Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84; site opus.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!hplabs!hao!cires!nbires!opus!rcd
From: rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: net.pets
Subject: Re: Re: cat questions
Message-ID: <860@opus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Oct-84 21:27:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: opus.860
Posted: Mon Oct  1 21:27:23 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Oct-84 07:10:20 EDT
References: <44@athena.UUCP> <47500006@convex.UUCP>
Organization: NBI,Inc, Boulder CO
Lines: 31

> Although I am against declawing cats for personal reasons, I find the 
> spreading of misinformation equally upsetting.

So do I.  Unfortunately, a couple of points in this clarification were
quite wrong.

> Declawing is (normally) only done to the front feet.  Cats are perfectly
> able to climb using the front paws as "hands" and the rear paws as 
> "grippers"...

Not true.  The front paws can only be used as hands if they will actually
reach around an object.  That leaves out things like the trunk of even a
moderately large tree.  In fact, cats use the front claws much more than
the back in climbing--that's one of the reasons they are longer and grow
faster.

> ...Also, most of a cat's REAL fighting is done by 
> gripping with the front paws and going for the underbelly with the 
> rear claws, just like their cousins the rabbits.

This is true of cat-cat fights.  It is NOT true of cat-dog fights in most
cases--because again, the cat can't always get its paws around the dog.

> The old "stand still and swipe with one paw" you're used to seeing 
> is not so much a fighting stance as it is a warning blow --

However, it's the most effective way for a cat to deter a dog, since a
dog's nose is very sensitive.
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...Relax...don't worry...have a homebrew.