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Cats 101
By Emily Sanchez

Are you a cat person or a doggy person? A simple question that can lead to any degree of arguments between cat owners and dog owners, Which is better? Well the truth is that cats and dogs share the spotlight with in terms of house pet popularity. Both animals have their moments and both are known to be sweet, loyal, and delightful pets that quickly become part of any family. Cats are small domesticated animals that, over the years, have gained much popularity in western culture. They are renowned for their intelligence, yes intelligence with only a little training it is perfectly possible to teach even the oldest cats new tricks.

Cats have always had one skill to their advantage, that is, their ability to catch and kill all types of vermin, especially rats. There are several dozens cat breeds with a great variety in their looks being of different colors, fur type, color patterns and size when fully grown. Cats that have been bred by humans are generally of pure pedigree whereas those that are the product of natural inter-breeding are generally of mixed pedigree and are generally referred to as being "moggies" as an affectionate term for a mongrel cat.

Domesticated Cats

It is believed that our domesticated cats most closely resemble the African Wild Cat compared to all other pre-domesticated cats. Just watching a present day cat for a day will show you that they still carry innately wild characteristics, they remain carnivorous and instinctively learn to stalk their prey while hunting. Us mere humans have been allowed the pleasure of living in close association with cats for hundreds, even thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Vikings all revered the cat, placing them in high regard over other all other animals both domesticated and wild. The Egyptians even treated them as gods.

The common male cat is referred to as atom and the female cat as a queen. Pedigreed, (purebred or show cats), male and female cats are referred to as sires and dams respectively. Pedigreed cats both have their ancestries recorded and, when they become parents themselves, their names are added to the pedigrees of their descendants. Purebreds have a long-lineage of only one cat breed. The breeding of new, different, cat breeds are subject to rather strict rules of cat registries and associations. These organizations study the different breeds and assess the compatibility of the proposed breeds to be cross bred to create the new breed. They decide if the match will produce better offspring, in terms of both health and appearance.

Purebreds, in total, account for less than ten percent of the total feline population. The vast majority of the cat population of the world consists of random-bred felines. Mongrels, random-bred, domestic longhairs and shorthairs, are just some of the many terms that refer to cats with mixed ancestry. In the 17 th century it was Carolus Linnaeus who the classified domestic cat as Felis catus a domestic sub-species of the wild cat family of animals.

The weight of a domestic cat usually ranges from between two to seven kilograms, however, in some breeds such as the Maine Coon, this can be over ten kilograms. It is possible that you will see larger specimens but only where this is a result of overeating. In some cases bigger cat varieties can end up weighing more than twenty kilograms but veterinarians are trying to educate owners on the dangers of over feeding pets in an attempt to stop this from happening. Overweight cats are usually unhealthy and it makes them far more susceptible to all kinds of ailments, illnesses and diseases.

In other extreme cases of underfeeding where the cat is underweight it is likely that it will suffer the same problems. Underweight cats are, thankfully, rare as I explained earlier they are natural hunters and therefore capable of feeding themselves if allowed the opportunity. There are many cats which remain small all of their lives but these are not considered a miniature breed. They can weigh less than two kilograms. My own cat is 19 years old, she is a lovely looking black mongrel that has remained very small. Her coat has remained shiny, and has been healthy for most of the time, most people assume that she is a kitten when they first see her and are shocked to find her age.

Interesting Facts About Cats
There are 36 species of wild cats with the tiger being the largest (it can weigh up to 300kg/660 lb). There are eight subspecies of tigers, named as follows: 1. Siberian/Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) 2. South China tiger (P.t. amoyensis) 3. Indo-Chinese tiger (P.t. corbetti) 4. Bengal tiger (P.t. tigris) 5. Sumatran tiger (P.t. sumatrae) 6. Javan tiger (P.t. sondaica) 7. Bali tiger (P.t. balica) 8. Caspian tiger (P.t. virgata)

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Author Details:
Emily Sanchez writes for various web sites such as www.thatozof.com, www.informationjunkie.co.uk & www.simplytop.com

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