Cat facts text1/4/2024 ![]() ![]() With cats, there is a limit to how far you can train them. House cats have also been known to teach themselves to use lever-type doorknobs and toilet handles. They can easily entertain themselves with a variety of store-bought or homemade toys. Dutch research showed this to be an innate (inherited) behavior pattern that cats naturally do without being taught.Ĭats are quiet and well-behaved animals, making them popular pets. They use a flip-up movement of a front paw which, when successful, flips the fish out of the water and over the cat's shoulders onto the grass. Cats, especially kittens, practice these instinctive behaviors in play with each other or on small toys.Ĭats can fish. The cat creeps towards a chosen victim, keeping its body flat and near to the ground so that it cannot be seen easily until it is close enough for a quick dash or pounce. The basic cat coat coloring, tabby (see top photo), gives it good camouflage in grass and woodland. Their main method of hunting is stalk and pounce. Cats eat a wide variety of prey, including insects such as flies and grasshoppers. They will also stalk, and sometimes kill and eat, birds. Their main prey is small mammals (like mice). Cats are extremely fast, but only over short distances. The cat on the right is fed up with the cat on the left and this is a semi-serious warning.Ĭats are active carnivores, meaning that in the wild they hunt live prey. The carpal pad is also found on other cats and on dogs. On the inside of the front paws, there is something that looks like a sixth "finger." This special feature on the inside of the wrists is the carpal pad. Cats may extend their claws for hunting, self-defense, climbing, kneading, or for extra traction on soft surfaces. In their normal, relaxed position, the claws are sheathed with the skin and fur around the paw's toe pads. They have protractible (able to be extended) and retractable (able to be pulled in) claws. Most cats have five claws on their front paws and four on their rear paws. Cats, like dogs, walk directly on their toes, with the bones of their feet making up the lower part of the leg. As a walk speeds up into a trot, a cat's gait will change to be a " diagonal" gait, similar to that of most other mammals: the diagonally opposite hind and forelegs will move at the same time. Unlike most mammals, when cats walk, they use a "pacing" gait (walking style): they move the two legs on one side of the body before the legs on the other side. Whiskers also cause the blink reflexes to protect the eyes from damage, much like a human's eyelashes do.Ĭats walk very precisely. The whiskers sense air currents and objects that they touch. These whiskers tell the cat how the passageways they travel are and the location of objects in the dark. To aid with traveling and feeling, cats have dozens of movable whiskers (vibrissae) over their body, especially on their faces. Wild cats, no matter their size, are not tame and can be very dangerous.Ĭats' whiskers are highly sensitive to touch. There are small, wild cats in most parts of the world, such as the lynx in northern Europe and the bobcat in North America. The big, wild cats are well known: lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, pumas, and cheetahs. Felines are usually called either big cats or small cats. The word cat is also used for other felines. An entire female cat (able to have kittens) is a queen, and an entire male cat (able to father kittens) is a tom. Cats are sometimes called kitty or pussycat. Cats that are not specific breeds can be referred to as 'domestic shorthair' (DSH) or 'domestic longhair' (DLH).Ī young cat is called a kitten. ![]() Domestic cats are found in shorthair, longhair, and hairless breeds. They are kept by humans for hunting rodents and for companionship. Cats are one of the most popular pets in the world. Feral cats are domestic cats that live away from humans. Domesticated cats who live on farms to keep rodents away are called farm cats. Cats have been domesticated (tamed) for nearly 10,000 years. Domestic cats are often called house cats when they are kept as indoor pets. ![]() Cats, also called domestic cats ( Felis catus), are small, carnivorous (meat-eating) mammals, of the family Felidae. ![]()
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