his article is about the cat species that is commonly kept as a pet.

For the cat family, see Felidae. For other uses,

see Cat (disambiguation) and Cats (disambiguation).
For technical reasons, "Cat #1" redirects here. For the album, see Cat 1 (album).

Domestic cat

Various types of domestic cat

Conservation status

Domesticated

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Suborder: Feliformia

Family: Felidae

Subfamily: Felinae
 Genus: Felis

Species: F. catus[1]

Binomial name

Felis catus[1]

(Linnaeus, 1758)[2]

Synonyms

 F. catus domesticus Erxleben, 1777[3]

 F. angorensis Gmelin, 1788

 F. vulgaris Fischer, 1829

The cat (Felis catus) is a small carnivorous mammal.[1][2] It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and
often referred to as the domestic cat to distinguish it from wild members of the family.[4] The cat is either a house
cat, kept as a pet, or a feral cat, freely ranging and avoiding human contact.[5] A house cat is valued by humans for
companionship and for its ability to hunt rodents. About 60 cat breeds are recognized by various cat registries.[6]
Cats are similar in anatomy to the other felid species, with a strong flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp teeth and
retractable claws adapted to killing small prey. They are predators who are most active at dawn and dusk
(crepuscular). Cats can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by mice
and other small animals. Compared to humans, they see better in the dark (they see in near total darkness) and have
a better sense of smell, but poorer color vision. Cats, despite being solitary hunters, are a social species. Cat
communication includes the use of vocalizations including mewing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling and grunting as
well as cat-specific body language.[7] Cats also communicate by secreting and perceiving pheromones.
Female domestic cats can have kittens from spring to late autumn, with litter sizes ranging from two to five
kittens.[8] Domestic cats can be bred and shown as registered pedigreed cats, a hobby known as cat fancy. Failure to
control the breeding of pet cats by spaying and neutering, as well as abandonment of pets, has resulted in large
numbers of feral cats worldwide, contributing to the extinction of entire bird species, and evoking population control.[9]
It was long thought that cat domestication was initiated in Egypt, because cats in ancient Egypt were venerated since
around 3100 BC.[10][11] However, the earliest indication for the taming of an African wildcat (F. lybica) was found
in Cyprus, where a cat skeleton was excavated close by a human Neolithic grave dating to around 7500
BC.[12] African wildcats were probably first domesticated in the Near East.[13] The leopard cat (Prionailurus
bengalensis) was tamed independently in China around 5500 BC, though this line of partially domesticated cats
leaves no trace in the domestic cat populations of today. [14][15]
As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second-most popular pet in the U.S. by number of pets owned, after freshwater
fish,[16] with 95 million cats owned.[17][18] As of 2017, it was ranked the third-most popular pet in the UK, after fish
and dogs, with around 8 million being owned.[19] The number of cats in the UK has nearly doubled since 1965, when
the cat population was 4.1 million.[20]

Contents

 1Etymology
 2Alternative term
 3Associated terms
 4Taxonomy
 5Evolution
o 5.1Before domestication
o 5.2Domestication
 6Characteristics
o 6.1Size
o 6.2Skeleton
o 6.3Skull
o 6.4Ambulation
o 6.5Claws
 7Senses
o 7.1Vision
o 7.2Hearing
o 7.3Smell
o 7.4Accessory smell
o 7.5Taste
o 7.6Whiskers
o 7.7Heights
o 7.8Balance
 8Physiology
o 8.1Heat tolerance
o 8.2Temperature regulation
o 8.3Water conservation
o 8.4Ability to swim
 9Nutrition
o 9.1Food sources
o 9.2Dietary components
 9.2.1Arginine
 9.2.2Taurine
 9.2.3Niacin
 9.2.4Vitamin A
 9.2.5Vitamin D
 9.2.6Essential fatty acids
 10Behavior
o 10.1Sociability
o 10.2Communication
o 10.3Grooming
o 10.4Fighting
o 10.5Hunting and feeding
o 10.6Speed
o 10.7Play
o 10.8Reproduction
 11Ecology
o 11.1Habitats
o 11.2Feral cats
o 11.3Impact on prey species
o 11.4Impact on birds
 12Interaction with humans
o 12.1Cat show
o 12.2Cat café
o 12.3Ailurophobia
o 12.4Cat bites
o 12.5Infections transmitted from cats to humans
o 12.6History and mythology
 o 12.7Superstitions and rituals
 13Lifespan
 14Genetics
 15Disease
 16See also
 17Notes
 18References
 19External links

Etymology
The origin of the English word cat (Old English catt) and its counterparts in other Germanic languages (such
as German Katze), descended from Proto-Germanic *kattōn-, is controversial. It has traditionally thought to be a
borrowing from Late Latin cattus, 'domestic cat', from catta (used around 75 AD by Martial),[21][22] compare
also Byzantine Greek κάττα, Portuguese and Spanish gato, French chat, Maltese qattus, Lithuanian katė, and Old
Church Slavonic kotъ (kot'), among others.[23]
The Late Latin word is generally thought to originate from an Afro-Asiatic language, but every proposed source word
has presented problems. Many references refer to "Berber" (Kabyle) kaddîska, 'wildcat', and Nubian kadīs as
possible sources or cognates, but M. Lionel Bender suggests the Nubian term is a loan from Arabic ‫ِطة‬ َّ ‫ ق‬qiṭṭa.[24] Jean-
Paul Savignac suggests the Latin word is from an Ancient Egyptian precursor of Coptic ϣⲁ ⲩ šau, 'tomcat', or its
feminine form suffixed with -t,[25] but John Huehnergard says "the source [...] was clearly not Egyptian itself, where no
analogous form is attested."[24] Huehnergard opines it is "equally likely that the forms might derive from an ancient
Germanic word, imported into Latin and thence to Greek and to Syriac and Arabic". Guus Kroonen also considers the
word to be native to Germanic (due to morphological alternations) and Northern Europe, and suggests that it might
ultimately be borrowed from Uralic, cf. Northern Sami gáđfi, 'female stoat', and Hungarian hölgy, 'stoat'; from Proto-
Uralic *käďwä, 'female (of a furred animal)'.[26] In any case, cat is a classic example of a word that has spread as a
loanword among numerous languages and cultures: a Wanderwort.

Alternative term
An alternative word is English puss (extended as pussy and pussycat). Attested only from the 16th century, it may
have been introduced from Dutch poes or from Low German puuskatte, related to Swedish kattepus,
or Norwegian pus, pusekatt. Similar forms exist in Lithuanian puižė and Irish puisín or puiscín. The etymology of this
word is unknown, but it may have simply arisen from a sound used to attract a cat.[27][28]

Associated terms
 A group of cats can be referred to as a clowder or a glaring.[29]
 A male cat is called a tom or tomcat[30] (or a gib,[31] if neutered)
 An unspayed female is called a queen,[32] especially in a cat-breeding context.
 A juvenile cat is referred to as a kitten. In Early Modern English, the word kitten was interchangeable with the
now-obsolete word catling.[33]
 The male progenitor of a cat, especially a pedigreed cat, is its sire[34] and its mother is its dam.[35]
 A pedigreed cat is one whose ancestry is recorded by a cat fancier organization.
 A purebred cat is one whose ancestry contains only individuals of the same breed.
 Many pedigreed and especially purebred cats are exhibited as show cats.
 Cats of unrecorded, mixed ancestry are referred to as domestic short-haired or domestic long-haired
cats (by coat type), or commonly as random-bred, moggies (chiefly British), or (using terms borrowed from dog
breeding) mongrels or mutt-cats.
 The semi-feral cat, a mostly outdoor cat, is not owned by any one individual, but is generally friendly to people
and may be fed by several households.
 Truly feral cats are associated with human habitation areas, foraging for food and sometimes intermittently fed
by people, but are typically wary of human interaction.[36]
 Domestic vs. wild - while the African wildcat is the ancestral species from which domestic cats are descended,
and wildcats and domestic cats can completely interbreed, several intermediate stages occur between domestic
pet and pedigree cats on one hand and entirely wild animals on the other.

Taxonomy
The scientific name Felis catus for the domestic cat was proposed by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema
Naturae published in 1758.[1][2] Felis catus domesticus was a scientific name proposed by the German
naturalist Erxleben in 1777.[3] Felis daemonproposed by Satunin in 1904 was a black cat specimen from
the Transcaucasus, later identified as a domestic cat.[37][38]
In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) fixed the scientific name for the wildcat
as F. silvestris. The same commission ruled that the domestic cat is a distinct taxon Felis catus.[39][40] Following results
of phylogenetic research, the domestic cat was considered a wildcat subspecies F. silvestris catus in 2007.[41][42]
In 2017, the IUCN Cat Classification Taskforce followed the recommendation of the ICZN in regarding the domestic
cat as a distinct species.[43]

Evolution
Main article: Cat evolution

Before domestication
The domestic cat is a member of the Felidae, a family that had a common ancestor about 10–15 million years
ago.[44] The genus Felis diverged from the Felidae around 6–7 million years ago.[45] Members of this genus include
the jungle cat (F. chaus), European wildcat(F. silvestris), African wildcat (F. lybica), Chinese mountain cat (F.
bieti), sand cat (F. margarita) and black-footed cat (F. nigripes).[46] Results of phylogenetic research confirm that these
wild Felis species evolved through sympatric or parapatric speciation, whereas the domestic cat evolved
through artificial selection.[47]

Domestication

Skulls of a wildcat (top left), a housecat (top right), and a hybrid between the two (bottom centre)
A cat sitting under a chair, a muralin an Egyptian tomb dating to the 15th century BC

The earliest known indication for a tamed African wildcat was excavated close by a human grave in Shillourokambos,
southern Cyprus, dating to about 9,200 to 9,500 years before present. As there is no evidence of native
mammalian fauna on Cyprus, the inhabitants of this Neolithic village most likely brought the cat and other wild
mammals to the island from the continent.[12] Scientists therefore assume that African wildcats were attracted to early
human settlements in the Fertile Crescent by rodents, in particular the house mouse (Mus musculus), and were
tamed by Neolithic farmers. This commensal relationship between early farmers and tamed cats lasted thousands of
years. With agricultural practices spreading, so did tame and domesticated cats.[13][6] Wildcats of Egypt contributed to
the maternal gene pool of the domestic cat at a later time.[48] The earliest known evidence for the occurrence of the
domestic cat in Greece dates to around 1200 BC. Greek, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Etruscan traders introduced
domestic cats to southern Europe.[49] By the 5th century BC, it was a familiar animal around settlements in Magna
Graecia and Etruria.[50] Domesticated cats were introduced to Corsica and Sardinia during the Roman Empire before
the beginning of the 1st millennium.[51] The Egyptian domestic cat lineage is evidenced in a Baltic Seaport in
northern Germany by the end of the Roman Empire in the 5th century.[48]
During domestication, cats have undergone only minor changes in anatomy and behavior, and they are still capable
of surviving in the wild.[52][53] House cats often interbreed with feral cats,[36] producing hybrids such as the Kellas
cat in Scotland.[54] Hybridisation between domestic and other small wild cat species is also possible.[55]
Several natural behaviors and characteristics of wildcats may have preadapted them for domestication as pets.
These traits include their small size, social nature, obvious body language, love of play and relatively high
intelligence.[56]:12–17 Captive Leopardus cats may also display affectionate behavior toward humans, but have not been
domesticated.[53]

Characteristics
Main article: Cat anatomy

Diagram of the general anatomy of a male

Size
Domestic cats are smaller than wildcats in both skull and limb measurements.[57] Adult domestic cats typically weigh
between 4 and 5 kg (9 and 10 lb).[47] Some breeds, such as the Maine Coon, can occasionally exceed 11 kg (24 lb).
Conversely, very small cats, less than 2 kg (4 lb), have been reported.[58] The world record for the largest cat is 21 kg
(50 lb).[59][self-published source] The smallest adult cat ever officially recorded weighed around 1 kg (2 lb).[59]Feral cats tend to be
lighter, as they have more limited access to food than house cats. The average feral adult male weighs 4 kg (9 lb),
and the average adult female 3 kg (7 lb).[60] Cats average about 23–25 cm (9–10 in) in height and 46 cm (18 in) in
head/body length (males being larger than females), with tails averaging 30 cm (12 in) in length.[61]

Skeleton
Cats have seven cervical vertebrae (as do most mammals); 13 thoracic vertebrae (humans have 12); seven lumbar
vertebrae (humans have five); three sacral vertebrae (as do most mammals, but humans have five); and a variable
number of caudal vertebrae in the tail (humans have only vestigial caudal vertebrae, fused into an
internal coccyx).[62]:11 The extra lumbar and thoracic vertebrae account for the cat's spinal mobility and flexibility.
Attached to the spine are 13 ribs, the shoulder, and the pelvis.[62] :16 Unlike human arms, cat forelimbs are attached to
the shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones which allow them to pass their body through any space into which they
can fit their head.[63]

Skull

Cat skull

The cat skull is unusual among mammals in having very large eye sockets and a powerful specialized jaw.[64]:35 Within
the jaw, cats have teeth adapted for killing prey and tearing meat. When it overpowers its prey, a cat delivers a lethal
neck bite with its two long canine teeth, inserting them between two of the prey's vertebrae and severing its spinal
cord, causing irreversible paralysis and death.[65] Compared to other felines, domestic cats have narrowly spaced
canine teeth, which is an adaptation to their preferred prey of small rodents, which have small
vertebrae.[65] The premolar and first molar together compose the carnassial pair on each side of the mouth, which
efficiently shears meat into small pieces, like a pair of scissors. These are vital in feeding, since cats'
small molars cannot chew food effectively, and cats are largely incapable of mastication. [64]:37 Although cats tend to
have better teeth than most humans, with decay generally less likely because of a thicker protective layer of enamel,
a less damaging saliva, less retention of food particles between teeth, and a diet mostly devoid of sugar, they are
nonetheless subject to occasional tooth loss and infection.[66]

Ambulation
Cats, like dogs, are digitigrades. They walk directly on their toes, with the bones of their feet making up the lower part
of the visible leg.[67] Cats are capable of walking very precisely because, like all felines, they directly register; that is,
they place each hind paw (almost) directly in the print of the corresponding fore paw, minimizing noise and visible
tracks. This also provides sure footing for their hind paws when they navigate rough terrain. Unlike most mammals,
when cats walk, they use a "pacing" gait; that is, they move the two legs on one side of the body before the legs on
the other side. This trait is shared with camels and giraffes. As a walk speeds up into a trot, a cat's gait changes to be
a "diagonal" gait, similar to that of most other mammals (and many other land animals, such as lizards): the
diagonally opposite hind and fore legs move simultaneously.[68]

Claws
Like almost all members of the Felidae, cats have protractable and retractable claws.[69] In their normal, relaxed
position, the claws are sheathed with the skin and fur around the paw's toe pads. This keeps the claws sharp by
preventing wear from contact with the ground and allows the silent stalking of prey. The claws on the fore feet are
typically sharper than those on the hind feet.[70] Cats can voluntarily extend their claws on one or more paws. They
may extend their claws in hunting or self-defense, climbing, kneading, or for extra traction on soft surfaces. Most cats
have five claws on their front paws, and four on their rear paws. [71] The fifth front claw (the dewclaw) is proximalto the
other claws. More proximally is a protrusion which appears to be a sixth "finger". This special feature of the front
paws, on the inside of the wrists, is the carpal pad, also found on the paws of big cats and dogs. It has no function in
normal walking, but is thought to be an antiskidding device used while jumping. Some breeds of cats are prone
to polydactyly (extra toes and claws).[71] These are particularly common along the northeast coast of North America.[72]

Senses
Main article: Cat senses

Reflection of camera flash from the tapetum lucidum

Vision
Cats have excellent night vision and can see at only one-sixth the light level required for human vision. [64]:43 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, thereby increasing the eye's sensitivity to dim light. [73] Another adaptation to dim light is the large pupils of
cats' eyes. Unlike some big cats, such as tigers, domestic cats have slit pupils.[74] These slit pupils can focus bright
light without chromatic aberration, and are needed since the domestic cat's pupils are much larger, relative to their
eyes, than the pupils of the big cats.[74] At low light levels, a cat's pupils will expand to cover most of the exposed
surface of its eyes.[75] However, domestic cats have rather poor color vision and (like most nonprimate mammals)
have only two types of cones, optimized for sensitivity to blue and yellowish green; they have limited ability to
distinguish between red and green.[76] A 1993 paper reported a response to middle wavelengths from a system other
than the rods which might be due to a third type of cone. However, this appears to be an adaptation to low light levels
rather than representing true trichromatic vision.[77]

Hearing
Cats have excellent hearing and can detect an extremely broad range of frequencies. They can hear higher-pitched
sounds than either dogs or humans, detecting frequencies from 55 Hz to 79,000 Hz, a range of 10.5 octaves, while
humans and dogs both have ranges of about 9 octaves.[78][79] Cats can hear ultrasound, which is important in
hunting[80] because many species of rodents make ultrasonic calls.[81] However, they do not communicate using
ultrasound like rodents do. Cats' hearing is also sensitive and among the best of any mammal, [78] being most acute in
the range of 500 Hz to 32 kHz.[82] This sensitivity is further enhanced by the cat's large movable outer ears
(their pinnae), which both amplify sounds and help detect the direction of a noise. [80]

Smell
Cats have an acute sense of smell, due in part to their well-developed olfactory bulb and a large surface of olfactory
mucosa, about 5.8 cm2 (0.90 in2) in area, which is about twice that of humans.[83]

Accessory smell
Cats and many other animals have a Jacobson's organ in their mouths that is used in the behavioral process
of flehmening. It allows them to sense certain aromas in a way that humans cannot. Cats are sensitive
to pheromones such as 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol,[84]which they use to communicate through urine spraying and
marking with scent glands.[85] Many cats also respond strongly to plants that contain nepetalactone, especially catnip,
as they can detect that substance at less than one part per billion.[86] About 70–80% of cats are affected by
nepetalactone.[87] This response is also produced by other plants, such as silver vine (Actinidia polygama) and the
herb valerian; it may be caused by the smell of these plants mimicking a pheromone and stimulating cats' social or
sexual behaviors.[88]
Taste
Cats have relatively few taste buds compared to humans (470 or so versus more than 9,000 on the human
tongue).[89] Domestic and wild cats share a gene mutation that keeps their sweet taste buds from binding to sugary
molecules, leaving them with no ability to taste sweetness.[90] Their taste buds instead respond to acids, amino
acids like protein, and bitter tastes.[91] Cats also have a distinct temperature preference for their food, preferring food
with a temperature around 38 °C (100 °F) which is similar to that of a fresh kill and routinely rejecting food presented
cold or refrigerated (which would signal to the cat that the "prey" item is long dead and therefore possibly toxic or
decomposing).[89]

The whiskers of a cat are highly sensitive to touch.

Whiskers
To aid with navigation and sensation, cats have dozens of movable whiskers (vibrissae) over their body, especially
their faces. These provide information on the width of gaps and on the location of objects in the dark, both by
touching objects directly and by sensing air currents; they also trigger protective blink reflexes to protect the eyes
from damage.[64]:47

Heights

Comparison of cat righting reflexes in gravity vis-à-vis zero gravity

Most breeds of cat have a noted fondness for settling in high places, or perching. In the wild, a higher place may
serve as a concealed site from which to hunt; domestic cats may strike prey by pouncing from a perch such as a tree
branch, as does a leopard.[92] Another possible explanation is that height gives the cat a better observation point,
allowing it to survey its territory. A cat falling from heights of up to 3 meters can right itself and land on its paws. [93]

Balance
During a fall from a high place, a cat can reflexively twist its body and right itself using its acute sense of balance and
flexibility.[94] This is known as the cat righting reflex. An individual cat always rights itself in the same way, provided it
has the time to do so, during a fall. The height required for this to occur is around 90 cm (3.0 ft). Cats without a tail
(e.g. many specimens of the Manx and Cymric breeds) also have this ability, since a cat mostly relies on leg
movement and conservation of angular momentum to set up for landing, and the tail is little used for this feat. [95] Their
excellent sense of balance allows cats to move with great stability.

Physiology
 Normal physiological values[96]:330

Body temperature 38.6 °C (101.5 °F)

Heart rate 120–140 beats per minute

Breathing rate 16–40 breaths per minute

Thermograph of various body parts of a cat

Cats are familiar and easily kept animals, and their physiology has been particularly well studied; it generally
resembles those of other carnivorous mammals, but displays several unusual features probably attributable to cats'
descent from desert-dwelling species.[97]

Heat tolerance
Cats are able to tolerate quite high temperatures: Humans generally start to feel uncomfortable when their skin
temperature passes about 38 °C (100 °F), but cats show no discomfort until their skin reaches around 52 °C
(126 °F),[64]:46 and can tolerate temperatures of up to 56 °C (133 °F) if they have access to water.[98]

Temperature regulation
Cats conserve heat by reducing the flow of blood to their skin and lose heat by evaporation through their mouths.
Cats have minimal ability to sweat, with glands located primarily in their paw pads, [99] and pant for heat relief only at
very high temperatures[100] (but may also pant when stressed). A cat's body temperature does not vary throughout the
day; this is part of cats' general lack of circadian rhythms and may reflect their tendency to be active both during the
day and at night.[101]:1

Water conservation
Cats' feces are comparatively dry and their urine is highly concentrated, both of which are adaptations to allow cats to
retain as much water as possible.[97] Their kidneys are so efficient, they can survive on a diet consisting only of meat,
with no additional water,[102] and can even rehydrate by drinking seawater.[103][101]:29

Ability to swim
While domestic cats are able to swim, they are generally reluctant to enter water as it quickly leads to exhaustion.[104]