise. He's not literally humping in the sense of trying to mate, this it just the best way we've been able to describe this habit. I might try to get a video of him doing this to make it make more sense. Again, he usually does this when he's happy or excited. Also sometimes to wake us up or get our attention when he needs something.
Third, he loves to play "slappy paws" (sorry for all the terms in quotes, I don't know what to call these things he does since I've never heard of them in other cats). He'll be play fighting and will get on his back with his hands in the air and get you to slap his paws and he will slap your hands. He absolutely loves this and can smack surprisingly hard for a cat. Funnily, I was playing with our 2 year old, Beebee, the other day and totally forgot that he has her claws intact (stupid me). I went to play slappy paws and I now have a nice gash down my hand and index finger.
Also, not so much a habit, but something else I think could be caused by his lack of claws. He is a terrible jumper and typically will usually test jump (Gets his front half off the ground, but doesn't actually jump up) several times before actually leaping up onto the couch/table/ect. He is also very unsure of himself when jumping down from places and honestly kind of clumsy overall in cat terms. He's bad at balancing and things of the sort.
I suppose I'm just wondering if anyone has/had or know of cats doing these sorts of things when declawed or otherwise. I've searched many times on the web and have not been able to find anything. To me it almost seems like he has heightened feeling in his paws and this is why he does all these weird things with them. What are you're all's opinions on this? Also do you think his clumsiness is caused by this or could it be something else? He's been clumsy the whole ~4 years I've owned him, so I don't think it's just because of him getting older.
Here's some pictures of him 'cause he's just so super handsome:
He walks on a leash
And enjoys rides in the car.
He loves to lay on his back and show of his Bubby Boobies.
And look out the window with Beebee (although they usually fight over who gets to sit in the sill).
He's a pretty pretty boy.
And here's him, Beebee, and Molly (A kitten that actually came from one of the litters of kittens that my mom's neighbors didn't know one of their cats had. We found her at 3 months and were able to socialize and rehome her. The rest weren't found until months later, and by that point they were mostly feral. They ended up going to a farm where they're still doing well, killing mice and such.)
I see them do this every day actually hehe and they are also pretty bad jumpers, poor kitties! Although I have to admit I do laugh a little at the fail jumps hehe
I never thought about taking the kitties to the beach lol...would they think it's the worlds biggest litter box o__o
