Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

There is no cat too dumb to put its claws out. I know this because I have personal acquaintance with The Stupidest Cat Ever Littered. It solved this problem by just always having its claws out, cause, you know, when you're that dumb, you all the time step (or jump) on stuff which spontaneously starts moving, so you might as well be prepared.

I didn't own this cat. My then-lover did. We'd be chatting on the phone and my boyfriend would suddenly yelp. "Cat jumped onto your lap again?" "<squeek>Yes.</squeek>"

I don't think the decision to extend claws in that situation is made consciously. She must've thought fast.

Given where her toes were, I know for sure that her claws weren't out.

She loves me. I still wouldn't want to bet money on this performance being reliably repeatable, but I'm impressed.

The first few days I had her, I couldn't tell whether she had her claws or not because I couldn't get her to extend them. I thought she might have been declawed until the first time she got sooooo comfortable on my lap that she started kneading. She's pretty good with her claws except when she's in that blissful-kitty stage, and then she doesn't seem to have much control.

And she does occasionally get careless when we're playing (especially if I'm moving my hand under the blanket for her to pounce on). Or when she's deliberately trying to get my attention ("No, you have to go to the kitchen now and feed me, not the office or the bedroom!"), but that tends to be carefully calibrated to be just enough for me to notice.

But I didn't know falling, catching herself like that, and not clawing me in the process was even possible until yesterday.