THE STRANGE AND WONDERFUL CAT

Cats are everywhere. You’re driving down a road late at night

and you see a pair of glowing eyes crossing ahead of you. It may

be in town or in the countryside, but they’re there. A stray cat is

prowling around the house, looking for food. The friendly

neighborhood cat comes by or maybe you have a pet cat of your

own. But how much do you really know about cats? What do

you know about their history, behavior, intelligence, athletic

ability, and so on. Well, let’s find out a little bit more about these

wonderful creatures and what makes them so unique.

When I said cats are everywhere, I do mean everywhere!

According to statistica.com as of 2017 there are about 95.8

million cats in the United States alone, and although feral cat

populations can make it hard to estimate, there are probably

around 600 million cats worldwide. They live on every continent

except Antartica and are now the world’s most popular pet, even

ahead of dogs. Today’s domestic cat actually comes from a felid

ancestor that lived 10 – 15 million years ago which then rapidly

evolved into the entire cat family that we see today – lions, tigers,

domestic cats, mountain lions, and so on. It is believed to have

orginated from the Near Eastern and African Wildcats which

roamed from the Middle East to western Africa hundreds of

thousands of years ago. The ancient Egyptians were the first to

actually use cats. Stray cats would come and hunt rodents that

were ravaging their grain and over a period of time they became

the first domesticated cats. These cats were prized by the ancient Egyptians even to the point where they looked to them as gods,

making sacred statues of them and painting or drawing them

into their artwork. All cats in the cat family share very similar

traits whether we’re talking about a tiger, lion, or domestic cat.

In fact most people would probably be surprised to know that

the domestic cat of today shares about 96% of it’s dna with a

tiger! The truth is that the domestic cat is really half tame and

half wild, even to this day.

Cats are extremely intelligent, with a long term memory

superior to that of dogs. They are fiercely independent and can

not be as easily trained as dogs. Whereas dogs have a pack

mentality and want to please humans, who they see as leaders of

their pack, cats view humans as their equals and tend to do

pretty much what they want. Even so, they can also be very

social, often living in large colonies which are located near a

reliable food source. Cats are also easily frightened. When

something traumatic happens to a cat to frighten it, the cat will

always remember that event and will tend to change it’s

behavior accordingly in similar situations. So it’s very important

to take care when disciplining a cat and never use any physical

force or violence. The cat would always remember this and

develop a fearful and withdrawn personality. Some cats may

even become more angry and violent towards their owner. All

kittens start out with blue eyes which gradually change color as

they get older, unless of course they are predisposed to have blue

eyes. Kittens have a love of play and they can be very rough

about it, either with humans or another cat. They like to ambush and attack a human’s ankles as they walk by and will bite and

scratch the hand or wrist area, maybe even drawing blood. The

kitten really means no harm, it’s just their way of playing and

preparing themselves to hunt animals in the wild. As the cat

matures and develops into an adult it will usually become much

more kind and gentle and make a wonderful pet and companion.

Adult cats are generally much less active than kittens and

usually sleep most of the time - in this way they conserve energy

that will be needed when they go out to hunt.

Cats are extremely athletic – much more so than dogs. The

fastest land animal on Earth is the Cheetah which can run in

bursts of up to 70 miles per hour. Even a domestic cat can run

faster than the fastest human. Quora.com says that the fastest

speed of a human, set by Usain Bolt, is 27.4 mph. Domestic cats

can run up to 29.8 mph, but only in short bursts, since all cats

lack stamina. Cats have phenomenal jumping ability – even the

common domestic cat can jump about 6 times it’s length, or over

eight feet when in good health. Since they originated and evolved

from the desert cats can get by with very little water and can

easily withstand temperatures up to 120 degrees farenheight.

Cats have eyes that are far superior to humans for night vision

and can see 6 – 8 times better in dim light. They also have better

peripheral vision with a range of 200 degrees compared to 180

degrees for humans. Humans are superior in closeup and color

vision however. Cats lack the eye muscle ability to reshape their

eye lens and so can not see closeup well or see at a distance as

clearly – they need to be no more than about 20 feet away to see an object clearly. They also have all 3 types of cones for color

vision that humans have – red, green, and blue, but not nearly as

many of them so they are less densely distributed. Many experts

believe that cats see the world in muted and less intense colors

than a human does.

Cats have a natural fear of humans, but if you pick up and

hold a kitten 4 to 8 weeks old on a regular basis, it will usually

crawl up and sleep next to you as an adult. With the proper care

and attention kittens almost always grow up to make wonderful

pets and companions. There are so many different breeds and

variations of cats now that it is not difficult at all to find a cat,

either adult or kitten, which will be just the right fit for you! A

great place to start is your local pet shelter or cat sanctuary –

there are so many great cats who would just love to go home

with you. Get over there right now and find out how fantastic

cats really are – there’s a friend waiting for you. The cat – it

really is a strange and wonderful creature!

Be sure and check out the following video -