Cougar and Rake

[Kirbdog]

We're just getting geared up to start a pathfinder game.
I'm a level 1 Hunter with a Cougar AC.

I'm wondering how exactly rake works at low levels.
I read a lot here in old forums but it mostly mentions
pounce and grapple. As you see, starting out it don't have pounce or grapple
Only special ability Rake. So how does this work?

Cat, Big

Starting Statistics

Size Medium; Speed 40 ft.; AC +1 natural armor; Attack bite (1d6), 2 claws (1d4); Ability Scores Str 13, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 10; Special Attacks rake (1d4); Special Qualities low-light vision, scent.

7th-Level Advancement

Size Large; AC +2 natural armor; Attack bite (1d8), 2 claws (1d6); Ability Scores Str +8, Dex –2, Con +4; Special Attacks grab, pounce, rake (1d6).

[Chess Pwn]

rake is only used on a pounce or grapple. Anything can grapple.

[Menacing Shade of mauve]

Having rake without pounce and/or grab is certainly unusual, but it is theoretically not entirely useless.

[Ratnap]

Having no grab ability doesn't mean that your Cougar can't make grapple attempts. It does provoke AoO on those though until you hit lvl 7 where it gets pounce and grab.

[Wildstag]

I tried to find a joke about your game involving cougars that are rakes, but the jokes escaped me. The 7th level advancement is huge for it, but I feel like it should have grab or pounce at first level, and leave rake for the improvement.

Basically, any time the cougar is grappling a foe, it can take two claw attacks while maintaining the grapple. It's a pretty nifty ability, and with Hunters being able to take teamwork feats, you can do some real damage and single-target control by just grapple-pouncing and going to town on the target.