Woman allows her cat to repeatedly knead her face with claws out (video)

Woman allows her cat to repeatedly knead her face with claws out. The claws must have been trimmed beforehand. Image: Screenshot.

Would you allow your cat to do this to make a high-hitting TikTok video. She did and I'll tell you why she is not being scratched to blazes! She trimmed her cat's claws before she started videoing! Simple. That's the only reason why the cat is not drawing blood because untrimmed front claws are often very sharp especially immediately after the cat has sloughed off the outer sheath of the claw on a scratching post. 

The woman is smart because (1) she knew it would make a high-hitting TikTok video and it has at 83m and (2) she knew that doing a careful job of trimming her cat's claws would save her from pain!

This is clearly a close relationship. Normally domestic cats knead their caregiver's lap. The motivation for doing so is exactly the same. The cat, in their mind, is a kitten because the owner keeps them in that mental state and they are at their mother's nipple drinking colostrum. 

Obviously, what you see in the video is nothing like that description but in the mind of the cat this is exactly what is happening. The typical human-to-adult cat relationship is one of surrogate mother to kitten because the owner keeps their cat in a constant state of belief that they are a kitten as they are cared for so comprehensively.

Cat claw is bent sideways, what should I do?

The cat's caregiver asks the question in the title and adds:

"Should I leave like this or do something? He can walk fine and it only seems to hurt if you touch it, I didn't see any blood or complaining"

My response is as follows (it continues below the picture - what would your response be?):

"As the cat's claw is embedded into bone and that bone is the distal phalange of the foreleg and hindleg toe, it would seem to me that the claw has broken at its base where it enters into the bone.

Cat claw is bent sideways, what should I do? This is a screenshot from a video provided by the user whose username is: u/Kistar2.

It will be sore because there are nerve endings and blood vessels which pass into the base of the claw.

As the others have said, cats are stoic. They don't show pain generally but your cat does indicate that it is tender to the touch.

It would appear that he or she has landed badly after jumping down, jumping up or perhaps clawing their way up something and the claw has been damaged in a way which I think requires a veterinarian to check out.

That's my assessment. I could be wrong. I am not a veterinarian but I have spent 15 years studying domestic cats including their anatomy including the cat's claw as I am interested in a ban on declawing. Good luck."

Should I trim my cat's: whiskers, fur, claws, bum hair and/or paw pads?

Long whiskers - don't trim them as the are superb and they serve an important purpose. Photo in public domain.

In the order they appear in the title, the answers are as follows:

• NO! This is deliberately in capitals for emphasis 😊. Never dream about trimming whiskers to make them tidier. They are highly functional. They act as 'fingers' and feelers. The base of a whisker is connected to nerves resulting in the whisker being very sensitive to even air currents and the things that it comes into contact with.
• RELATED: How does a cat use her whiskers?
• You can trim fur in employing a lion cut. This can be useful for longhaired cats in home climates as the fur of Persians can be inordinately and unnaturally long. It should be done by a vet as the cat will probably need sedating or they even need a general aesthetic. These are dangerous. Discuss with your vet.
• RELATED: Cat Anaesthetics Decision Making.
• Claws need trimming sometimes. Full-time indoor cats don't normally have the means to wear down the claws on their forepaws. Outside cats wear them down precluding the need to trim them. Elderly cats need a regular inspection to check for ingrowing nails due to their relative inactivity.
• RELATED: Should Cat Claws Be Trimmed?
• Bum hair does not need trimming. No point, unless the cat is ill with diarrhoea and can't keep themselves clean.
• RELATED: Cat Health Tip: Treatment of Routine Diarrhea or Vomiting.
• The reference to 'paw pads' means the tufts of hair between the toes which you typically see on the paws of Maine Coons. No, you should not trim it. No need and it's a nice feature of the domestic cat. The hair serves a purpose anyway: to protect the paw pads in hot weather and to help keep the paws warmer in cold weather.
• RELATED: Maine Coon toe tufts - to trim or not to trim??

Another reason why cats need their claws so don't remove them

"Another reason, among hundreds, of why cats need claws. If your vet declaws and will not stop, take your $ to an ethical vet who does not torture cats". - The owner of cat called Cassandra who was declawed. This woman now fights against declawing. Great work.

Another reason, among hundreds, of why cats need claws. If your vet declaws and will not stop, take your $ to an ethical vet who does not torture cats. pic.twitter.com/Ujsh5GR4sy

— Cassandra🐾Wants🐾Claws (@DamnDeclawVets) May 26, 2021

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

What are cats' whiskers made of?

Cats' whiskers are made of keratin. This is the same substance that makes our finger nails and the claws of our cats. And a cat's fur is made of keratin. A rhino's horn is made of keratin too, by the way, which is why it is so strange that some people think it has medicinal properties. It does not. The reason for the gradual extinction of the rhino is because people think eating rhino horn is beneficial. They might just as well eat their finger nails. It would be a lot cheaper and it would protect the precious rhino.

Cat whiskers are made of keratin. Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Keratin is also the material that makes an animal's scales, feathers, hooves and calluses.

So what is keratin? It is a fibrous structural protein. At the cellular level the production of keratin is called 'cornification' which is the process of 'forming an epidermal barrier in stratified squamous epithelial tissue'. Yes, it is very technical.

Keratin has to be strong and it is. Science Direct tells me that "keratins are cysteine-rich proteins endowed by nature with high mechanical strength owing to the large number of disulphide bonds". More technical stuff.

Never trim a cat's whiskers. They need them for a range of tasks. They are connected to a mass of nerves in the muzzle which allows whiskers to 'feel' air currents which in turn allows cats to detect objects that they can't see. They are also used to detect the exact location of the vertebrae in the neck of prey so the cat can severe it with a precise bite.

You might see whiskers being trusted forwards like tentacles when a cat has something interesting in front of him. They are reaching out to detect what that interesting object is.

Cat print in the snow tells the story

Cat print in the snow tells the story. I don't really need to add words. The photo (from reddit.com with the title 'A short story') does make me wonder a bit as to what happened? It looks like it might have been set up. Could a domestic cat have made this single, neat paw print. Possible I guess. 

But I sense looking at that photo that the photographer cleverly carried his cat to the snow and placed a forepaw in it to create the impression that his cat had ventured out with one step only and then decided to stay inside the warm home.

Cat paw print in the snow tells the story. Photo: Reddit.com

I had to make sure that this was a domestic cat print. I am sure that it is. Dog paw prints almost invariably produce claw prints at the tip of the paw pads as their claws are not retractable whereas a cat's claws are. Actually they are better described as protrusible. Read about the difference if you are interested by clicking here.

This is a perfectly formed cat paw print in the snow. Placed carefully by cat or person?! This is a sliding patio door. A lot of cats like to mess around in the snow. Perhaps this cat is an indoor cat. She may have been interested in the snow as it is novel but reticent to venture out as she is used to being indoors. I'm speculating.

Here is an image of a cat's retracted claw:

Diagram of cat's claw and distal phalange or phalanx. Image: MikeB

This explains why the snow paw print is that of a cat.