The cat in the position of attack or defense, is also able to growl, hiss and spit to alert or terrify the opponent. Some researchers think their breath mimics the behavior of the snake.  When they’re aggressive, especially in relationships with others, the cat can emit a growl at a very low, deep tone, which is considered the last warning before the attack.
The mechanism of the release of purring of cats is not yet known. The cats do not seem to have a body dedicated to purr. A first hypothesis assumes a very rapid contraction of the muscles of the larynx, which compresses and expands the Glotta vibrating the air that passes. A more ancient, evoking vibration of the vena cava, is amplified by the bronchi, the trachea and nasal cavity.

These sound vibrations are found in most cats, but their mechanism and their usefulness is not yet fully explainable. Cats are the only animals that can inhale and exhale, without “interrupting” the typical sound.   Purring begins at the age of two days.  Purring of the mother, in turn, reassurs the children that they are safe. The issue of melt also occurs during the cleaning of small cats, but can also occur when the cat is ill, injured or dying. In the latter, purring calms the animal and is also used to request assistance.

Cat sleeping and cleaning

The cat needs between 12 and 16 hours of sleep, but generally sleeps from 15 to 18 hours a day. They hunt during the night.  The sleep of the cat includes a large proportion of the phases of paradoxical sleep during which they dream.  The daily duration of this phase lasts from 180 to 200 minutes, while for men, stands at 100 minutes.

For this reason the cat is often used for experiments in the context of the cycles of sleep.  During the phases of paradoxical sleep, the electrical activity of the brain, eyes and muscles is very important. It assists the movement of whiskers, a twitching of the legs or the tail, and the hair may stand up or the cat can change position.
Scratches

The growth of the claws of the cat is continuous and compensates for natural wear. The cat can adjust the length and sharpen his claws rubbing against rough surfaces. Scratches are visual trademarks. This behavior is to communicate to other cats their territory.
Clean
During their cleaning, they may ingest many hairs which then accumulate in their stomach, forming balls of fur called bezoars. This disturbs the intestinal transit and is then vomited to avoid intestinal obstruction. Cleaning mutual cats is reserved only between cats who know one another intimately.  They lick to exchange the smell and to deposit the calming pheromones.

Cats in nature, choose the places with soft ground to deposit their droppings.  They then cover them with earth, scratching with their front legs.  The smell of excrement grafted their burial. This approach allows the wild not to identify their scent from predators and reduces the risk of infection by parasites.  It is an attitude instilled by its mother to the baby very early.

The cat produces excrement one or two times a day and urine up to five times a day, this excludes the activities of signage urinary territory. This last behavior is recognizable because the cat raises its tail and stands with his back toward the object to be marked.   With the aging of the animal, the volume of urine may increase due to frequent problems.

A third of owners also claim that their cat companion is a far better listener than their human partner. An amazing 40% always include their cat when sending out Christmas and other greeting cards. The survey of over 1,000 cat owners was commissioned by NutriCat, a new brand of veterinarian approved advanced feline nutrition.

Unfortunately this humanisation of cats also comes in the form of feeding their felines ‘people food’ and treats such as cake, crisps and even chocolate! Over half of owners surveyed (53%) give their cats treats and table scraps whilst 17% of owners admitted to feeding their cat extra food to make it happy.

Claire Bessant, CEO of the Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB) a charity is dedicated to promoting the health and welfare of cats, comments, “For many people, feeding is a time for interaction with their pet and a way to show love and affection.  While modern complete cat foods provide all that a cat needs, owners often want to give more and end up not only feeding more cat food, but adding to the interaction opportunities by giving their cat scraps and treats as well.

Obesity is as unhealthy for cats as it is for humans.  Owners need to adjust what they feed to take into account all of the food the cat is given.  While scraps or treats may seem small in human terms, they can be relatively large for cats.  Sometimes treats are inappropriate foods which can be detrimental to cat health.”

The research forms part of a report examining how modern life can have a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of our pet cats. As well as humanisation, our busy lifestyles and the increasing cost of owning a cat means our feline friends aren’t always faring so well. When asked about how often owners took their cat to the vet, only one third of owners surveyed said they took their cat to the vet once a year and over a quarter said they only take their cat to the vet when it’s unwell.

Claire from FAB adds, “It would be great if all cat owners took their cat to the vet once a year for regular check-ups (more often for kittens, older cats or cats with health problems). Since cats are masters of disguise when it comes to hiding the fact that they are unwell, owners need to be able to pick up subtle changes in their cats’ behaviour and take their cat to the vet if they feel something is wrong.”

David Helliwell, (BSc BVM&S MRCVS), the veterinarian behind NutriCat says, “It is essential for UK cat owners to recognise that, whilst modern lifestyles are changing, the needs of our cats are not. A balanced diet, preventative healthcare and getting to know your cat’s behaviour are all vital in ensuring they live a long and happy life.

David adds, “The research shows that convenience and cost play an important role for owners when choosing a food for their cat”. NutriCat is the ideal option as it offers a complete food for cats, scientifically formulated to contain a careful balance of nutrients to keep cats fit, active and healthy whilst also being affordable and conveniently available at Tesco.

”To help cat owners ensure they are doing the right thing for their cats, NutriCat and The Feline Advisory Bureau have teamed up to develop ‘Top Tips to Keep Your Cat in Purrfect Shape’, which are available on the NutriCat website at www.nutricat.com.

Some might enjoy having a few extra hours sleep over the weekend, but trying to live like a cat is going to take that a few steps further. Felines sleep for up to twenty hours a day and in this video we see our subject, Dan, trying to get that extensive amount of sleep that cats enjoy. At first most people would find it very easy just to drop off while sitting on the sofa or watching some mindless television. But after a while the need for sleep begins to dwindle as we see Dan experience.

Dan tries so many ways to nap and be more like a cat to get in touch with his feline side but most of them only serve to make him even more awake than before. In this episode we see Dan enjoy turkey and milk and cookies – foods that are traditionally supposed to encourage a deep, cat like, slumber. Unfortunately in his already rested state they just serve to energise him. Of course, the team at Whiskas wouldn’t just give up on inducing Dan into a state of deep feline rest.

Sleeping bag in hand, they cart off Dan to a sleep therapist who assures him that he will be able to sleep twenty hours a day, it will just require practice and patience, two things he has plenty of in his cat like existence. With the aid of some therapy Dan enters a deeply relaxed state but unfortunately he can’t enjoy his sleep at the therapist’s office so he is taken home to put the methods into practice.

Once again though it seems that Dan will continue his existence as an insomniac cat as he fails to get the rest that he deserves. At this point, Whiskas go to one final extreme, hiring a choir to sing him off to sleep. While Dan lies on the sofa the choir sing him quiet lullaby and despite being troubled by sunlight from the windows (no curtains for Dan as cats don’t have that privilege) he manages to feel dozy.

In order to get to the final stage and off into a deep sleep he is drawn a warm bath with candles and smelling candles. The entire choir join him in the bathroom so they can continue with their gentle singing and carry Dan off into his feline dreams of Whiskas cat food and warm milk.

The video has been picked up by cat experts Go-Cat, who are one of the most famous and respected names in the pet food world.  They have added their name to the video as part of their cats who live life to the full campaign and posted the short film on YouTube, to date it has had over 1.3m hits and this figure is growing all the time. The media have picked up on it also, and the free paper for commuters, Metro, had it on their front cover.

Videos of animals are nothing new, but this one is that it special. As they crawl around the decks exploring, moving the records and touching the knobs they are actually creating a stomping beat that sound like it has been lifted straight off a hip hop album. There are some classic moments in this video that you will want to watch over and over again and it’s a smart move by Go-Cat to adopt the video as part of their campaign.

In current economic climate, all companies are battling for a larger share of their respective markets, and shrewd marketing campaigns using videos and multimedia is very much a sign of our times. The sales of Go-Cat will soar on the back of this cutest of videos and so they should, as a quality brand backed by a video featuring the most adorable of kittens deserves to be a great success.

The first paleontological discoveries were located the first sites of domestication of the cat in Egypt, at around 2000 BC, but the discovery in 2004 of the remains of a cat next to three men in a tomb in Cyprus sees the start of this relationship between 7500 and 7000 years before Christ.

The cat has found morphology similar to that of the African wild cat, without any amendments arising from the domestication of the skeleton; it is a rather tame domestic cat.  The cohabitation of cats with men probably began with the beginning of agriculture.  The storage of grain has attracted mice and rats, which in turn attracted cats, their natural predators.  The study conducted by Carlos Driscoll on 979 cats allowed us to define the probable origin of domestic cat in the region of the fertile crescent in Mesopotamia.

The ancient Egyptians have defined the traits of the cat goddess Bastet, as a symbol of fertility and maternal love.  His cult was mainly located in the city of Bubastis. Archaeologists have discovered many cat mummies that show the veneration of the Egyptians for the cat.

For a long time the ancient Greeks have only known the mustelids (ferrets and weasels) as hunters of rodents. The first were sold by the Phoenicians, who had stolen them from the Egyptians. Aristophanes mentions the presence of a market for cats in Athens and was called ailouros Then, starting from the second century before Christ, they were katoikidios (domestic).

The Romans had a passion for cats.  First, they were restricted to the wealthier classes then the use of owning a cat spread throughout the empire and in all strata of the population, thus ensuring the spread throughout Europe.

Medieval and Renaissance

The image of the cat in Islam is mainly positive, thanks to the affection that Muhammad had for them, after being rescued from a snake bite by a cat.  Conversely, the cat was satanized in Christian Europe during most of the Middle Ages, because they were a symbol of pagan worship.

In medieval symbolism, the cat was associated with bad luck and evil, especially when he was black, and also was seen as being sly.  It was an animal of the devil and witches.  Cats were attributed to supernatural powers, including the possibility of having nine lives. On the night of St. John in the streets, they burned alive hundreds of cats locked up in baskets with the women accused of witchcraft. The plague, due to rats could be due to the decrease in the number of cats. During the Renaissance, the cat was again reclaimed, mainly due to preventive action against rodents devouring crops.

Period Modern and Contemporary

Despite the noble exceptions such as the Cistercians or White Persian King Louis XV of France, the cat did not experience a true image return to romanticism. In this period the animal became romantic, mysterious and independent.  Also in the nineteenth century, it became the symbol of the anarchist.  In the twentieth century, this romantic view was maintained, with a scientific interest even to the cat.

If the fence has gaps they need to be blocked to deny any type of passage high or low. Cats like to jump so stringing a wire or string above the fence will deter them from doing that. Once inside the garden a good number of people say the best cat repellant is a dog who will make sure the feline is gone quickly.

If dogs are not to your liking then you will have to follow the more passive methods. Since cats like newly turned soil, make sure you have mulch everywhere there is bare soil. Seed beds that should be covered some sort of wire netting or with twigs.

Young trees should have plastic guards that fit around the base of their trunks to protect them from becoming a scratching pole. Cover the garden pond with netting to keep the fish in and Felix the cat out.

They generally dislike water so a well aimed bucket at the right time or a garden hose squirt may make them think twice about returning. To protect plants mothballs and citrus are said to be good natural deterrents. Place the mothballs an orange or lemon peel along the borders.

Other known repellants are coffee grounds, cayenne pepper, lavender oil, pipe tobacco, citronella oil, lemon grass, mustard oil and eucalyptus oil. Certain types of herbs are said to keep away cats and particular rue but not catmint which will end up attracting them.

Jerry Baker the broadcaster suggests treating your yard with tonic made from urine, birth control pills, chewing tobacco, molasses, mouthwash, beer and detergent. It has been said that there is success in using a small amount of rabbit blood but you may feel the ingredients listed in the previous part should be tried first.

In your local hardware store or garden center you will find a number of cat repellant products on sale. They range from ultrasonic devices, sprays and granules to electric water sprinklers. The motion sprinkler works well since it is only activated upon the cat’s movement. Once the cat moves the water sprays. It is said that only once or twice hit with this they do not return.

Several studies have highlighted how the company of a cat can help people with mental health problems, the lonely or stressed by lowering the tension. The cat is essentially a carnivore.  The human body needs taurine, a derivative of the amino acids that is found in meat. A cat does not assimilate a sufficient dose of taurine and therefore they can suffer from eye disorders and heart disease, immune deficiencies and in females, reproductive problems.
Already in the first months of life kittens play games of chase using the tail of the mother. The cat uses two techniques of hunting:  The first technique is dynamic.  It slowly and silently creeps up on prey, to be the right distance to perform the final leap.  This technique assumes important properties of the hair.

The second technique is static. It is to place themselves in an area of interest and wait, for example near the lair of a mouse. All cats use these two types of strategy. The methods used do not seem specific to the type of prey, but cats can specialize in the capture of a species.

To kill the prey, the cat bites usually in the neck, thus breaking the spine. The most hunted prey are small rodents, but can also be lizards, small birds and insects. Sometimes it can also attach themselves to hedgehogs, rabbits and snakes.

Domestic cats who have the opportunity to hunt when young, usually devour their prey. Typically, before killing, they play with it then devour it. Sometimes they bring it back to their owners considering an adoptive parent little skilled in hunting. Chocolate is toxic to cats, since it contains theobromine which can not be metabolized by their bodies (as well as from that of dogs).

The female’s period commonly called “heat” or “rut,” occurs on average between seven and ten months of age.  Starting from the first period, it lasts from one to five days, and during this time the cat is able to reproduce. They will have many periods of fertility, usually from spring to autumn.  A cat be fertilized again two weeks after birth.

During mating, which lasts between 5 and 15 seconds, the male climbs onto the back of the female, bites her neck and rump to improve penetration.  Towards the end the female tends to moan and get nervous, because the small spines on the penis of the male move backwards, scraping the walls of the vagina of the female.

This stimulation of the vagina is required to trigger the ovulation.  For each penetration, the cat will issue an ovum, which explains why kittens of the same confinement of cats can often be different.

When cats live in groups, there is a synchronization of the estrus of the females in the group. This facilitates the synchronization of births.  Community farming is important because in the case of disappearance of one of the mothers, orphaned kittens are bred from other females.

Pregnancy and childbirth
The pregnancy lasts 63 to 65 days and a litter averages 4 to 5 kittens, the maximum is eight.  The belly of the cat begins to swell at about four weeks of gestation. At about 35 days, the female’s breasts swell and redden.  At seven weeks, they will begin to look for a quiet and suitable place to give birth.

About twenty minutes after the first contraction, the cat gives birth to her first kitten, then, in general, the other kittens arrive every fifteen minutes. The kittens are born in a bag, the cat washes her kittens immediately, with the tongue.  These strokes stimulate the first breath. Then she eats the placenta, which is very nutritious, and cuts the umbilical cord.

The breeding of kittens
The kitten is born blind (eyes closed) and deaf.  It weighs from 100 to 110 grams, when he opens his eyes, at about eight to twelve days, they have a blue color, which can change up to two months later.  All cats are born with streaks of “ghost” that disappear slowly with the growth of hair.  The cat teaches the kittens to wash and eat. At four weeks, it brings the first prey alive, then at five weeks they are taught the rudiments of hunting.  Emancipation occurs between eight and twelve weeks, but the separation from family happens at the age of eight months.

Spaying and Neutering

To prevent the animals breeding, you run an operation. For the male this is called castration. The female version is called sterilization and is performed with ablation of the ovaries, uterus, or both (many veterinarians recommend to remove both because even without ovaries, the uterus can be attacked by various diseases dangerous for the cat).

In addition, sterilization changes the behavior and psychology of the animal.  Male sterilization which happens early, before puberty, limits the territorial behavior and decreases the tendency to mark by spraying urine and scratches.  In females, the estrus does not occur anymore. The hormonal change can cause weight gain since the energy needs are decreased.

If your cat is soiling a bed or any other furniture you should obtain a cover of sorts to protect the furniture. The type of cover used will also discourage the cat from looking to the furniture for relief. Covers can vary in texture and cost.

Some examples are a fitted mattress cover, should your cat be using the bed. This may be fairly expensive but looks better. Plastic drop cloths and vinyl sheeting are other examples of protection.

The main concern is to protect your furniture while training kitty and to discourage him from loitering on the furniture. These covers and protective sheets can also be placed over areas on the rug or floor that your cat has chosen as its toilet. Washing soiled blankets and material should be thorough as it is most important to eliminate the urine scent.

Although these actions may not fully persuade your cat from avoiding the furniture, once kitty is standing in his own urine he will not repeat his deed. The area should be covered when not in use and when the cat is alone in the house. Simply put, when you leave the house cover your furniture or keep the cat out by closing the doors.

Just to be safe it would be wise to cover other furniture even though the cat does not use these as a facility. Doing this can sometimes solve the problem as the cat will have no other option but to use the litter box. If there are no suitable furniture items for the cat to use then he will certainly go for the kitchen floor or even better the litter box.

A more absorbent litter should also be considered as the existing litter may be getting saturated quicker.  Cats do not appreciate wet paws and splash back. One should also consider that a kitten may not be able to jump off a bed to visit the litter box so he will do the business right there. Bedding is far more absorbent than partially saturated litter.