The Cats is a domestic pet of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domestic pet in the Felidae family and is referred to as the domestic cat to distinguish it from the wild members of the cat family. There are about 60 cat breeds recognized worldwide.
The domestic cats are look similar to other wild members of the cat family. Domestic cats have 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 very good.
Communication of domestic cats includes vocalizations like meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling and grunting as well as cat-specific body language.
It can hear sounds too low or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by mice and other small animals. It is a predator that is most active in the morning as well as at night.
Characteristics
Size
The domestic cats have a smaller skull and shorter bones as compared to European Wild cats. A domestic cat averages about 46 cm (18 in) in head-to-body length and 23–25 cm (9–10 in) in height with about 30 cm (12 in) long tails. Males cats are larger than females cats. Fully grown domestic cats typically weigh between 4 and 5 kg (9 and 11 lb).
Claws
Domestic cats have protectable and retractable claws. In their normal, relaxed state, the claws are covered with the skin and fur around the paw’s toe pads.
This keeps the claws sharp by preventing damage from contact with the ground and allows the silent stalking of prey. The claws on the forefeet are typically sharper than those on the back feet.
Cats can willingly extend their claws on one or more paws. They may extend their claws in hunting or self-defense, climbing, or for extra traction on soft surfaces. Cats shed the outside layer of their claw covers when scratching rough surfaces.
Most of the domestic cats have five claws on their front paws, and four on their rear paws.
Vision
The domestic cats have great night vision and can see at only one-sixth the light level required for human vision.
This is partly the result of cat eyes having a tapetum lucidum, which reflects any light that passes through the retina back into the eye, which increasing the eye’s sensitivity to dim light.
However, these cats have rather a poor color vision and only two types of cone cells, optimized for sensitivity to blue and yellowish green. So its ability to distinguish between red and green is limited.
Hearing
The domestic cat’s hearing is most crucial in the range of 500 Hz to 32 kHz. It can detect an extremely broad range of frequencies extending from 55 Hz to 79,000 Hz. These cats can hear a range of 10.5 octaves while humans and dogs can hear ranges of about 9 octaves.
Cat hearing sensitivity is enhanced by its large movable outer ears, the pinnae, which amplifies sounds and helps identify the location of a noise. It can detect ultrasound, which enables it to detect ultrasonic calls made by rodents prey.
Smell
Domestic cats have an intense sense of smell because of their well-developed olfactory bulb and a large surface of olfactory mucosa, about 5.8 square centimeters in area, which is about twice that of humans.
However, Cats and many other animals have a Jacobson’s organ in their mouths that is used in the behavioral process of flehmening. Because of this, they can sense certain aromas in a way that humans cannot.
Taste
Cats have relatively few taste buds as compared to humans (470 or so versus more than 9,000 on the human tongue). Their taste buds instead respond to acids, amino acids like protein, and sour tastes.
Domestic cat also has a distinct temperature preference for their food, preferring food with a temperature of around 38 °C (100 °F). Which is similar to that of a fresh kill and routinely refusing food presented cold or refrigerated.
Lifespan and health
The average lifespan of domestic pets has risen in recent decades. In the early 1980s, it was about 7 years, rising to 9.4 years in 1995 and 15.1 years in 2018.
Some of the cats have been reported as surviving into their 30s, with the oldest known cat, Creme Puff, dying at a verified age of 38.
Disease
About two hundred fifty heritable genetic disorders have been recognized in cats, many similar to human inborn errors of metabolism.
Diseases affecting these domestic pets include severe infections, parasitic infestations, injuries, and chronic diseases such as kidney disease, thyroid disease, and arthritis.
Treatments are available for many contagious diseases, as are treatments to eliminate parasites such as worms and fleas.