question re hunting and claws...

[SuperFlyHigh]

My cat brought a frog in the other day... I thought it was a leaf (upside down)

anyway when I went to grab the frog (and rather foolishly as was on my way to work so in a rush) may not have been best pleased. cat then hissed at me... charming. was this because I'd taken said frog off him?

also he has very long claws - longer than other cats I've had but doesn't need them clipping and long front teeth (fangs) too. normal right? any concerns there? i think he has got to be a better fighter owing to these weapons...

Sounds like he was really focussed. I've never - quite - had a hiss before.

Does he use a tree or something outside for his claw sharpening?

Cozie it was in the flat/hall - he was scurrying off to hide/watch me and just hissed so it wasn't as I was taking it off him.

no idea about trees but he loves his scratching post and sides of my bed.

I nip the ends of my own boy's claws but only because he's old and now too stiff to do the front ones properly and ditto with added lack of teeth to do the back ones. When my cats have been younger, they've all done their own thing - and I've many times seen The Lodger using a tree trunk which is why I mentioned it. Personal preference and habit probably - there's no reason that it should be better than anything else that does the job.

Normally, if I take something from them, I just get lots of faffing around at my feet. Perhaps, for some reason, they think I'm a fellow hunter and not a competitor?

I ignore hisses if I'm taking prey off him, he's not going to attack you.

Claws I don't bother with unless they catch on the carpet. The sound is very annoying.

Sounds like he was unhappy with you! But I agree about ignoring it.

We once took a living green woodpecker off ours in the middle of the night. Goodness knows how she got it in through the cat flap as it protested loudly and vigorously throughout. She actually looked relieved when we did take it off her! (It was very much alive and we released it unharmed but angry)

I started clipping claws when she was older and not going out or grooming herself so much. Up until then I relied on outdoor activity to keep them blunt

Shipwrecked yes he was unhappy:-

a) because I wasn't praising him
b) took away his fun/toy - the frog
c) he's a weird bugger anyway....

What was very funny was I was cutting fingernails last night near the cat and filing them - he got REALLY interested in the scissors, nail file and nail clippings... rubbing himself against them. weirdo. I did briefly file his claw to show him what I was doing... I think I will get claw clippers from vet and they can show me what to do.

the woodpecker - poor thing! I used to hear them in the back garden until they built houses there - the echoing sound of the peck used to freak my old cats out! never saw one but saw them flying in France near where my parents have a holiday home.

you should be able to clip cat claws with normal nail clippers, I used to do my first cat's claws....he loved it, little weirdo! He'd also fight me for the nail file

I used to hold the clippers the other way, where our nail are flat out from the finger tips, claws grow the other way,....you will see if you look. And just snick off the tips

And the hissing is just bad catness, they forget their manners. Again, my first cat was an accomplished hunter, and normally totally placid and biddable, but if he didn't want to give up his prize you knew it. In the end he'd only bring in the ones he was prepared to share. so I could put them in the bin

CaTs - love it re the bad catness - makes sense now! I think Felix was quite prepared to give it to me but then spend hours playing with it (as I'm out all day)...

I will get some clippers (don't have any) and try as you say with the tips...

he doesn't like though (had some honey or sticky stuff on his leg) the other day and I plucked it off and he wasn't happy.