Designed for Hunting

Cats, like dogs, are digitigrades animals. That is to say they walk on their toes, on the contrary of human that are flatfooted and walk on the sole of their feet. This is an ideal posture for hunters because when resting their feet on less ground area the length of the steps can be elongated giving them more speed. The solid muscles of their hind legs do the hardest work; they throw the body forward and impels the jump. But there are cases in which the muscles of the front legs are the ones that support the stronger effort like when they climb on trees. In spite of being strong cats can move very smoothly if necessary. When a cat ambushes a prey he is capable of staying completely still for a long while, waiting for the right moment to attack.

For dogs to be good hunters, they have first to be trained. Yet, if one compares a trained dog and a regular cat one will notice the ineffectiveness of the former and the exact technique of the latter. Dogs, however, are great runners. Cats, on the contrary, can't run fast for long periods, they prefer patience, the surprise effect and the exactness and precision in hunting their preys.

Claws and teeth
Cats claws, five on the front feet and four in the back feet, are the most efficient hunting weapons that cats have for attacking, fighting and killing. Their feet end in very sensible hairless little cushions that sheaths the claws when the cat is clam or relaxed.

Claws
Cats unsheathe their claws when they need to climb or to run after its prey, and also as many people know by personal experiences, when they are mad, reason why it would be wise to teach children how to treat cats even the one he knows, with love and respect.

There are some felines that like to unsheathe their claw for pure pleasure, and there is a minority that even lack of this useful mechanism for retracting claws due to a genetic flaw.