People describe cats as tree climbing animals. Proailurus was the first true descendent of the cat that was found 33 million years back. Cats earlier resided in rain forests and were great hunters.
Their razor sharp claws helped them ascend deftly, hiding on trees to escape danger or climbing to wait for a prey. Climbing in other words was immensely helpful for survival and eventually became a way of life.
Domesticated cats have a general fondness for heights. A household cat will always feel very contented in an elevated part of the room be it a window perch or a high shelf. Instinctive knowledge plays an important role in verifying this standard feline desire. Cats instinctively search for hideaways, as it is their natural behavior for shelter and hunting. Do not be surprised, if a cat's eyes are seen gleaming from some corner.
Theories For Fondness Of Heights:
Below mentioned are some reasons that state why a cat loves heights:
1. Height in some way signifies the rank of a cat. If there are many cats residing in the same household, the cat who reigns the topmost perches generally governs the rest. The governing cat is factually the 'top cat'.
2. Height enables a cat to observe the surroundings effectively. The cat can thus be more vigilant about the activities of individuals and other pets. An upper position in the wild, functions as a hidden area from where the cat can hunt for its prey.
3. A cat may feel warmer, if it climbs a high place.
4. A high perch enables a cat to escape from any factor, which makes it scared or anxious.
Buy A Cat's Furniture According To Its Lifestyle:
An individual may find out a pet cat's character and personality by careful observation and accordingly select the furniture, which best suits the cat's lifestyle.
1. A brave mountain lion keen to climb an apartment perch: Younger, energetic cats' favor the highest perch one may provide preferably a ground to ceiling tree. An extremely tough mega tree is necessary for a cat, which likes to dash up the tree.
2. A temporary explorer who regularly occupies a secure middle position: Many segments between two to seven feet will suit the cat's requirements. A 39” tall curved penthouse will be suitable accompanied with an ideal observation deck.
3. A demure savanna occupant that prefers a soft floor level pillow: Older cats and those suffering from ailments will favor a comfortable pyramid bed.
Cats Survive After Falling From Great Heights:
Cats have survived falls from 32 stories. Humans die after falling from such a great height. Interestingly the rate of survival and the severity of damage were the same even if the cat fell from seven stories or from 32 stories. In fact, sometimes, the injuries were much less.
This is because cats achieve maximum speed at 60 mph or only after five stories. When a cat reaches this speed, its balancing organs become less functional. This causes the cat to relax, which distributes the collision force uniformly.
By: Martin Marks
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Go to Cat and Kitten Zone to get your free ebook about Cats and Kittens at Cats. Cat and Kitten Zone also has information on Kittens, Cat Supplies and a Cat and Kitten Forum where you can connect with others who love cats and kittens.
Bonding With Your New Cat
Bringing a new cat home for the first time can be a stressful period for both the cat and the family. From the families point of view, not knowing how the cat will react to its new surroundings and how to approach the cat for the first time can be a little worrying and if not handled correctly from the beginning could lead to behavioural problems further down the road. From the cat’s point of view, they find themselves in strange surroundings, with strange smells, sounds, people and even other animals.
There are a few secrets to ensuring that the whole process is less stressful and scary for all involved. Firstly put yourself in the cat’s position and empathise with their feelings and experiences of their new home. Secondly take things slowly, it may all be very exciting bringing home a new pet but if the situation is not handled calmly, quietly and slowly then bonding with your cat may be a process that takes far longer and may not happen at all if the cat sees you as a scary human.
Prepare your home for the arrival of your new cat in advance. Make sure you put aside a quite room where your cat can explore and become familiar with before encountering the larger environment. Make sure you place cat food and water, a litter tray (away from the food and bed), a bed and some toys in the room. Also the room should not be accessible to any other pets in the home.
Allow the cat to spend time alone in this room for the first 30 minutes after arrival then check on them to see if every thing is ok. Repeat this process for the first day, visiting regularly but not approaching the cat too quickly. During the next few days increase the frequency of the visits and begin to approach your cat to gain their confidence. This should be done by making yourself smaller, by kneeling on the floor, not looking the cat directly in the eyes and allowing the cat to approach you. Introduce a few games with balls and string, always going at yours cats pace and never forcing them to play or approach you.
Once you are sure that your cat has gained in confidence and is happy to be around you, you can then start to introduce other members of the family, including other animals. However introducing other pets should only be done once the cat has bonded with you and should never be done without supervision.
After about three to four days and when you feel happy that the cat has relaxed and is happy to be touched and stroked by you can you begin to allow your cat access to the rest of the home. Let them take it at their own pace and always give them access to their safe room if things get a little too scary for them and they can return to quickly. Most cats will settle down fairly quickly into their new family, some may take longer; it depends on their individual personalities and their previous life experiences.
The process may sound a slow one to begin with, but gaining the confidence of a cat is all-important from the start and they must feel that they can trust you and feel safe in the new home environment before they will settle down into happy pets. Once a bond has been established between you and your cat it will be a bond that will last a lifetime, providing many hours of companionship and comfort for you both.
By: ttilmo
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Kate and her partner co-write www.our-happy-cat.com a site full of further cat care and cat health topics. As well as being a feline friendly community site for happy cat and a happy owner. Their second site www.frugal-living-tips.com is all about living simply and frugally in the modern world.
There are a few secrets to ensuring that the whole process is less stressful and scary for all involved. Firstly put yourself in the cat’s position and empathise with their feelings and experiences of their new home. Secondly take things slowly, it may all be very exciting bringing home a new pet but if the situation is not handled calmly, quietly and slowly then bonding with your cat may be a process that takes far longer and may not happen at all if the cat sees you as a scary human.
Prepare your home for the arrival of your new cat in advance. Make sure you put aside a quite room where your cat can explore and become familiar with before encountering the larger environment. Make sure you place cat food and water, a litter tray (away from the food and bed), a bed and some toys in the room. Also the room should not be accessible to any other pets in the home.
Allow the cat to spend time alone in this room for the first 30 minutes after arrival then check on them to see if every thing is ok. Repeat this process for the first day, visiting regularly but not approaching the cat too quickly. During the next few days increase the frequency of the visits and begin to approach your cat to gain their confidence. This should be done by making yourself smaller, by kneeling on the floor, not looking the cat directly in the eyes and allowing the cat to approach you. Introduce a few games with balls and string, always going at yours cats pace and never forcing them to play or approach you.
Once you are sure that your cat has gained in confidence and is happy to be around you, you can then start to introduce other members of the family, including other animals. However introducing other pets should only be done once the cat has bonded with you and should never be done without supervision.
After about three to four days and when you feel happy that the cat has relaxed and is happy to be touched and stroked by you can you begin to allow your cat access to the rest of the home. Let them take it at their own pace and always give them access to their safe room if things get a little too scary for them and they can return to quickly. Most cats will settle down fairly quickly into their new family, some may take longer; it depends on their individual personalities and their previous life experiences.
The process may sound a slow one to begin with, but gaining the confidence of a cat is all-important from the start and they must feel that they can trust you and feel safe in the new home environment before they will settle down into happy pets. Once a bond has been established between you and your cat it will be a bond that will last a lifetime, providing many hours of companionship and comfort for you both.
By: ttilmo
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Kate and her partner co-write www.our-happy-cat.com a site full of further cat care and cat health topics. As well as being a feline friendly community site for happy cat and a happy owner. Their second site www.frugal-living-tips.com is all about living simply and frugally in the modern world.
Feral Cat And Wild Cats Turned Into Domestic Cats
Some ecologists say that the domestication of feral cat harms environment or ecosystem, as excessive population of feral cats result in large hunting of small birds and animals in both rural and urban areas.
Feral cats have a considerable effect on the environment, as these cats have put several native animals and species to danger and even death.
Even, people now consider feral cats as the most vicious creatures on small islands. Other species that are vanished on small islands include burrowing bettong and spectacled hare-wallaby. These animals were found once abundant on small islands.
Environmental Issues:
Researchers state that feral cats in the USA, every year, kill large population of animal and bird species, and hundreds of those in Florida. Thus, these cat breeds have great impact on environment as well as wildlife animal species.
This may result in disruption of food chain and limitation of local wildlife populations. In fact, feral cats in countries such as New Zealand and Australia have killed native birds and animals and have damaged the natural flora completely.
In Australia, feral cats have killed several wallabies, thus there is a considerable drop in the population of wallabies over the years. Many ecologists found that feral cats were to blame mostly for the dropping population of rock wallabies in a remote area of tropical Queensland.
Even though feral cats mainly depend on rabbits for their food source, they do little to lower the population, as the population of rabbits is as same as the amount of feral cats in Australia.
Not only the feral cats have a substantial effect on food chain, but they also affect the other local creatures by depleting their sources of food. These include the wedge-tailed eagle, hawks, the eastern quoll, reptiles such as the Lace Monitor and Goanna and the dingoes.
Feral cats eat nearly all those foods that are vital for other local species. Because of such huge population, not only these cats eat all other native species, but also provide nothing for other local species. In most regions, hawks and eagles have had to alter their routine diet to survive due to these cats.
Even, the native cats are in danger. Feral cats more often affect domestic cats such as Quoll. For instance, if feral cats come near female quolls, they become infertile. Here, people cannot help them out, but as there are several feral cats around, the best way to avoid is preventing domestic cats to outside exposure. A recent report study states that several female quolls have already become infertile and their populations are declining day-by-day.
Overview:
Feral cats also carry certain incurable diseases, which are fatal and harmful to other species, especially for the local marsupials. Toxoplasmosis is the name of one such disease, which causes paralysis, blindness, respiratory disorders, and loss of infantile because of stillbirth and impulsive abortion.
Feral cats are also the carriers of Rabies, a disease affecting not only animals and species, but also the human beings. It is more excruciating and devastating to the whole ecosystem.
By: Martin Marks
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Go to Cat and Kitten Zone to get your free ebook about Cats and Kittens at Cats. Cat and Kitten Zone also has information on Kittens, Cat Supplies and a Cat and Kitten Forum where you can connect with others who love cats and kittens.
Feral cats have a considerable effect on the environment, as these cats have put several native animals and species to danger and even death.
Even, people now consider feral cats as the most vicious creatures on small islands. Other species that are vanished on small islands include burrowing bettong and spectacled hare-wallaby. These animals were found once abundant on small islands.
Environmental Issues:
Researchers state that feral cats in the USA, every year, kill large population of animal and bird species, and hundreds of those in Florida. Thus, these cat breeds have great impact on environment as well as wildlife animal species.
This may result in disruption of food chain and limitation of local wildlife populations. In fact, feral cats in countries such as New Zealand and Australia have killed native birds and animals and have damaged the natural flora completely.
In Australia, feral cats have killed several wallabies, thus there is a considerable drop in the population of wallabies over the years. Many ecologists found that feral cats were to blame mostly for the dropping population of rock wallabies in a remote area of tropical Queensland.
Even though feral cats mainly depend on rabbits for their food source, they do little to lower the population, as the population of rabbits is as same as the amount of feral cats in Australia.
Not only the feral cats have a substantial effect on food chain, but they also affect the other local creatures by depleting their sources of food. These include the wedge-tailed eagle, hawks, the eastern quoll, reptiles such as the Lace Monitor and Goanna and the dingoes.
Feral cats eat nearly all those foods that are vital for other local species. Because of such huge population, not only these cats eat all other native species, but also provide nothing for other local species. In most regions, hawks and eagles have had to alter their routine diet to survive due to these cats.
Even, the native cats are in danger. Feral cats more often affect domestic cats such as Quoll. For instance, if feral cats come near female quolls, they become infertile. Here, people cannot help them out, but as there are several feral cats around, the best way to avoid is preventing domestic cats to outside exposure. A recent report study states that several female quolls have already become infertile and their populations are declining day-by-day.
Overview:
Feral cats also carry certain incurable diseases, which are fatal and harmful to other species, especially for the local marsupials. Toxoplasmosis is the name of one such disease, which causes paralysis, blindness, respiratory disorders, and loss of infantile because of stillbirth and impulsive abortion.
Feral cats are also the carriers of Rabies, a disease affecting not only animals and species, but also the human beings. It is more excruciating and devastating to the whole ecosystem.
By: Martin Marks
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Go to Cat and Kitten Zone to get your free ebook about Cats and Kittens at Cats. Cat and Kitten Zone also has information on Kittens, Cat Supplies and a Cat and Kitten Forum where you can connect with others who love cats and kittens.