Dakota’s paws are needly when his claws are retracted.
Singer’s are sledgehammery blunt and hurt in a different way. Both know how to
use their paws to get what they want.
When I grab Dakota in the hallway before going to bed at
night, he’ll claw my back when he doesn’t want to go with me. It’s a power
play—he wants to sleep in our bed, but only when he’s ready, not when I choose.
He likes to make a nest between my legs, which means I wake up in the middle of
the night as he’s trying to fashion his comfy little spot, using his claws to
make me move. He doesn’t know how much this hurts!
Singer will use her paddle-paws to thunk my face when she
wants me to get out of bed. Her paws feel like heavy branches on my face,
scratchy and hard. You can’t ignore her wants, even if you tried. And she hits me
while I’m asleep so I can’t even dodge her sledgehammers. I can’t think of a
way to avoid this behavior, she’s got me over a barrel on this one. She doesn’t
know how much this hurts!
Singer is also quite dexterous with her paws. She will
counter cruise by jumping up and using her paw to flip an empty cat food can up
into the air and then catch it in her mouth. She’ll then take the can into the
living room and lick it clean. Sometimes she tries to “bury” it in the couch
for later. She also uses her paw to edge out from the sink forks and spoons with food on them
still. She can even get them out of the drain with her paw. I’ve seen her flip
more utensils and then catch them midair than a Japanese chef at a hibachi
grill! In fact, if any novice chefs out there need to learn how to flip
utensils, I bet Singer could teach them how to do it. She’s an expert. She also
likes to hoard her stash of utensils, which we find near her pile of toys or
under her own bed. I imagine she takes them out later to lick and savor when
we’re not home.
Paws are such crude implements when compared to hands. My
pets have learned, through watching and necessity, how to use them for their
benefit. Just wish they could be reassigned as deadly weapons sometimes,
especially while I’m sleeping.