Cat

For the biological cat family, see Felidae.

Cats are a group of carnivorous mammals with sharp teeth and retractable claws (except in the case of the cheetah) on their paws, originally distributed worldwide apart from Australasia, Madagascar and Antarctica. Several of the larger kinds of cat can be dangerous to humans.

Cat
Scientific classification
Kingdom Information
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum Information
Phylum	Chordata
Sub-phylum	Vertebrata
Class Information
Class	Mammalia
Order Information
Order	Carnivora
Family Information
Family	Felidae
Genus Information
Genus	Felis
Species Information
Species	F. silvestris
Subspecies	F. s. catus (Domesticated cat)
Population statistics

In culture, cats are the topic of one of the longest-running Broadway musicals, Cats, which was based on T.S. Eliot's collection of poems entitled Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939).

The domestic cat, believed to derive from the African wildcat, has been used to control vermin or kept as a pet for thousands of years, and worshiped as a god by the ancient Egyptians, amongst others. Today, the domestic cat, sometimes affectionately known as a kitten when it is young, remains extremely popular as a pet; there are an estimated 76 million pet cats in the United States.

Cats have long been revered animals in many cultures including those of Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia, North Africa, the Balkans, and some Eastern European countries, due to their ability to catch rodents, among other factors.

Species of cats include the lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, puma, cougar, ocelot, lynx, caracal, serval and many smaller types.

Common lineage

There is some disagreement about whether cats form one common baramin or if they come in two distinct kinds. While there are a good deal of characteristics in common, all small cats share a second set of vocal cords which allow them to purr, and the only large cat with this characteristic is the cougar.

Feral cats

A feral cat is a direct descendant of a domestic cat but is untamed and generally frightened of any human contact. A feral cat is usually one that has returned to the wild, foraging for food and living in areas with open space. This is usually as a result of someone abandoning a cat (or cats), some of which are able to survive in the wild and breed, which leads to the establishment of a colony of feral cats. Such colonies usually exist for social and mutual protection purposes, but individual cats within each colony are expected to find their own food.

The life of a feral cat is usually difficult, and many do not survive for very long, due to various factors such as having to catch their own food, inadequate shelter from the elements, encounters with other animals (skunks, raccoons, etc.) or dogs or other feral cats, dangers from vehicles on roadways, and not receiving medical treatment for illnesses or injuries. Cats as domesticated animals (pets) on average are afforded better care and thus have a better quality of life and longer life spans.

A stray cat is a cat that is unowned, but generally accepts human touch, may take food directly from a human, etc. The terms are often interchangeable, especially in popular usage.

Cats in Literature and Anthropomorphism

Cats were revered by the ancient Egyptians, possible the earliest significant appearance of cats in writing being in Egyptian texts. Cats are absent from the Bible, save for in the apocryphal book the Baruch. In medieval times, cats were associated with witchcraft and evil, particularly black cats. In more recent years, cats are still imagined as lazy, apathetic, or mean.

Cat quotes

"Cats look down on us. Dogs look up at us. Pigs treat us as equals." - Winston Churchill

External links

• Feral Cat Coalition
• Humane Society Info on feral cats

• FOXNews.com - Oscar the Cat Predicts Nursing Home Deaths