Some of you have asked, "what precisely is a Snowcat?" I can only tell you what my mom told us kittens, and what is commonly accepted wisdom among cats in the Baraboo Hills of Wisconsin.
Snowcats are built for snow. We're extra furry all over (though still short-haired) and especially between our toe pads. We tend to be kind of compact and muscular, not long and lanky. But most of all, we love snow: we love the feel of ice on our pads, we like digging and playing in it. Indeed, many of us like water just fine too.
And what, in practice, that adds up to is this:
Snowcats float on snow. (That's the site near where I was buried the other day.)
These two pictures were taken in the middle of another 4 - 6" day putting our snow total for the last week up to about two feet. The snow had been wet, and hard going early in the week but after more snow, melty day time, then icy night time, pack started forming.
Now don't get me wrong...you aren't just born a Snowcat and you go out and float! Snowcats like me gotta use our physical attributes wisely. Here I am demonstrating a low walk.
I can be floating along and, all the sudden, a paw pops down through snow a bit so I go into low walk (not to be confused with the slow walk which is another thing entirely). Notice my leading paw, the careful placement, and the broad pad spread. The Snowcat pad spread in snow is the hallmark of our family. Here's another image where you can also see the role of the claws in establishing gentle but firm placement on the snow surface.
See the breadth of the pads in even a good pack situation? (These are hard to capture because any Snowcat worth his or her whiskers puts their back feet right in their front foot print when they walk in snow.)
Snowcat.
