History of cats!

The cats ancestors have been on earth for 12 million years, but it was only 4000 years ago that the cat became domesticated. Egyptians where the first to use cats, they used them to keep vermins,rats and mouses away from the cornstorages. But evidence has shown that cats have tried to make contact with humans long before that.

In Egypt they saw the cat as a hunter and it became divine by the incarnation of the goddess Bastet. Later the old civilisations started to use cats as pets and the Fenicic trade agents brougth cats with them to Italy. From Italy the cats spred to the rest of Europe over a long period of time. With the first settlers the cat reached "the new world". Dispite that the cat was associated with the devil (with evil) in the middle ages, the cat became a very popular pet around the world in the 18th cetury.

The cats senses!

The tame cat is like his wild relatives created to seek and kill his quarry. The cat has the senses of a beast of prey and can sense the slightest movement or sound. Hearing, eyesight, sensitivity and sense of smelling are highly developed on the cat, extremly better than human senses or other mammal animals. The cat can sense the slightest light and identify high sounds and can smell the slightest odour by using Jacobsons organs in his upper palate. The cat is extremly sensitive to its´ sorroundings and feels fine when it´s treated good. The cat may funtion abnormal in a home where the cat´s interesed are not beeing looked at/taken care of. Small children and cats don´t always fit together. Small children can make sudden moves and loud noise and cats do not like sudden moves or loud noise.

The mouth and taste.

The cat is fastidious and it can be hard to give it for example medicin by mxing it with some food, because the cat can sense all addings in the food. The cat is not found of candies like dogs are, but there are some who are though. I have a cat named Pricken, she loves choklate creem from Jacky co.

Hearing and eyesight.

The cat has a extremly well developed hearing and can sense sounds that are up to octaves higher than humans can locate. You can learn your cat to respond to a certain word, for example your cats name, justed by the sound of your voice/ the tone you use.

The tentacles and feeling.

I know that this might bee the wrong word in English, if you know the right one could you please mail it to me? The tentacles function as antennas and helps the cat to avoid objects in bad light. The cat is extreamly sensitive for toutching and every hair in the cats fur can feel the smallest vibraition.

The nose and smelling.

All cats have their territory and they mark it with their odour to keep other cats away. The cats sense of smelling is refined by Jacobsons organs. They make it possible for the cat to make out the slightest odours by tasteing the molekyles in the back of their tounge. This method is called "flehmen" - an act where the cat mixes taste and sense of smelling.

The eyes.

The cat has a poor colour seeing, but the eyes are made so that they can use the slightest light to see, even in darkness. They have the vision of a hunter and have a much wider perspective of seeing than humans. This makes it possible to see the slightest mivement of the quarry.

Cats and Nepata cataria.

The smell of napata cataria or catnip can be irresistible for the cat. Not to all cat´s, but a majority of cats. A lot of them react by smelling the plant. They spinn around, rubb their head and seem happy. The effect is overgoing and it is said to do no harm. Valeria is a similar plant and gives the same effect on cats. When a cat smells napata cataria it respondes with this reaction in a couple of seconds. But some cats show no effect at all.

Movement and balance.

The cat has a very good balance. It has to have that because it´s a hunter. All cat´s are gymnasts and have a wide range of different moves, vertical, horisontal and screwed. The strong mussels in the hind legs and the soft back makes it easy for the cat to jump out into the air without hurting it self. A cat always lookes around and measures before it jumps.
A cats balance and coordination has led to assumptions that a cat can manage high falls. But that is not always true. But it has happened that a cat has suvived falls from 20 meter. The cat always lands on it´s feet, it is a reflex they have. It has to do with the construction of their balanceorgan in the ear. A cat has strong legs and uses them and his claws in climbing. It is easier for them to climb upwards than downwards.

My cat Sotis fell down from the forth floor in august 1996. He hurt himself badly, but I took him to the vetenarian and I belived in Sotis. He survived, but he has to eat medicin everyday because of mailpractise from the first vet. I took him to. But he is as happy as my other cats. He has a boneinfection because of that some theef in his mouth have grown to his bone... It´s because of a vet.´s mistace. But as long as he is not in pain and is healing I want him to live a long interesting catlife. I try to give him a lot of lof and caring.

Have you been thinking of getting a cat?

A cat is a lot of responsibility. One thing you should do before you even go ahead with getting a cat is taking a allergy test, to see if you have any allergies. You can do that at a medical center with athorized personal. A nother thing you should think about is that a cat lives about 10-12 years, but some cats have been known to be up to 20 years old. It´s a commitment for at least a long period of time to get a cat! You should not get a cat if you are not certain that you can afford it and have the time for it. A cat needs love, food, sand, toys, vaccin etc etc... A cat costs 500 Swedish crowns a month in Sweden (about 66-70 $/month, maybe more in your contry). A cat is not a toy! It is a living beeing! Yoy should not tease or hurt a cat! Another tip of the day is to by a book. For this page I have used a book by Andrew Edney. (A Swedish edition named: Katten, skötsel och vård given to us by Alba Bonnier´s books.)

A tip to those who have problems with cats that pie all over the place...? Scratch your cats behind when it´s standing in the box, where it´s supposed to pie. Do this procedure again and again and it will learn it soon. Then you have a cat that goes to the box in the future. The cats mother lickes the kittens in the behind when she wants them to pie, that´s why this works with most cats.

Catpictures!