Domestic cat

The Cat (Felis silvestris catus) is a small carnivorous mammal of the taxonomic family, Felidae. Currently, the cat is one of the world's most popular household pets. Cats were first domesticated at least 3500 years ago, when the Ancient Egyptians routinely used cats to keep mice and other rodents away from their grain. The average life span of a cat is about 15 to 20 years.

Anatomy
Cats are also vertebrates; their internal organs such as heart, lungs, stomach and reproduction organs are very similar to human organs. Skeleton is also so close, but the number of toes is different.

Cats are extremely sensitive to light. To see an object, cats only need 1/7 amount of light how men need. So, in dark place, cat’s eyes are working so well.

Cats are very good hearers. Sometimes, you can see that cats move their ears in a quiet place. That’s because they catch a tiny quiet sound. Dogs can hear just 20Hz to 40kHz, but cats can hear 30Hz to 60kHz. Cats can perceive even the distance between object and themselves by hearing. The olfactory sense of cats is much worse than dogs, but still better than humans. They classify foods into delicious, eatable and so on, and measure how foods are hot by nose. By the information from nose, they determine whether to eat or not.

Cats have both deciduous teeth and eternal teeth like humans. The number of each tooth is 26-deciduous and 30-eternal tooth. Usually, eight-week-old kitties have deciduous teeth. During 3-month to 5-month-old period, they lose their deciduous teeth and get second teeth. Their grinding teeth are different from other animal – the job of grinding teeth is to tear into small size, not to chew. Their lingua have many projections which is made of keratin, which makes up our nails. So if you touch cat’s lingua, you may feel coarse. By these projections, cats can take foods, care fur, or drink water.

Cats have radar whiskers. Their whiskers don’t have own nerve, but there are lots of nervous cells near the root of whiskers. These whiskers take a direction of wind, an elevation of an object, and objects nearby. An adult cat has 10cm long whiskers, and a kitty has 5~8mm long. There are 5 toes on front feet and 4 toes on hind feet. Ordinary times, cats hide their sharp hook-like claws in feet. On the surface of bottom of feet, there is cushion which can make cat walk silently. 

Reproduction
During mating season, females are fidgety. They make kitty-like sound to contract males and ease nature in any place. Males spray disgusting urine everywhere to mark territory and tempt females. In this season, males become very offensive and make noises. Females’ first sexual excitement usually comes when females are 6 to 8 months old. In end of February and September, females come into extremely heat. Males’ first sexual excitement comes 8 to 12 months old. Males rut whenever females secrete pheromone. 

Ecology
There is a lot of provender for cat. And also you can buy many types of canned food for cat. Most cats prefer can to normal provender, but cans are more expensive and that can ruin cat’s diet habit. So if your cat doesn’t eat normal provender, you can mix them first. Then reduce amount of canned food continuously.

Young kitties love to drink milk. But sometimes, milk can cause digestive problems. In this case, you should serve fresh water. When a cat is young, its stomach is very small so it can’t take much food at once. Experts recommend serving food 3~4 times one day. Adult cats have twice a day. At once, they eat about volume of their head. Regular meal is good to cat’s health. 

Teaching a Cat
Basis of teaching cat is stroking and patting every day. If owner didn’t do this process and aren’t familiar with cat, he or she can’t find any disease or injury. By this reason, you should make cat like touching with people. A sunbath is very important to cat’s cleanliness. You can make a sunbath place in porch or near window which is sunny place for cat. Don’t forget the shade part to prevent dehydration. When a cat is 2 to 3 month-old, habits and personalities are formed. This period is the best time to teach. During this period, you should pay more attention about table manners, using restroom, caring claws, and so on. Sometimes, you need to inflict some punishments to teach. Most important thing is understanding your cat’s individuality. Like human, each cat has own individuality such as special sleeping habit and preference degree about hugging. By knowing and keeping these things, you can keep your cat better as pet.