Longevity – It is said, give a cat three years for every human year and you will have an idea of how old it is compared to us. not so A one-year-old cat is capable of reproducing and is fully capable of taking care of itself. A three-year-old human is defenseless. Such mathematical formulas to understand the ‘real’ age of an animal do not work because their internal and external developments vary and do not correspond to human development.
But did you know that the life expectancy of cats seems to be increasing, from around twelve years several decades ago to eighteen years or more and now it seems common for cats to live into their twenties? Not only advances in cat medicine, but also genetic changes appear to be contributing to longer life spans, and in fact, some cats live much longer. Several cats in Southern California have been reported to live as long as thirty-thirty-four years.
independent and lonely – Many think that cats are solitary creatures, but anyone who has visited a farm where there are cats will find that they congregate in colonies, sometimes close to twenty in number and even seem to hunt together. There are few fights because there is always a dominant cat that the others accept, the others being equal. At least until a new cat arrives and dominance needs to be reestablished.
If you have an indoor/outdoor cat, like I do, you will no doubt find him begging to be let out, even though he has his cat doors. Mine does it every day, usually at night. I go to the door, open it, and he anxiously runs into the hall, waiting for the next door to open, even though both are equipped with cat doors. If I do go out into the backyard with him, he seems delighted, rolling on the stones, watching me. I suspect he would love a hunting partner. (Preferably, I hope, one a bit quieter and more stealthy than I am.)
Cats can’t be trained – Training is entirely possible and we’ve probably all seen cats on TV trained to walk on a rope, roll a ball and even swim underwater. We put this down to some form of show business and think our own cats are not trainable. Depending on the particular breed and cat, they are probably all trainable to some degree and they can certainly train us!
Particia Moyes, in her book How to Talk to Your Cat, recounts how she and one of her cats have a game, the object of which is to pull an object out of a precarious position – the top of a chair, say, without disturbing anything around and without dropping the item on the ground. The cat does this carefully and with great attention, and with success. Her other cat, she tells us, takes the game simply as “get the thing despite everything” and will also retrieve the item but in the most clumsy way, by throwing it on the ground.
Mrs. Moyes talks about two other games that she and her cats have; seek and carry and hide and seek. In the first, the person throws a ball of aluminum foil (or whatever) and the cat returns it, dropping it at the person’s feet. The second she says that she invented her cat. She (the cat) will fetch the ball of foil, drop it, and then walk out of the room. Mrs. Moyes will hide it, then call her cat, who will start excitedly exploring all the hiding places, find it, drop it and leave the room again. Note that Mrs. Moyes creates and maintains an unusual and unusually close and respectful attitude towards her cats. Quite likely, and many pet owners, parents, in fact, have found that the more you anticipate your pet (or child) will be capable, the more capable your pet or child becomes.
My own cat offers a less dramatic but useful example. A stray dog adopted at about 8 months, he initially caused some alarm with his tendency to ‘pick his nails’ on furniture. He would stomp my foot on the floor and tell her No and it would stop. Now I just tell her, in no uncertain terms, for her to stop and she does. He only does this when he wants something and I don’t pay attention to it.
In fact, this is a way for a cat to get your attention and let you know that he needs something: he does what he knows he shouldn’t do. My cat knows that he can’t sit at the kitchen table, for example, but if his food bowl sits empty for too long, he jumps on the table and I know right away that he wants to eat.
There is an ancient Egyptian papyrus from the 20th dynasty showing a dog walking on its hind legs, carrying a staff, herding goats. In the same picture there is a cat, walking on its hind legs, carrying a cane, herding ducks. The image shows the dog and cat on their hind legs carrying canes, no doubt to indicate that they are in control. If shown on all fours, one could not be shown carrying a cane and two would appear to be on the same level as goats and ducks, without being in charge of them. My guess is that once upon a time, before the dark days of cat extermination, cats were trained and used and I expect they themselves would respond very well to this arrangement.
From distance – When one considers the terrible history that the cat family has endured at the hands of man, repeatedly throughout Europe and even America, it is no wonder that the cat stands apart. Associated with witches, Satan and evil, as a breed cats have been betrayed, condemned, tortured and exterminated many times over by the thousands and tens of thousands. Those who survived the pogroms passed on their genes to their progeny, along with the survival sense to mistrust man. However, all cat owners know how truly attached a cat can become and how genuinely appreciative they are of the affection and care given to them.
cats and music Start playing an instrument, even something soft, like folk music on a guitar, and a dog will likely walk out of the room. A cat, on the other hand, is likely to come over, lie down next to you, roll over, purr, and seem to enjoy the sounds immensely. My previous cat used to be my biggest fan, in particular of my rather elaborate finger pinch.
My current cat loves to listen to the guitar, but the obvious and profound pleasure he gets from it doesn’t even compare to when I pick up the Celtic harp and pluck its strings. I can only describe his state as ecstatic, as if every single tiny sound bathed him in almost unbearable pleasure. Many composers throughout history tell the same story.
The famous harpist, Mlle Dubuy, noticed that her cat purred pleasantly when she played a piece well on her harp, but cried when she played less. She used this phenomenon to enhance her ability. Recognizing how much she owed her success as a harpist to her perceptive cat, she left him her substantial inheritance and also endowed loyal friends to ensure that her cat was well cared for.
There is a video on YouTube of a cat playing the piano. She is sounding the notes quite intentionally, completely absorbed in the phenomena. When her lover plays Bach on another piano, the cat stops and listens with obvious appreciation. It’s as if this cat, and indeed all cats, truly appreciate beautiful music and the one in this particular YouTube video aspires to musical mastery.
movement – We all know how agile and flexible cats are, due to a variety of factors. Unlike the human, in whom the vertebrae of the spinal column are held together by ligaments, in the cat they are held together by muscles, giving the cat a great range of motion. Due to the construction of his shoulder joint, he can turn his front leg in almost any direction.
But have you noticed, probably without thinking, that there is something funny, something strange about the way a cat runs?
Unlike almost all other mammals that move forward by moving the front leg on one side of the body and the rear leg on the other, the cat moves the front and rear legs on the same side. So it’s, forward, left, let’s say, slight pause, back left, forward right, pause, back right. The only other mammals said to do this are the camel and the giraffe, both of which also have funny gaits.
Food, water and health – Cats can live well on dry food. This is a dubious statement that many authorities declare to be downright false. Cats need meat. They do not have the biological ability to take various elements from a variety of non-meat foods and build the necessary proteins, which humans and dogs can do. And much of the content of dry food, namely carbohydrates, is not only not natural cat food, but is said to be completely unnecessary and can be harmful. Meat in some form, usually canned food, is a must for cats, not only for protein but also for water.
Cats do not have, as probably all cat owners have verified, a strong desire to drink. Their normal prey is their main source of water. Deprived of that and without enough wet food, a cat can easily, and all too often, develop kidney disease from dehydration.
Regardless of whether your cat eats wet food, dry food, or both, fresh water should always be available. Many cat owners have found that cats are more likely to drink if their water bowl is not located next to their food bowl, which makes sense, since in the wild, animals go for water regardless of their location. search for food Also, being clean animals, it may not “feel” as hygienic to have food and the smell of food next to their water source.
It is also advised to avoid plastic dishes for both food and water. Plastic has a tendency to scratch and those nicks and scratches can grow harmful bacteria. In addition, some cats are allergic to plastic and develop skin conditions on their chins when they feed and drink in plastic bowls.
Still water can be deep – but still does not fit a cat. Almost all cat owners have noticed that their cats love to stick their tongues under the faucet or even raise their mouths to catch the rain. My cat used to put his head under a dripper in the bathtub and let the water run onto his tongue until we fixed it, ie the bathtub. Many cats will drink any form of water other than still water.
Some people, including some veterinarians, think that there is some molecular difference in moving water. Some think it’s the sight of the water moving, or the sound. Whatever the reason (and considering how important this topic is if internet postings are any measure, it’s a bit surprising that the motivations for it aren’t better known), cats prefer moving water.
This fact has given rise to an entire industry of cat fountains, almost all of which are plastic, although there are several ceramic cat fountains and bowls. Whether it’s one of the plastic fountains or a ceramic cat fountain or a cat feeder, they all need the same care, which is simply to keep it full and clean it thoroughly on a regular basis. Some pet fonts are listed at the end of this article and if you go to http://www.etsy.com and type in ceramic cat fonts you can find others.
Recommended reading: How to talk to your cat by Particia Moyes The life story and magic of THE CAT by Fernando Mary