Shoes for Riding Cat?

[Mr. Mask]

Cats have soft, fluffy paws. Which is cute. But when you want to ride a tiger for an extended period, the extra pressure is going to be hard on its paws, particularly on gravel roads. So, to deal with that, I wondered about giving cats effective shoes that can help them deal with extra pressure on the feet.

This is part of what's great with horses, you can nail iron shoes onto their feet, giving them very sturdy feet. Obviously, you can't do this to a cat (and expect to survive). So, you'd want something good for absorbing impact, like maybe leather.

Another problem still, is that cats feet are very flexible, and when they lose they flexibility it bothers them. Check videos on youtube of people who put tape on their cat's feet to see the effect. They tend to stand still and try to shake it off.

So, the question is: How do you make shoes a cat can wear, that will be mimic their paws well enough that they can walk in them, but will still protect them from gravel and essentially toughen their feet? Perhaps it isn't possible?

[LibraryOgre]

Something like this?

[Yora]

I don't think it's necessary. I believe a big part of why horses get shoed is because domesticated ones tend to stand a lot on muddy ground for long periods, which isn't good for their hooves. That combined with running on hard ground is what I believe makes horseshoes necessary.
My aunt never had her horses shoed and their feet were just fine.

With a big riding cat, you just would have to have one that is big enough to deal with the weight of a rider. If the weight is not too heavy for the cat to run with it, the pressure on the feet should not be a problem.

[Mr.Moron]

Maybe just dip them in some kind of really flexible rubber?

That said I think if we're bypassing reality enough that we're riding around on big cats, we can waive the possible wear on their foot pads too. The space "Fantastic enough you're using a Tiger as your regular mount, but grounded enough that you have to worry about the Tiger hurting it's feet on road gravel" is really super narrow.

[Karl Aegis]

Get a mechanical tiger and nail iron shoes to their feet.

[(Un)Inspired]

First off, this thread has one of the best titles I've eve read.

Second, I believe the most elegant solution is to have horse legs grafted into your riding cat.

[Arbane]

First off, this thread has one of the best titles I've eve read.

Second, I believe the most elegant solution is to have horse legs grafted into your riding cat.

But then they can't use their claws!

[Mr. Mask]

Mark: Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm thinking. I guess there's no reason you can't make those in older times, even if it's harder. Of course, while those are a tight fit, I'm not sure of their flexibility.


Yora: I guess so. It might still be preferable, if you were going to have it run over hard ground.


Mr. Moron: That might actually work. Rubber may be the way to go, giving them flexibility and some toughness.


Karl Aegis, Inspired: Gentlemen, gentlemen, why stop at anything less than guns for feet? Which shoot as you walk.

[(Un)Inspired]

But then they can't use their claws!

Why not? I didn't say anything about removing their cat legs (with claws) I just suggested grafting on some horse legs.

[Synar]

First off, this thread has one of the best titles I've eve read.

Second, I believe the most elegant solution is to have horse legs grafted into your riding cat.

But then a question would arise:
why were you riding a cat instead of a horse in the first place?

[(Un)Inspired]

But then a question would arise:
why were you riding a cat instead of a horse in the first place?

Well cats have a lot more sharp bits on them to poke at your enemies with.

Maybe you dont have a horse available to ride; just a large cat and some spare horse legs.

Perhaps your playing in a system where your character gets a massive racial bonus to riding cats and a minus to riding horses.

[Mr.Moron]

why were you riding a cat instead of a horse in the first place?

Because it's a 850lb bright orange killing machine with 4" long claws that is the physical embodiment strength and power, while the horse is a skittish flat-toothed herbivore that's more likely to die of an impacted colon than bite off the hands of your foes?

[Lord Torath]

Maybe just dip them in some kind of really flexible rubber?

That said I think if we're bypassing reality enough that we're riding around on big cats, we can waive the possible wear on their foot pads too. The space "Fantastic enough you're using a Tiger as your regular mount, but grounded enough that you have to worry about the Tiger hurting it's feet on road gravel" is really super narrow.

I'm going to agree with the Moron here (no offense ) and say "Ignore it." Cats in general are a lot more careful about where they put their paws than horses are, so they can avoid things horses might not. If you really can't ignore it, try using Cure Light Wounds Cleric's Cat Shoes once per day.

Out of curiosity, why do you want these? Is there some nasty effect you're trying to avoid, or just for "realism"?

[Yora]

Because it's a 850lb bright orange killing machine with 4" long claws that is the physical embodiment strength and power, while the horse is a skittish flat-toothed herbivore that's more likely to die of an impacted colon than bite off the hands of your foes?

Do you know what people say who are underestimating tigers?

Spoiler

Show

They scream "Oh my God! I am being mauled by a tiger!"

[Kyoh]

How has no one suggested this elegant, comfortable suggestion yet?

On a more serious note: This is a game where you're riding tigers and a bunch of other things like elves, ogres, magic, and dragons reign. Suspend your disbelief, cos if tiger paws are what's grinding your gears to a halt, well you might want to consider some other things first.

[Admiral Squish]

I'm just imagining a giant riding tiger doing the awkward 'why would you put shoes on me' walk that animals do and giggling uncontrollably.

[hymer]

I believe a big part of why horses get shoed is because domesticated ones tend to stand a lot on muddy ground for long periods, which isn't good for their hooves.

Mud isn't good - too damp, causes fungus, just like it would to our feet. But that's no less a problem for a horse with a standard iron shoe. The big reason for the shoes is the hard stone/asphalt/cement surfaces domesticated horses tend to encounter; the added weight of a rider is another consideration.

I'm just imagining a giant riding tiger doing the awkward 'why would you put shoes on me' walk that animals do and giggling uncontrollably.

Why would the tiger be giggling?

Because it's a 850lb bright orange killing machine with 4" long claws that is the physical embodiment strength and power, while the horse is a skittish flat-toothed herbivore that's more likely to die of an impacted colon than bite off the hands of your foes?

On the other hand, horses cause a heck of a lot more human death and maiming than tigers do.

Jimmy Carr has a contribution to this thread to make here.

My idea is to just go the fantastic route. Magically hardening the feet, causing them to regenerate, or making them step on a quarter inch of air rather than on ground ought to do the trick.

[Battlebooze]

Tie puppies to it's feet. Nothing else could provide as smooth a ride.

[cobaltstarfire]

Tigers in real life aren't really suited for riding, part of why horses work so well is because of how their bone structure and stuff is set up.


If you're riding a tiger around, shoes are probably going to be the least of your worries if you want to tiger to be comfortable. So I'm going to sit in the camp of just not needing shoes for one reason or another.

That or training the tiger from as early an age as possible to tolerate shoes, and give them shoes like they do with dogs that are going to be on detrimental surfaces.

[mikeejimbo]

Because it's a 850lb bright orange killing machine with 4" long claws that is the physical embodiment strength and power, while the horse is a skittish flat-toothed herbivore that's more likely to die of an impacted colon than bite off the hands of your foes?

You haven't met the right horses. A horse can bite your hand off, and could likely be trained to do so. However, kicking is probably more effective. I haven't been kicked by a horse and I'm still alive.

[Traab]

Heh, I recently finished reading a story where they had intelligent warhorses. Basically they were modified by wizards way back in the day. They could mindspeak to their chosen rider and noone else and they were massive. The one the main character rode was something like 8 and a half feet tall at the shoulder, (only fitting, the main character is 7 foot 9 himself). The author took great pleasure in describing the damage a metal shod hoof the size of a dinner plate could do to enemies as they got rode into a bloody ruin.

[goto124]

I'm just imagining a giant riding tiger doing the awkward 'why would you put shoes on me' walk that animals do and giggling uncontrollably.

Enough reason for tiger shoes.

[Admiral Squish]

Enough reason for tiger shoes.

...You actually raise a pretty darn good point. Just imagine other exotic mounts reacting to shoes.

[Lappy9001]

Heh, I recently finished reading a story where they had intelligent warhorses. Basically they were modified by wizards way back in the day. They could mindspeak to their chosen rider and noone else and they were massive. The one the main character rode was something like 8 and a half feet tall at the shoulder, (only fitting, the main character is 7 foot 9 himself). The author took great pleasure in describing the damage a metal shod hoof the size of a dinner plate could do to enemies as they got rode into a bloody ruin.

A novel of Valdemar, I take it?

I like the idea of floating just above the ground. 3.5 has the psionic uncarnate which gets a similar ability (for a point of reference).

Or put pieces of toast on your cat's paws and a few on its back, jelly side exposed. It will float on its own through the power of silliness.

[Mr. Mask]

That or training the tiger from as early an age as possible to tolerate shoes, and give them shoes like they do with dogs that are going to be on detrimental surfaces.

More flexibly dog shoes would probably work. Thanks!

[GungHo]

You haven't met the right horses. A horse can bite your hand off, and could likely be trained to do so. However, kicking is probably more effective. I haven't been kicked by a horse and I'm still alive.

I've had a horse pull me off of him by biting my sleeve and using it as a lever to perform what amounted to a judo toss. And then he stepped on me but kept his weight off just to show me that he could have killed me if he wanted, but chose not to. I happily obliged him and told everyone to leave him alone for awhile. The next guy, who thought he was stronger willed than that horse (and me), had a chunk taken out of his arm and was stomped on several times and was he was thereafter afraid of that horse. That horse would stamp at the ground and act like he was going to charge at him just to scare that guy. The other horses seemed to find that funny and they wouldn't ever let the guy up on them without reaching back to give him a little nip to make him squeal, and he ended up having to stop going to that facility for riding.

I wish I was kidding about a single part of the above story.

[mikeejimbo]

None of it surprises me, either.

Riding a tiger sounds cool and all, but they're still cats. Cats are lazy and uncooperative.

[Maglubiyet]

If I were going to put shoes on a tiger, I'd make sure it had cleats, climbing spikes, and probably a few razor edges along the sides. And maybe give the cat a giant spikey helmet and a metal scorpion barb for the tip of its tail, too. Because a tiger just isn't lethal-looking enough, ya know?

[Yora]

Mud isn't good - too damp, causes fungus, just like it would to our feet. But that's no less a problem for a horse with a standard iron shoe. The big reason for the shoes is the hard stone/asphalt/cement surfaces domesticated horses tend to encounter; the added weight of a rider is another consideration.

I did some more research on it out of curiosity, and it seems the main reason horses have problems with hard ground is that most domesticated horses don't get exposed to it often enough for their feet to adapt. It it stands in a stable or an enclosure with soft ground all the time, it just ends up with soft baby feet. When ridden regularly and on hard ground, the hooves get naturally tougher to deal with it and then they are just fine. Some kind of horse sandals have been around since 100 BC and true horseshoes only since 900 AD. But of course, once you put the horseshoes on, the feet no longer get any chance to adapt to the ground.
If the horse just can't deal with hard ground and slowly letting them adjust with a lot of maintainance is not an option, then horseshoes are the lesser evil. If you're a medieval stable keeper and have 30, 50, or even more horses in reserve in case the lord needs his heavy cavalry, then riding every horse each day just isn't feasable unless you get a lot of assistants (which cost the lord a lot of money). Shoeing the horses is just a lot cheaper. But they seem to be really not that good for the horses health since hooves are naturally a bit flexible, which is almost completely restricted by horseshoes. This means that the impact of the hoof with the ground is no longer cushioned and the shock of it gets completely transfered to the leg joints and it also makes the foot develop abnormally, especially in younger horses. In the short term you make a horse with soft hooves able to deal with hard ground, but long term its legs will be ruined at a relatively young age. I've read a number of claims that it can reduce life expectancy by half or to even less.

So I say for an adventurers heroic battle mount there probably shouldn't be any shoes at all. It's not a vehicle that will spend most of its time parked in a garage.

[Lord Torath]

Runners can train their feet to run barefoot over any surface* in any weather. I'm sure tigers and other mounts could do the same. Is there a reason you really want to have "Tiger Shoes"?

*okay, any reasonable surface. Red-hot metal and caltrop-studded asphalt don't count.