1. by Jivka Mateeva VMF – f. № 15228
Cats
by Jivka Mateeva
VMF – f. № 15228

2. The domestic cats are small furry carnivorous mammals, which are valued by humans for companions.
They have quick reflexes, flexible body and very well developed sense like hearing, smelling and ability to see in dark.

3. All felids share a common ancestor, lived only 10 – 15 million years ago.
The group of Small cats contains seven species: the Jungle cat of Southeast Asia, European wild cat, African wild cat, Chinese mountain cat and Arabian sand cat. They all share an ancestor that probably lived around million years ago in Asia.

4. Taxonomy
The domestic cat was first classified as Felis catus by Carlus Linnaeus in Systema Naturae in 1758.
The modern phylogenetics classifies the domestic cat as a subspecies of the wild cat – Felis silvestris.

5. Anatomy :
Cats have 7 cervical, 13 thoracic, 7 lumbar, 3 sacral and variable caudal vertebrae in the tail. Like most carnivores, cats have very well developed powerful jaws.
Like dogs, cats are digitigrades animals. They walk very precisely because they place each hind paws directly in the print of fore paws.
All members of the Felidae have retractable claws.
The typical body height is around cm and the head-body length is around 46 cm with different length of the tail (usually 30cm).

6. Senses
Cats have excellent night vision but they have poor color vision – they have limited ability to discern between red and green.
Cats have excellent hearing. They can hear sounds that either dogs can’t – cats detect frequencies from 55 Hz to 79 kHz.
The excellent hearing and the acute sense of smell helps them in hunting.

7. Lifespan
The average lifespan of male cat is 12 to 14 years and for the females years more.
There are reports for cats that have reach 30 years of old.
The castration can significantly increases the lifespan.

8. Diseases
Cats can suffer from wide range of health problems including infection diseases, parasites and chronic diseases.

9. Poisoning
Cats can be poisoned by many things like insecticides, antifreeze, some medicaments like Panadol and some foods like grapes, alcohol and chocolate.

10. Hunting
They are perfect hunters – they hunt small pray like birds and rodents, and are often used as a pest-control.
They use 2 hunting strategies – stalking the pray actively or waiting in ambush until an animal come close enough to be captured.

11. Reproduction Female cats are seasonally polyestrous animals.
Their gestation period is between days and they give birth to 2-5 kittens. Kittens are born deaf and blind.
Cats normally reach sexual maturity at 5–10 months (females) and to 5–7 months (males).
Reproduction

12. Breeds
Unlike other domestic animals, cats never conducted a deep selection work, which is why they are created relatively few breeds divided into two groups: shorthaired and longhaired cats breeds.

13. Shorthaired breeds are characterized by short, smooth hair, lying closely on the body. They have a wide variety of colors. Better-known breeds are: European Shorthair, Bengal cat, American Shorthair, Egyptian Mau, Russian Blue, Japanese Bobtail, Munchkin, Abyssinian cat and Siamese cat.

14. Longhaired breeds are characterized by long, silky hair
Longhaired breeds are characterized by long, silky hair. Coloration is various. Popular breeds are Persian, Siberian, American Bobtail, Maine Coon, Ragdoll, Turkish Angora, Turkish Van, Birman and others.

15. The End 