| Domestic
Cat Life History |
Domestic
cats today still take many characteristics from their wild
ancestors.
The arresting eyes, body shape, feeding and grooming habits are the
same along with the ability to pounce into action at any given moment.
It is this link that makes the domestic
cat so fascinating around the
world.
It
has been about 4000 years since the first cats were domesticated. The
Ancient Egyptians were the first to keep and use cats to control vermin
and other pests to protect stores of food. In Ancient Egypt, the cat
was revered as a hunter and worshiped as gods and goddesses. The
ancient Egyptians imposed the death penalty for killing cats and cats
were also mummified before being buried.
Other
ancient civilizations later began to domesticate the cat and took tame
felines to Italy where they slowly spread around Europe. Eventually,
they arrived in the New World with the Pilgrims. The short haired domestic cat
spread across the world from Egypt while long haired cats
came later from Turkey and Iran. The domestic cat also
spread from
India to China and Japan. |
| A
Domestic Cat Has
More Bones Than a Human. |
| Humans
have 206 but the cat has 230. Some cites list 245 bones and state that
bones may fuse together as the cat ages. |
| Aggression |
| Cats
that are aggressive can be very dangerous and veterinary advice should
be sought if a domestic
cat
is persistently aggressive towards people. There are
many different causes of aggressive behavior ranging from fear, to
over-exuberant play.
|
| Fish |
| Fish
is a good source of protein and is enjoyed by many+ACY-nbsp;domestic
cat. Some types of
fish have an enzyme that destroys the vitamin thiamine and+ACY-nbsp;domestic
cat fed a
diet high in raw fish have been known to develop a thiamine deficiency.
Thiamine deficiency causes severe neurological problems progressing to
seizures. Commercial cat foods contain added thiamine.
|
| Kitten |
| A
young+ACY-nbsp;domestic
cat.
It can take 6-12 months for a kitten to reach adult size and
it is normally recommended that kitten foods should be fed until the
cat is 12 months old. |
| Vegetarian |
| Domestic
cat+ACY-nbsp;cannot be
fed on a natural vegetarian diet, as it does not meet their
requirement for certain essential nutrients.
|
| Worms |
| These
are parasites that can live in the domestic+ACY-nbsp;cat+ACY-nbsp;body,
normally the digestive
system. The most common worms are Roundworm (Toxascaris and Toxocara)
and Tapeworm (Dipylidium and Taenia species). Treatment against
tapeworm may have to be repeated every six weeks due to the potential
for re-infection in domestic+ACY-nbsp;cat that hunt and
eat their kill. |
 |
|
|
+ACY-nbsp;
Domestic
Cat 
