PAW ON FIRE!

International Lefthanders Day

Today is International Lefthanders Day, so the petretary had the crazy idea of combining a post about that with our Caturday Art. I must warn you, whenever she tells our dad that she’s been thinking or has an idea, he runs for the hills. They can often be rather cock-eyed.

Since this is a cat blog, she decided to address whether or not we cats favor one paw over the other. The answer is yes but only when we are trying to perform difficult tasks. This is based on tests of 42 domestic cats  performed by psychologists, Deborah Wells and Sarah Millsop, from Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. They also discovered, that of the cats tested, females generally favored the right paw (20-1) and males the left (20-1) over dozens of trials. You can read all about Wells’ and Millsop’s 2009 research as well as that of others at MessyBeast.com. When you arrive at the site, click on the MessyBeast button and then the Behavior and Training link. You also can find out how to determine which paw your cat favors.

In non-demanding tasks, like toy play, most of the cats tested used both paws equally.

An early test (1991) conducted at by researchers at Turkey’s Ataturk University, showed the majority of domestic cats are right pawed (50 percent), 40 percent favor their left paw and the remaininging 10 percent are ambidextrous. You can read all the particulars about this research here.

Caturday Art

Now to our actual art for this week’s Caturday Art Blog Hop. Behold the petretary’s creation.

 Cat Mauricio's paw is virtually set on fire for Caturday Art.

 

I’m fairly certain you recognize a cat’s paw in the photo. That’s my paw (Mauricio)! But why in the world does it look like it is on fire? That reference is totally obscure, so let me explain. The H-O-T-S have returned to southwest Virginia. With temps in the 90s F and high humidity, our mom usually doesn’t leave the house. Yesterday, however, she had an errand and then Fiona’s vet appointment. She commented that she was so hot she felt like she was going to spontaneously burst into flames! So now you have the reason for her confounded concoction. She wanted this to look as if my paw started this conflagration. You can decide for yourselves if you agree or not. I refuse to weigh-in with my opinion!

The crazy art was created using piZap and then posterized in Picasa. I’m not certain why the “artist” (Mom) is having me tell you this. It is not as if any of you would want to recreate her attempt at art.

This is our submission to Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty‘s Caturday Art Blog Hop. To enter some art of your own and/or view the other submissions, click on the link.

Cat4-001We will return tomorrow to begin the third year of our Sunday Selfies Blog Hop. Last week was a great hop to end year two. Our host for tomorrow, Fiona, will tell you all about it. She’ll also fill you in on her appointment with Dr. Neel and her CKD.

Until then…purrs and paw-pats, Mauricio