Cats are most intelligent
among all domestic animals. The anatomy of
brain of cat is very similar to
the human brain, whereas the anatomy of
brain of a dog is not very
similar to human brain. The anatomy
of brain of cat is about ninety
nine percent similar to human brain. Both
cats and human beings have same
regions for emotion in their brain. The
intelligence of animals depends
upon brain weight to body weight ratio
and anatomy of their brain. The brain
of an adult cat weighs about one
percent of its body weight while the
brain of an adult human being weighs
about two percent of its body weight.
The brain weight to body weight ratio
in cats is greater in cats as
compared to Dogs. The cat has an ample
and very advanced cerebral hemisphere, typical
of intelligent creatures. Cerebellum is well
developed in brain of a cat. Cats are
used in scientific research. The biochemistry
of behavior, memory and the emotions can be
explored by stimulating or destroying certain areas in cat brains.
Cats can distinguish complex shapes. Cats can distinguish complex
geometrical shapes such as triangle, circle and square. Cats can
distinguish between shapes of letters of alphabets of language. Cats
can also distinguish between colours. Cats are used in scientific
studies related to vision because cats have more nerve cells in
their brain for vision as compared to human beings and all other
mammals. Cats have also been used in sleep studies. There are same
types of sleep stages in cats and human beings having similar wave
patterns. Cats dream in deep sleep stage like human beings. Kittens
begin dreaming at just two weeks age. Cats have light sleep and dark
sleep stages like human beings.
The cats have emotions and feelings like human beings. Cats think and
take decisions like human beings. Some pet cats are jealous of other
pet animals kept in the same house. Every cat has its different
personality like human beings. There are some cats whose psyches are
characterized as timid, impudent, obedient, stubborn, tranquil, spiteful,
courageous and vile. Cats do very well in psychomatric tests. Cats
have excellent observation power. Cats exhibit considerable aptitude for
learning by observation and experience. Observation power of cats is
greater than any other domestic animal. Memory of cats is sharper
than any other animal. Like human beings cats have both long term
and short term memory. Cats have excellent memories. The knowledge
attained by cat by means of observation, trial and error is retained
for whole life. According to the research work done at University of
Michigan and the Department of Animal
Behavior at the American Museum
of Natural History in USA , memory of cats is about two hundred
times more than that of dogs.
A cat never forget in its life. Cats retain information obtained by
means of observation throughout their life. Cats can easily adapt to
a change in circumstances because they remember what they learn and
then adapt their experiences to various new situations as they
present themselves. Cats learn by observation, imitation, trial and error
just like human beings do. Cats have emotions and feelings like human
beings. Cats think and take decisions like human beings. Cats try to
keep themselves clean. Cat’s are nature’s cleanest animals. Cats spend
about thirty percent of its life in grooming themselves. Cats groom
themselves by their saliva. Cats clean their body about twenty times
in a day. Cats are most skillful hunters out of all animals. Cats
are excellent swimmers. Cats are social animals like human beings. Like
human beings, different cats have different personalities. Cats are most
independent out of all domestic animals. A pet cat will respond and
answer to speech and seems to enjoy human companionship. Cats
communicate by means of their body language, facial expressions, table
gestures, head, eyes, ears, tails, scent glands, trample by paws, salivation
and different vocal sounds. The body language of cats is expressed
with more than sixty gestures. The Language of cats is universal. For
example, dilated pupils of eyes of a cat means fear while partially
closed eyes means relaxation. An angry cat will have narrow pupils.
Trampling by paws means affection and love. Erect ears of a cat
pointing forwards means relaxation while ears folded backwards means
warning. Cats knead their paws when they are happy. A cat never meow
at another cat because cats use this sound for human beings. Slow
calm flaps of tail of a cat means satisfaction while quick swings
of tail means warning. Tail of a cat held vertical with its tip
stiffly held upright means a very happy cat in greeting mood and a
cat exposing its stomach means trust and vunerability. A cat arch its
back when it is threatened by another animal. Although the cat is a
relatively small animal, it can frighten enemies by arching its back,
bristling, and hissing. Cat rubbing up against the legs of its owner
for obtaining food or caresses.
Cats use about hundred different types of sounds for communication
while dogs use only about ten different types of sounds for
communication. Researchers have noted some sixteen vocal patterns in
cats. The basic cat sounds are purring, meows and hisses. Cats can
readily vary these sounds, thus seeming to talk. Most peoples are able
to communicate with their pet cats. A cat meeting with another cat
can emit more than fifty different sounds for communication which
vary in tone from harsh to acute. The cat forms words that assume a
precise meaning for other cats. The cat possesses a sweet sound, the
Purr, which it uses to express joy, momentary well being and affection
for its owner. It is a musical sound repeated at length when the
cat is happy. Purring also occurs in cats that are injured and in
pain. The books How to talk to your cat, communicating with your cat,
Psycho kitty and What is my cat thinking Cats
can distinguish between shapes of letters of alphabet of language
like human beings. Cats can distinguish between complex shapes such as
circles, squares, triangles etc. Cats can also distinguish colours. Out
of all animals, only cats have the skill of jumping from great
heights by rolling their body in air, so that they tend to land on
all four feet on the ground, without injuring themselves. Cats survive
fall from great heights. A cat survived fall from 20th floor of a New
York apartment building. Another cat named Andy survived fall from 16th
floor of a Miami apartment building. Cats have been the subjects in a
number of studies involving weightlessness. The studies have shown that
under conditions of weightlessness, a cat is unable to right itself,
but will float about in any position. Cats seem to defy gravity. A
cat can survive fall from height of hundreds of feet. After a fall,
a cat always land on its feet on ground. A frightened domestic cat
can run at speeds of upto thirty miles per hour. A cat can jump
upto seven times its height. Cats are excellent climbers. Cats are
excellent hunters. Mother cats teach their kittens to hunt. A cat
always hunt alone whereas dogs always hunt in groups because stalking,
hiding and pouncing cannot be successful in a group. A kitten at six
weeks of age can hunt alone. Cat’s vision and hearing power is more
than dogs and human beings. Cat’s vision and hearing power is one of
the highest in animal kingdom. Cats have well developed sense of
smell. Cats have additional cigar shaped smelling organ known as
Jacobson’s Organ besides having nose. Cats have fourteen times more
smelling power than human beings. Cats mark their territory with the
help of scent glands by means of rubbing and scratching. All cats
defend their territory and cats does not tolerate competition within
its own territory. The territories of cats can be as large as
hundred acres or more for rural cats and as small as a few feet
for city cats. The territory of cats are the safe places for
sleeping, eating, hunting, defecating and playing. Like human beings, cats
are territorial by nature. Scent glands are located on various parts
of cat’s body including their faces, feet and base of their tail.
Scent glands contain molecules called Pheromones. By means of rubbing
their faces on various objects, cats are releasing Pheromones.
Pheromones affect number of behaviors like reproduction and
establishing territory. All cats scratch for whole life because
scratching removes dead nail material from their claws and establishes
their territory by marking with the scent glands at the bottom of
their feet. Scratching also provides a cat with a form of physical
therapy for the muscles and tendons of his paw. When a cat is
scratching, the claws are practicing extending and retracting. Scratching
posts and scratching pads preferably covered with a rough material
such as sisal rope should be selected in order to avoid scratching
by cats. Treading is common in cats. Treading in cats is believed to
be a sign of contentment, pleasure and relaxation. Pet cats rub against
their owners for marking their territory with the help of scent
glands. Cats groom themselves by their saliva.
Training a cat is very
easy because cats are very intelligent animals. Cats can learn many
activities by observation like human beings. The observation power of
cats is greater than all domestic animals. Cats can be easiest to
train out of all domestic animals. Books like 50 Ways To Train Your Cat, How To Get
Your Cat To Do What You Want, Communicating With Your Cat, Cats On
The Counter: Therapy And Training For Your Cat, Teaching Your Cat
Simple Tricks, 101 Training Tips For Your Cat, Understanding And Training
Cats can learn dozens of activities. It is not
necessary to train a cat to use litter box because mother cats
train their kittens to use litter box. Cats can also be trained for
using toilet. A kitten can learn to use toilet at the age of just
three weeks. Cats
can understand their owner’s mood. A cat can recognize its owner’s
footsteps. Some outdoor cats learn to cross traffic. Cats can be
trained for walking and dancing with the help of two legs. Dancing
classes of cats are conducted in USA. The earliest written record of a
cat dancing with a person dates back from 1692. Cats can be trained
for various exercises like aerobics and Yoga. Cats can draw
paintings without training. In USA and New Zealand paintings drawn by
cat artists are sold in exhibitions. The cats draw paintings since
ancient Egyptian times. Some good looking paintings drawn by artist
cats are sold for more than ten thousand dollars. A good looking
painting drawn by a cat was sold for seventy five thousand dollars.
Books like Why Cats
Cats can be trained for playing Piano, violin and other musical
instruments. The public houses in which a cat play a violin are
known as The Cat And Fiddle. Many books like The Cat and The Fiddle,
The Cat & The Fiddle & Cats can be
trained to walk on a leash. Cats learn many activities by observation.
Cats are easiest to train out of all domestic animals. Cats of four
to five months old are easiest to train. Cats can learn dozens of
activities like handshaking with paw, begging, opening door, turning on
lights, jumping through hoop, opening windows, opening refrigerators,
playing musical instruments, eating food with the help of their paws,
ringing bell, acting dead, rolling on floor on command, hide food in
boxes and walking on a leash. Cats quickly learn tricks like fetching
a toy or object, sitting on command, jumping through a hoop and
walking on a rope. Cats can easily learn many tricks.
The cats has an innate sense of curiosity. It is aware of strange
objects, contents of an open drawer and objects in motion. The cat or
kitten, more than any other animal, is full of trepidations. The cat
or kitten first puts a paw toward a new thing, touches it timidly,
then proceeds more decisively, and only after that smells it, but the
dog or puppy, curious to know the world, smells everything that comes
its way. During World War I, cats were sent by the British army to
sea to test submarines and some cats were sent to trenches to warn
about gas attacks. Cats communicate their wants and needs to their
owners. Cats can recognize their owner’s mood. Sense of taste in cats
is equivalent to human beings. Cats have the ability to use biological
clock, earth’s magnetic field and angle of sun. Out of all other
mammals only cats have homing instinct. Cats can return back to
their owners home from thousands of kilometers away without any help
because of its sharp memory. Cats love their owner’s home. A cat of
USA returned back alone from New York to its owner’s new home in
California after walking a distance of two thousand three hundred
miles without any help. A cat of USA named Sugar returned back alone
from California to its owner home in Oklahoma after walking a
distance of two thousand and four hundred kilometers without any help.
A cat of USA named Ninja returned back alone from its owner’s new
home in Washington State to its owner’s old home in Utah State
after walking a distance of eight hundred fifty miles without any
help. A cat returned back alone from Nievre in France to its
owner’s home in Stuttgart in south west Germany after walking a
distance of about thousand kilometers without any help. Similarly a cat
of England named Sooty returned back alone to its owner’s old home
after walking a distance of hundred miles without any help. A cat
returned back alone to its owner’s home after walking a distance of
ninety miles without any help while another cat returned back alone
to its owner’s home after walking a distance of eighty miles without
any help. Cats like to play games like chasing light, hide and seek
and many ball games. Cats enjoy playing with toys and watching
television. Many video cassettes specially designed for cats are now
available in the market. The cat toys include action toys, toy mouse,
soft toys, Ping-Pong balls, catnip toys, race n’chase, feather toys, kitten
mitten and balls. A
Some outdoor cats themselves learn to cross traffic. Cats have also
been employed in many glamorous jobs. Bob, the weather cat is regular
on a television station in Oregon wore sunglasses on bright days and
earmuffs and a scarf when the weather turned chilly. In England as
recently as fifty years ago, thousands of cats were on the
government payrolls, working in offices, barracks, workshops and on the
docks. The National Printing Office of France has employed cats to
protect its paper, as has the USA postal service. The Butchers, Bakers,
Grocers, restaurant owners, book store owners, stationary owners and food
industry owners keep pet cats in order to keep their premises free
of rats. The amount of love that a mother cat provides to her
kittens is highest as compared to all other animals. The stray female
cat is excellent mother. Cat understands when the moment of giving
birth is near. When the time of giving birth is near, the female cat
begins to appear agitated and meows in a strange way, sweet and
musical, a kind of request for help and response to what is
approaching. The female cat try to give birth in a corner where she
can eventually defend herself and newborn kittens from dogs and other
animals. After giving birth the mother cat will immediately free each
kitten from the sac, lick it, clean it and gently dry it. After
giving birth, the female cat transfer her litter from one hiding
place to another in order to protect it from dogs and other animals.
The mother cat clean and feed the newborn kittens. The mother cat
teach its kittens to play, to hunt, to climb, to clean and to use
toilet. When living outdoors, the cat learns to protect itself from
the cold and rain by taking refuge in a doorway basement or in
abandoned box. When the end of life of cat is near, cat try to find
a secluded spot in which to die with dignity, either under a bush,
in the trunk of a tree or a crumbled hut so as not to disturb or
be disturbed in the moment of the most quiet sleep. Many cats are
now working in movies. Morris was the famous cat who worked on
television. Cats specially wild cats like lion perform in circus.
Toonces, a male cat was so much intelligent that he was able to
actually drive car, truck and tractor. Toonces liked to ride bicycle.
Toonces was also able to communicate in English by means of
typing. A cat named Pepper was a
motion picture cat who starred next to the comedian Charlie Chaplin.
Britain’s best known television cat was Arthur. Arthur starred in more
than three hundred television commercials between 1966 and 1975.