Cat Facts: Sensitive toe beans
This story originally appeared on my personal website, Felinomics.
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Cats have extremely sensitive feet! Their forepaws have lots of mechanoreceptors, which respond to pressure and movement and in cats are particularly sensitive to the speed and direction of something as it moves across the paw pad. They also have a bunch of specialized mechanoreceptors at the bases of their claws, allowing them to sense how extended each one is, and if they are being moved sideways. All of these are adaptations for catching prey — in fact, cats are farsighted so in the final moments of a hunt they rely primarily on their sense of touch. According to cat behaviour expert Dr. John Bradshaw in his book The Behaviour of the Domestic Cat, “it is almost possible to think of the feet as sense organs in their own right, and their degree of sensitivity may explain why many cats appear to dislike having their paws touched.”
