Hi, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to learn more about me and meet my five hilarious cats: Clutch, Cyril, Alex, Zelda, and Zazzles.
Among Alex’s adorable features – of which there are many – are his quirky and expressive front legs. The first couple of times I noticed him sitting with his little feet daintily crossed, I didn’t think much of it. But then it happened again, and again, and again. Considering I have only photographed this funny little pose a fraction of the times I’ve witnessed it (and these aren’t all the photos I have!), you can only imagine how often he assumes this position.
In fact, I would venture to say that he sits with his front paws crossed more often than he doesn’t.
And when he’s not keeping his delicate little tootsies crossed, he’s often found hanging them off ledges.
The most important part of my role here at Catster is helping you, our lovely readers, to understand the hows, whys, and wherefores of all things feline, and I would love to share with you the reasons behind Alex’s peculiar paw positioning. Unfortunately, I have no idea why he does it! But considering that we’re talking about the cat who brought us The Somersault of Happiness, I’m not sure that the answers will be found in any logical places!
Ready for Anything
When he’s not happily tumbling about or stretching his body from wall to wall, Alex can be a bit flighty, especially when there are visitors in the house. Perhaps by keeping his front legs crossed, he is ready to turn and run in any direction…but I think that I might be reaching. Speaking of reaching, are the extended legs another way of staying poised and ready to make a quick escape?
Maybe I’m just trying to find logic where there is none! After all, what chance did Alex have of normalcy with Cyril as his role model?
When faced with a choice between normal and weird, I’m going to pick weird every time. Which is fortunate, because with my quirky cats and oddball dogs, there is very little chance of life being normal in our house!
I love hearing stories about the wacky, zany, and kooky habits of cats, so if your feline family member has some eccentric behaviors, drop me a message in the comments below.
- Read her previous article: Cats and Video Chats: Why Doesn’t Clutch React to the Computer?
- Read her next article: Cyril ❤️ Alex: A Valentine’s Day Love Story
My cat Ruby likes to walk while crossing her paws one in front of the other. My late cat Moomoo snored/purred as loud as a tractor (not really, but he was so loud!). Moomoo also liked to 'Pretzel' when he slept and knot himself up. Adorable. Additionally, Ruby likes to meow at everything and especially enjoys knocking things off the counter and eating paper (she likes tissue paper the most!).
Hi Ivy, thanks for sharing your story, your cats sound adorable! We do recommend to take action to prevent your cat from ingesting tissue paper as it is not digestible and could potentially cause a problem to them. The Vet’s ER is no fun place to be. Best wishes!
All cats seem to be quirky to some degree, but our mackerel tabby, Forest, is a bit on the plus side of that. Our kids bought us a Litter Robot when we got Forest from a shelter; he took to it immediately. But we started to notice dried poop on the floor after a while. We got a cat cam — he watches the thing spin, reaches in and flips a couple of pieces of poop out over his shoulder. He seems to find it funny. It pretty much is, since it’s easy to clean up. A helpful young man at the Litter Robot company sent us a fence to put in the front, and it has helped, but Forest still manages a few flips every week. He has toys and I play with him every day, so it’s not boredom. Maybe it’s scientific curiosity.
Hi Polly, thanks for sharing your story, it seems like Forest found himself some enrichment! 😹
Even in the top two "stretching" photos, Alex has his paws slightly crossed.