Cats have been with us since time immemorial. And one of the questions we might have asked ourselves is whether they are mammals or not. The domestic cat or a house cat is a furry carnivorous mammal coming from the Felidae genus with the cat or house cat being categorized as Felinae.
It is a mammal because it has mammary glands, are warm-blooded, has hair and a four-chambered heart Thus meeting all the criteria of the definition of a mammal.
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Breeds
There are over seventy recognized cat breeds American bobtail, Abyssinians, Siamese, Bobtail, Manx, Ocicat, Balinese, Persian, Siberian just to name a few. Cats are part of many American families as they have been domesticated to a very large extent.
Even so, they have the instinctive hunting ability and are kept as pets to hunt vermin. Cats are social animals and love attention from their owners. Cats are the second most popular pets in the US, after fish. A rough estimate puts the numbers at 8 million.
Anatomy
A cat’s anatomy is similar to other felids or big cats like tigers. They have better vision, hearing than dogs and can literally see in the dark due to a cell called the cone in the eye. Cats can hear high as well as low frequencies. Cats do not rely on smell a lot but for some strange reason can smell catnip from a distance The body is highly flexible, with very quick reflexes, sharp claws, and teeth – which are both evolved to kill small prey.
They communicate by mewing, purring as well as hissing and trilling. A normal cat would weigh between 3 to 5 kgs. The largest recorded weight is 21 kgs! If a cat can pass its head through a crevice, you can be sure its body will follow, because cat forelimbs are attached to the shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones, unlike the human ball and socket joint.
Breeding
Cats have a high breeding rate with a gestation period of 58 to 67 days and have a litter of 3 to 10 kittens. A cat’s lifespan ranges from 2 to 16 years.
Some house cats live up to 20 to 38 years. A cat needs 12 to 16 hours of sleep. It is instinctive. A cat is also a hunter, conserving all its energy for that burst of speed. This pattern is inbuilt into its evolutionary transition. Spaying reduces the risk of cancer of the testes or ovaries.
Domestication
Cats have been domesticated since time immemorial. Although we only know about Egypt and how the Egyptians worshiped cats, it is a common fact that cats have domesticated in the Near East, i.e., Syria, Persia, Iraq, around 9000 years ago. The domestic cat evolved from the wildcat between 70,000 and 100,000 years ago.
As compared to dogs, cats have not changed much over the centuries. They are still small, social and comparatively intelligent. It is not clear when and how a wildcat became a domestic house cat.
Territories and Habitats
Cats are found all over the globe except in Antartica. They adapt to most climactic conditions – desert, forests, wetlands, and mountains. Cats are carnivores and must have meat in their diet. It is an absolute biological necessity.
Nutrition
Cats are obligate meat eaters, they need 20% protein in each meal. Their entire physiology is built for this. They normally do not eat plants except when their body needs folic acid and dietary fiber.
Senses
Sight – Cats are said to see in the dark. This is not a very accurate statement. A cat can see at much lower light levels than humans. Another adaptation is the pupils which expand to almost the whole eye surface thereby allowing much greater focus. Cats are mostly color blind, they can see only blue, yellow and green.
Hearing
Cats have excellent hearing and can detect a broad range of frequencies including ultrasound. The hearing is enhanced further by the moveable ears which the cats move to get a proper fix on the prey.
Smell
Cats do have an acute sense of smell. Their sense of olfaction begins at birth and just grow from there. Their olfactory areas are twice as that of humans. Cats can smell catnip at less than one part per billion. That explains the craziness that ensues when a cat smells catnip. Though it is a hallucinogenic for humans, it is perfectly safe for cats. Catnip effects can last from 2 to 10 minutes.
Taste
Here, humans outrank cats. Cats have 470 when compared to the 9000 that humans have. Cats need their food to be served at around 100F which is about the temperature of a fresh kill. Millions of years of evolution have not wiped out this requirement.
Movement
Cats have moveable whiskers which act as sonars and tell them the exact location of objects in the dark.
Most cats love sitting in high places, a display of inbuilt hunting instincts which give it a better vantage point. It also can twist its body during a fall and land safely on its paws.
Diseases
They are prone to many infectious diseases and injuries. Regular treatment does help to eliminate most of the common diseases.
Behavior
These feline companions tend to be more active during the nights. This again is a throwback to their nocturnal hunting days, and they have the advantage of night vision. Cats do dream. REM gives us a clue as to how many times in a sleep cycle they dream of that fat juicy mouse.
Communication
Cats use various sounds for communication – various types of meows for different situations. They also have trilling as well as purring and growling in their vocabulary. Kneading of the paws is a cat characteristic of mood. Though we have the phrase “fighting like cats & dogs” the two have been known to live happily together. Cats have learned to bond with humans by rubbing their head and bodies against human feet.
Grooming
They spend hours grooming themselves by licking their coats. The tiny spines on their tongue act as combs. The fur collected by such grooming is regurgitated in the form of hairballs.
Things You Did Not Know About Cats
- Few cats actually like water, not many though
- Cats are very manipulative – they want it, they get it.
- They cannot digest chocolate and can get seriously ill if they eat chocolate.
- Cats are farsighted.
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Conclusion
A cat is a mammal, just like us humans. It outdoes us in more ways than one, but we still share in that commonality.
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