Cats, Claws, Panic

Cats, Claws, Panic

(Annals of Pard, X)

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Do cats bite their nails? I mean, do cats other than Pard bite their nails?

After breakfast, Pard washes his face. Sometimes the soft swipe across the jowl with the spit-dampened front paw turns into something else: he holds that paw pad-first to to his mouth, gets a claw between his teeth, and tugs it. He tugs repeatedly, and hard enough to make a not wholly agreeable tooth-on-claw noise.

In the afternoon, when he is doing All-over Spitb...