Toe Tufts

I know that I often revel in the fluffiness of my kittens, but today I want to take a moment today to appreciate how fluffy their feet are.

I mean look at this!

I googled images for furry cat feet and none of them had hair coming out from between their toes like Sally does.

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That is not to say that these are the only kitties with furry toes.  I discovered a great term for it on Wikipedia: toe tufts.  According to Wikipedia, toe tufts are, “commonly found on cats with medium to long coats.”  To officially qualify as a “tuft” the fur must stick out at least a centimeter from the paw pads (so strict!).

Cats with toe tufts are even more silent than non-toe-tufted breeds.  Except when they slip on the wood floor and crash into something in the middle of the night, then they are equally noisy.  It certainly means that they are well-equipped to traverse snowy ground…not that that is something that I have to worry my kittens will ever experience.

Mr. Man thought that I should ask the vet if we should trim the kitten’s toe tufts (and by “we” he meant me).  The answer is (thankfully) no.  Messing with it could cause irritation that would lead to excessive grooming which could cause problems.  Of course, if my kitten steps in gum or some other sticky gunk (I’m not making this up y’all, this is what the vet told me), I should try to work the sticky gunk out with olive oil before taking scissors to it.  If my kitten steps in gum, Mr. Man is going to have a lot of explaining to do.  Can you imagine?

I will admit that on occasion, I’ve accidentally snipped a bit of toe tuft when trimming the kittens’ claws.  Sometimes it is really hard to know what I’ve got when I’m looking at Anabel’s white claws against her white furry feet.  It doesn’t happen often, and no one has found it a reason to be irritated yet (beyond the standard low-grade irritation of having one’s claws trimmed).