© Nancy F. Altice (Spirited)
Cat's Haunches and Rear Legs
Thanks to the development of their powerful haunches and rear legs, cats can perform remarkable feats of jumping which appear almost effortless to the two-legged viewer. I once had a Manx cat that could jump to the edge of an eight-foot roof from a standing start.
The rear legs are also formidable weapons in battle, both with offensive and defensive tactics. Watch two cats fighting, and you will witness the coordination of all their weapons: teeth, front feet and claws, and those powerful rear legs. I've seen cats spring toward each other simultaneously in battle, then fall to the ground together in a growling, hissing, biting, scratching, rolling ball of fur.(It's best to stand back safely and not interfere at this stage of the battle.)
It is generally not recommended to trim the claws on cats' rear feet; even veterinarians who routinely declaw will leave the rear feet untouched.
The cat pictured here was leaping after a toy bird; in the wild, he easily could have been catching prey.