Boyfie's special tree

Boyfie usually accompanies me down the garden to feed the chickens every
morning to *help* me.
On the way back he always goes to a particular tree and sharpens his front
claws on the trunk. Every single day.
I often think about Jill when he does this;-)

I never clip his claws as I think he needs them to be safe outdoors. They
are as sharp as needles. And yes, they are sometimes a nuisance - they get
caught in my clothing when he stretches his paw out to touch me when he is
on my lap and can't help flexing them, ditto when he just "has* to knead me
(ouch!) but hey, he has never used them against me.
I have a lot of trees but he always uses the same one for his manicure (or
is it a pedicure?)

Tweed

On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 20:06:52 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

Boyfie usually accompanies me down the garden to feed the chickens every
morning to *help* me.
On the way back he always goes to a particular tree and sharpens his front
claws on the trunk. Every single day.
I often think about Jill when he does this;-)

I never clip his claws as I think he needs them to be safe outdoors. They
are as sharp as needles. And yes, they are sometimes a nuisance - they get
caught in my clothing when he stretches his paw out to touch me when he is
on my lap and can't help flexing them, ditto when he just "has* to knead me
(ouch!) but hey, he has never used them against me.
I have a lot of trees but he always uses the same one for his manicure (or
is it a pedicure?)

Cats have scent pads on their paws, and while the 'sharpening' (cleaning
the shedding parts really) is part of what they do, they are also marking
their territory by doing that, so using the same tree all the time isn't
unusual, but simply reinforcing the mark.

"The New Other Guy" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 20:06:52 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

Boyfie usually accompanies me down the garden to feed the chickens every
morning to *help* me.
On the way back he always goes to a particular tree and sharpens his front
claws on the trunk. Every single day.
I often think about Jill when he does this;-)

I never clip his claws as I think he needs them to be safe outdoors.
They
are as sharp as needles. And yes, they are sometimes a nuisance - they
get
caught in my clothing when he stretches his paw out to touch me when he is
on my lap and can't help flexing them, ditto when he just "has* to knead
me
(ouch!) but hey, he has never used them against me.
I have a lot of trees but he always uses the same one for his manicure (or
is it a pedicure?)

Cats have scent pads on their paws, and while the 'sharpening' (cleaning
the shedding parts really) is part of what they do, they are also marking
their territory by doing that, so using the same tree all the time isn't
unusual, but simply reinforcing the mark.



I don't disagree about scent marking - but I do have 50+ trees to choose
from and he uses the same one every day!
When he was kept in for two weeks after his "dreadful operation" last year
the first thing he did when he was let out was rub his cheeks around the
nearest tree to scent mark it. He's very keen on making sure other cats
know that his garden is *his* hence the fights that used to happen.
Unfortunately for him from the territorial point of view, he has quite a big
garden to patrol. He like to go out 5 times a day (ish) to check that other
cats have not put their scent on top of his. He has lots of trees to look
at and it usually takes him an hour.
I've never seen him spraying - he tends to cheek-rub his trees.
When I adopted him in 2003 he was intact. He isn't now. I expected him to
spray in the house. He never did and never has.
The bath-pooing is a recent thing which started because of being overfed to
get his weight up and he couldn't hold out all night. We don't mention it.

On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 20:06:52 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:
Boyfie usually accompanies me down the garden to feed the chickens every
morning to *help* me.
On the way back he always goes to a particular tree and sharpens his front
claws on the trunk. Every single day.
I often think about Jill when he does this;-)

He loves his routines. It looks so satisfying when they can get a good
scratch.

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 20:06:52 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:
Boyfie usually accompanies me down the garden to feed the chickens every
morning to *help* me.
On the way back he always goes to a particular tree and sharpens his front
claws on the trunk. Every single day.
I often think about Jill when he does this;-)

He loves his routines. It looks so satisfying when they can get a good
scratch.

He *does* love his routines. It has to be the same tree.
He has to have his food at a specific time. He likes to go out at specific
times. He likes everything just to happen exactly when he wants it to.
Can cats be autistic?

If they can, it would explain a lot. Why he doesn't accept anyone but me
for one thing. Despite allowing himself to be fed when I couldn't care for
him by various kind people, once I am back home if he sees them again, he
will not come near them if they visit my house and wants to head for the
hills.
If know that he knows them well, I don't allow it. He has stay in for
June, Claire & Simon.
Anyone else, he can rush out. I'm fine with that.







cc