Cat Nails

The nails are fundamental for hunting and balance, to climb and to defend itself. When he does not use them, the nails of the cat are retired in a protective case so that they can turn scarcely; but, when he needs them to act, there are a few small muscles that stimulate each one out of the case up to the top of the finger. The sharp tops sink in the surfaces over which the cat is climbing and the nails of the false fingers (those that exist in the internal part of the leg) work as climbing additional gaffs.

When the cat is hunting, he uses the front claws to hold the prey; only he uses the backs and wings with big victims or of too much mobility. In a fight, he penetrates the skin with the nails of four legs, which are in the habit of producing sharp and deep wounds. The nails of the back legs are used to slap in the smooth parts of the prey.

The cat maintains the nails in good conditions scratching in hard surfaces, as trees and small sticks. The cat preserves the matrice of the clean nails of hides and rests and does that falls the exterior cap of the dead nail, which discover a new top of nail below.

The exterior fallen caps could be fixed in the surface of the posts scrapers. To itch fulfills another important function: it allows to the cat to mark his territory with combined visible and olfactory signs. - the smell comes from the glands that exist on both sides of the pads of the hoofs. Normally, a cat is in the habit of scratching posts or trees out of house, in zones where there are several cats that compete for their territory but there are some of them that they scratch continuously inside the house.