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Farm Cat Feral Cat: o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

The domestic cat is a small carnivorous mammal that is valued as a companion animal and for its ability to hunt pests. Cats have strong, flexible bodies and sharp teeth adapted for killing small prey. They were first domesticated around 7500 BC in the Near East and have since become one of the most popular pets, with over 95 million owned in the United States. Cats can live indoors as house pets, outdoors as farm cats, or in the wild as feral cats that avoid human contact.

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64 views2 pages

Farm Cat Feral Cat: o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

The domestic cat is a small carnivorous mammal that is valued as a companion animal and for its ability to hunt pests. Cats have strong, flexible bodies and sharp teeth adapted for killing small prey. They were first domesticated around 7500 BC in the Near East and have since become one of the most popular pets, with over 95 million owned in the United States. Cats can live indoors as house pets, outdoors as farm cats, or in the wild as feral cats that avoid human contact.

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inspirational biographies
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The cat (Felis catus) is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal.

[1][2] It is the only


domesticated species in the family Felidae and is often referred to as the domestic cat to
distinguish it from the wild members of the family.[4] A cat can either be a house cat, a farm
cat or a feral cat; the latter ranges freely and avoids human contact.[5] Domestic cats are valued
by humans for companionship and their ability to hunt pests such as rodents. About 60 cat
breeds are recognized by various cat registries.[6]
The cat is similar in anatomy to the other felid species: it has a strong flexible body,
quick reflexes, sharp teeth and retractable claws adapted to killing small prey. Its night vision and
sense of smell are well developed. Cat
communication includes vocalizations like meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling and
grunting as well as cat-specific body language. It is a solitary hunter but a social species. It can
hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by mice and
other small mammals. It is a predator that is most active at dawn and dusk.[7] It secretes and
perceives pheromones.[8]
Female domestic cats can have kittens from spring to late autumn, with litter sizes ranging from
two to five kittens.[9] Domestic cats are bred and shown at events as registered pedigreed cats, a
hobby known as cat fancy. Failure to control breeding of pet cats by spaying and neutering, as
well as abandonment of pets, resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide, contributing to
the extinction of entire bird species and evoking population control.[10]
Cats were first domesticated in the Near East around 7500 BC.[11] It was long thought that cat
domestication was initiated in Ancient Egypt, as since around 3100 BC veneration was given
to cats in ancient Egypt.[12][13]
As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second-most popular pet in the United States by number of
pets owned, after freshwater fish,[14] with 95 million cats owned.[15][16] In the United Kingdom,
around 7.3 million cats lived in more than 4.8 million households as of 2019.[17]

Contents

 1Etymology and naming


 2Taxonomy
 3Evolution
o 3.1Domestication
 4Characteristics
o 4.1Size
o 4.2Skeleton
o 4.3Skull
o 4.4Ambulation
o 4.5Claws
 5Senses
o 5.1Vision
o 5.2Hearing
o 5.3Smell
o 5.4Taste
o 5.5Whiskers
o 5.6Balance
 6Behavior
o 6.1Sociability
o 6.2Communication
o 6.3Grooming
o 6.4Fighting
o 6.5Hunting and feeding
o 6.6Impact on birds
o 6.7Play
o 6.8Reproduction
 7Lifespan and health
o 7.1Disease
 8Ecology
o 8.1Habitats
o 8.2Feral cats
 9Interaction with humans
o 9.1Cat show
o 9.2Infections transmitted from cats to humans
o 9.3History and mythology
o 9.4Superstitions and rituals
 10See also
o 10.1Cats by location
 11References
 12External links

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