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Cat
Social
Behaviour
Many people characterise
cats as 'solitary' animals, however cats are actually highly social. A primary
difference in social behaviour between cats and dogs (to which they are often
compared) is that cats do not have a social survival strategy, or a
'pack mentality'; however this only means that cats take care of their basic
needs on their own (e.g., finding food, defending themselves, etc.). It is not
the same thing as being asocial. Perhaps the best example of how domestic cats
are 'naturally' meant to behave is to observe feral domestic cats, which often
live in colonies, but in which each individual basically looks after itself.
Living with humans is a
symbiotic social adaptation which has developed over thousands of years. The
sort of social relationship cats have with their human keepers is hard to map
onto more generalised wild cat behaviour, but it is certain that the cat thinks
of the human differently than it does other cats (i.e., it does not think of
itself as human, nor that the human is a cat). This can be seen in the
difference in body and vocal language it uses with the human, when compared to
how it communicates with other cats in the household, for example. Some have
suggested that, psychologically, the human keeper of a cat is a sort of
surrogate for the cat's mother, and that adult domestic cats live forever in a
kind of suspended kittenhood.[citation needed]
Hunting
and diet
Cats are highly specialized
for hunting, compared to other mammals such as dogs.[citation needed]
This is now thought to be the indirect result of the mutation which caused
their ancestor to lose the ability to taste sugars, thereby reducing their
intake of plant foods. Since they have a greatly reduced need to digest plants,
their digestive tract has evolved to be shorter, too short for effective
digestion of plants but less of a weight penalty for the rapid movement
required for hunting. Hunting has likewise become central to their behavior
patterns, even to their predilection for short bursts of intense exercise
punctuating long periods of rest.
Much like the big cats, domestic
cats are very effective predators. They ambush and immobilize vertebrate prey
using tactics similar to those of leopards and tigers by pouncing; then they
deliver a lethal neck bite with their long canine teeth that severs the victim's
spinal cord, causes fatal bleeding by puncturing the carotid artery or the jugular
vein, or asphyxiates it by crushing its trachea. The domestic cat can hunt and
eat about one thousand species, many of them invertebrates, especially insects
— many big cats will eat fewer than a hundred different species. Although,
theoretically, big cats can kill most of these species as well, they often do
not due to the relatively low nutritional content that smaller animals provide
for the effort. An exception is the leopard, which commonly hunts rabbits and
many other smaller animals.
Even well-fed domestic cats
hunt and kill birds, mice, rats, scorpions, cockroaches, grasshoppers, and
other small animals in the vicinity. They often present such trophies to their
owner. The motivation is not entirely clear, but friendly bonding behaviors are
often associated with such an action. It is probable that cats in this
situation expect to be praised for their symbolic contribution to the group. Some
theories suggest that cats see their owners gone for long times of the day and
assume they are out hunting, as they always have plenty of food available. It
is thought that a cat presenting its owner with a dead animal thinks it's
'helping out' by bringing home the kill.[citation needed]
Ethologist Paul Leyhausen, in an extensive study of social and predatory
behavior in domestic cats (documented in his book Cat Behavior),
proposed a mechanism which explains this presenting behavior. In simple terms,
cats adopt humans into their social group, and share excess kill with others in
the group according to the local pecking order, in which humans place at or
near the top. Another possibility is that presenting the kill might be a relic
of a kitten feline behaviour of demonstrating for its mother's approval that it
has developed the necessary skill for hunting.
Due to their hunting
behaviour, in many countries feral cats are considered pests. Domestic cats are
occasionally also required to have contained cat runs or to be kept inside
entirely, as they can be hazardous to locally endangered bird species. For
instance, various municipalities in Australia have enacted such legislation. In
some localities, owners fit their cat with a bell in order to warn prey of its
approach. On the other hand, the cat may figure out how and when the bell works
and learns to move more carefully to avoid ringing it.
A cat yawning,
showing characteristic canine teeth
Cats have highly specialized
teeth and a digestive tract suitable to the digestion of meat. The premolar and
first molar together compose the carnassial pair on each side of the mouth,
which efficiently functions to shear meat like a pair of scissors. While this
is present in canines, it is highly developed in felines. The cat's tongue has
sharp spines, or papillae, useful for retaining and ripping flesh from a
carcass. These papillae are small backward-facing hooks that contain keratin
and assist in their grooming. Domesticated cats eat fairly little vegetable
matter. It is quite common, however, for cats to occasionally supplement their
carnivorous diets with small amounts of grass or other plant matter to help
their digestive tract. Whereas bears and dogs commonly supplement their diet of
meat with fruits, berries, roots, and honey when they can get them, cats prefer
to mostly feed on meat. All felines, including the big cats, have a genetic
anomaly that prevents them from tasting sweetness,[22]
which, more than likely, is related to their meat-dominated eating habits, and
almost certainly related to their aversion to fruits and berries. However, many
domesticated cats are known to like vegetables.[23] The
majority of brand-name cat foods are primarily meat based, but often contain
large amounts of corn or rice and supplemented with meat byproducts and
minerals and vitamins. Cats are also known to munch on grass, leaves, shrubs
and houseplants to facilitate regurgitation of whatever may be upsetting their
digestion; or perhaps to introduce fibre or trace minerals to the diet.
Cats are obligate carnivores,
and cannot live on an unsupplemented vegetarian diet because they cannot
synthesize several required nutrients which are absent or rare in plant food. This
applies mainly to taurine, vitamin A (cats cannot convert the pro-vitamin A
that is abundant in plants to vitamin A proper) and to certain fatty acids. The
absence of taurine causes the cat's retina to slowly degenerate, causing eye
problems and (eventually) irreversible blindness. This condition is called central
retinal degeneration (CRD). Cow's milk is a poor source of taurine and adult
cats are generally lactose intolerant. Lactose-free milk is perfectly safe, but
still not a substitute for meat.
Some houseplants are
harmful to cats. The leaves of the Easter Lily can cause permanent and
life-threatening kidney damage to cats. Philodendron are also poisonous to
cats. Cat Fancy has a full list of plants harmful to cats.
Some cats have a fondness
for catnip. While they generally do not consume it, they will often roll in it,
paw at it, and occasionally chew on it (as catnip is sensed by the cat's vomeronasal
organ). The effect is usually relatively short, lasting for only a few minutes.
After two hours or less, susceptible cats gain interest again. Several other
species of plants cause this effect, to a lesser degree.
Cats can be fussy eaters,
possibly due to the mutation which caused their ancestor to lose the ability to
taste sugars. Unlike most mammals, cats can voluntarily starve themselves
indefinitely despite being presented with palatable food, even a food which
they had previously readily consumed. This can happen when the vomeronasal or
Jacobson's organ becomes accustomed to a specific food, or if the cats are
spoiled by their owners, in which case the cat will reject any food that does
not fit the pattern it is expecting. It is also known for cats to merely become
bored with their given food and decide to stop eating until they are tempted
into eating again. Although it is extremely rare for a cat to deliberately
starve itself to the point of injury, the sudden loss of weight can cause a
fatal condition called hepatic lipidosis, a liver dysfunction which causes
pathological loss of appetite and reinforces the starvation, which can lead to
death within as little as 48 hours.
Additionally, cats have
been known to develop a fondness for prepared human foods, normally
preparations which are rich in proteins or fats. However, a diet consisting
only of human food (even if high quality meat) is unlikely to contain the
balanced nutrition required by the cat. Cats normally are good self-regulators
of diet, however unlimited access to food, or excessive human-food 'treats',
will often lead to the cat becoming obese, particularly if it is older or more
sedentary. This may lead to several health complications, such as diabetes,
especially in neutered males. Such health conditions can be prevented through
diet and exercise (playing), especially for cats living exclusively indoors.
Cats can also develop pica.
Pica is a condition in which animals chew or eat unusual things such as fabric,
plastic or wool. In cats, this is mostly harmless as they do not digest most of
it, but can be fatal or require surgical removal if a large amount of foreign
material is ingested (for example, an entire sock). It tends to occur more
often in Siamese, Burmese, and breeds with these in their ancestry.
Domestic cats, especially
young kittens, are known for their love of string play. Many cats cannot resist
a dangling piece of string, or a piece of rope drawn randomly and enticingly
across the floor. This well known love of string is often depicted in cartoons
and photographs, which show kittens or cats playing with balls of yarn. It is
probably related to hunting instincts, including the common practice of kittens
practice hunting of their mother's and each other's tail. If string is
ingested, however, it can become caught in the cat’s stomach or intestines,
causing illness, or in extreme cases, death. Due to possible complications
caused by ingesting a string, string play is sometimes replaced with a laser
pointer's dot, which some cats will chase. Some also discourage the use of
laser pointers for pet play, however, because of the potential damage to
sensitive eyes and/or the possible loss of satisfaction associated with the
successful capture of an actual prey object, play or real.[citation
needed]
Because of their small
size, domestic cats pose almost no danger to humans — the main hazard is the
possibility of infection (e.g., cat scratch disease, or, rarely, rabies) from a
cat bite or scratch. Cats can also potentially inflict severe scratches or
puncture an eye, though this is quite rare. Dogs have been known to be blinded
by cats in fights, in which the cat specifically targeted the eyes of the
larger animal with some accuracy.
Cats can be destructive to ecosystems
in which they are not native and whose species have not had time to adapt to
their introduction. In some cases, cats have contributed to or caused extinctions
-— for example, see the case of the Stephens Island Wren.
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cat&action=history
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