Cat Senses,Cat Anatomy,Cat breeds,Cat Morphology

Cats are available in all rainbow colours and their shades.Eyes of cats are most beautiful as compared to all other animals.Eyes of cats are also found in all rainbow colours and their shades.A cat can have each eye of different colour. Each eye of a cat can have two or more colours. The eyes of kittens change color over a period of months to the final eye color. Eyes of cat are found in slanted, almond and oval shapes. The eyes of cat shine at night because they have a layer of reflective cells at the back of each eye known as Tapetum Lucidium of yellowish colour which acts like a sort of bright mirror reflecting the light on the retina. Cats are able to see clearly in dim light. The night vision of cats is six times greater than human beings. Cats are not able to see in complete darkness. For function of vision, Cats have more nerve cells in their brain as compared to human beings and all other mammals. Cats also have about three times more rods in their eyes as compared to human beings so they can see better than human beings in dim light. Cats have Peripheral vision and binocular vision which enables it to accurately judge large distances. Eyes of cats have a additional third eyelid or nictitating membrane which is a thin fleshy membrane that is usually tucked away at the inner corner of the eye. The third eyelid helps in protection and cleaning of eye. The retina of the cat's eye is made extra sensitive to light by a layer of guanine, which causes the eye to shine at night in a strong light. Cats have highly developed sense of touch. The skin of cats is covered with highly sensitive touch spots which respond to the lightest pressure. The skin of cats shine due to sebum, a lubricant secreted by the sebaceous glands of skin. Ear of cats can rotate up to 180 degrees in order to locate and identify even the faintest of squeaks, peeps and rustling noises. Ears of cats have twelve muscles. Tiny erector muscles, attached to hair follicles, enable the cat to bristle all over. In relation to their body size, cats have largest eyes as compared to any other mammal including human beings. Domestic cats possess some colour vision. Domestic cats are able to see blue, green, yellow and gray colours. Cats sense of hearing is one of the highest in animal kingdom. Cats can hear ultrasonic waves. Hearing power of cats is about three times greater than human beings. Hearing power of cats is about two times greater than dogs. Cats can hear sounds of upto 65kHz and dogs can hear sounds of upto 30kHz. There are more than forty thousand nerve fibres present in the auditory nerve of cats as compared to human beings having about thirty thousand. Deafness is an inherited defect among some white cats, particularly those with blue or odd - color eyes. Sense of smelling in cats is highly developed. Cats have fourteen times more smelling power than human beings. Smelling power of dogs is greater as compared to cats. The cats have additional smelling organ known as jacobson's organ besides having nose. The jacobson's organ is located in the upper surface of a cat's mouth. A cat has a small wedge - shaped nose. The tip of nose is covered by a tough layer of skin called nose leather. The nose leather may be of various colors. It is usually moist and cool. A sick cat may have a warm, dry nose. The sense of taste in cats is as developed as sense of smell. The taste buds are present in tongue of cats. Cats prefer salty and sour tastes more than sweetness and bitterness. The tongue of cats is covered with hooklike rough protuberances or papillae, that it uses to rasp meat from bones and to groom itself. Out of all domestic animals, only cats have true furs. Cats have both undercoat fur and outer fur. The fur of cats are warm, soft, shiny, silky and of various lengths depending upon breed of cat. The cats can have upto two hundred hairs for every square millimeter on their body. There are more than hundred breed of cats. There are about forty internationally recognized breeds of cats which differs mainly in their personality, intelligence, coat colour, coat colour pattern, body size, ear size, ear shape, nose size, eye colour, tail length, tail shape, thickness of tail, fur length, face shape and eye shape. The famous cat breeds include Siamese, Persian, Ragdoll, Balinese, Russian Blue, Maine Coon, American Curl, Manx, Himalayan, Burmese, Abyssinian and Birman. Other breeds include Bombay, Norwegian Forest Cat, Scottish Fold, British Shorthair, American Shorthair, American Wirehair, American Bobtail, Laperm, Ocicat, Siberian, Egyptian Mau, Oriental, Colorpoint Shorthair, Chartreux, Cornish Rex, Devon Rex, Somali, Singapura, Exotic, European Burmese, Havana Brown, Japanese Bobtail, Turkish Angora, Turkish Van, Tokinese, Sphynx, Javanese, Korat and Selkirk Rex. The coat colour patterns in different breeds of cat are Solid, Tabby, Shaded, Parti - Color, Colorpoint, Tortoiseshell or Calico and Bi - Coloured. Out of all cat breeds, the Persian breed of cats have longest and thickest fur. The coat of Russian Blue cats is blue coloured. The Manx breed of cats do not have a tail. The largest breeds of domestic cat are Ragdoll and Maine Coon. The Siamese breed of cats is exceptionally more vocal. The Sphynx breed of cats is hairless. The Japanese Bobtail breed of cats has a short rigid tail with bushy hair. The Scottish fold is a medium sized cat with ears that fold toward the face and downward. The Maine Coon breed of cats looks somewhat like a Raccoon. The American Curl breed of cats have ears that curl away from the face. The American Wirehair breed of cats have a unique wiry coat that is not dissimilar to that of Cornish Rex and Devon Rex breeds. Most breeds of cats have rounded face. The most favorite breeds of cat are Persian, Siamese and the Maine Coon. Many breeds of cats have narrow or flat face. Many cat encyclopedias are now available at http://www.amazon.com/. Cat Encyclopedias like Catlopedia, The Ultimate Encyclopedia Of Cats, Cat Breeds and Cat Care by Alan Edward, The Encyclopedia of the cat by Michael Pollard ,The cat - A Complete Guide by Claire Bessant, The new encyclopedia of the cat by Fogle, Bruce and Dorling Kindersley and the Cat Encyclopedia by Verhoef Verhallen and Esther J.J. are now available at http://www.amazon.com/. Many cat Magazines and cat periodicals like All About Cats, Your Cat and Cat World are now available. Teeth of cats are sharp and they are adapted for tearing flesh because cats are carnivorous animals. Cats have from thirty to thirty two teeth. The anatomy of cats is very similar to the anatomy of human beings. The skeleton of cat contains 250 bones while the skeleton of human beings contains 206 bones because the cat has some extra bones in its tail. Cats are free from many skeletal abnormalities that can affect dogs. All cats have flexible spine. The cat's body has great elasticity. Because the vertebrae of the spinal column are held together by muscles rather than by ligaments, as in humans, the cat can elongate or contract its back, curve it forward, or oscillate it along the vertebral line. The construction of the shoulder joints permits the cat to turn its foreleg in almost any direction. The hip joint enables a cat to leap easily. Other special joints allow a cat to turn its head to reach most parts of its body. A cat uses its tail for balancing while jumping or falling. All cats have an excellent sense of balance, which enables them to leap and pounce with ease. The cat's claws are designed for catching and holding prey. The sharp hooked retractile claws are sheathed in a soft, leathery pocket at the end of each toe, and are extended for fighting, hunting and climbing. The claws usually are retracted under the skin by elastic ligaments, which are a type of connective tissue. However, when the claws are needed, certain muscles quickly pull the tendons connected to the claws. This action extends the claws. A cat has five toes on each forepaw, including a thumblike inner toe that is helpful in catching prey. Each hindpaw has four toes. Some cats have extra toes. Each of a cat's toes ends in a sharp hooklike claw. Several spongy pads of thick skin cover the bottoms of a cat's feet. The pads cushion the paws and enable a cat to move quietly. Cat hunts and kills birds, rats, mice, insects, rabbits, frogs, squirrels, lizards, snakes, fishes, cockroaches and other small animals. Cats are most skillful hunters out of all other animals. A cat usually hunts alone instead of hunting in groups because hiding and pouncing cannot be successful in a group whereas dogs always hunt in groups. Cats are able to catch other animals by approaching them swiftly and quietly on padded feet. Or they may wait motionless until an animal comes close and then spring upon it suddenly. Cats also have a keen sense of balance and can easily walk along the tops of narrow fences or along narrow ledges. When cats fall, they almost always land on their feet. Most cats hunt at night. Cats generally are nocturnal in habit. All cats are excellent fisherman. Cats can be used as catchers of fish. Cats run faster than any other animal. A domestic cat can run at speeds of upto thirty miles per hour. Cheetah run faster than any animal. Cheetah can run at speeds of seventy miles per hour. Cats are also excellent swimmers. Some cats can do swim for pleasure and some cats specially the tiger swim for long distances. All cats have retractable claws. All cats walk on the tips of their toes, not on the soles of their feet. The Giraffe and Camel are the only known animals that walk on the tips of their toes similar to cats. Cats walk on their toes, their steps cushioned by pads, which aid silent hunting and enable them to move swiftly when they need to pounce. Cats are sleepiest of all mammals. A cat sleeps for sixteen to eighteen hours in a day. Pet cat prefers to sleep in laundry basket, chair, bed, on a window sill or in a box while stray cats always sleep in safe places. A newborn kitten is unable to see, hear or walk. All kittens are born with blue eyes. The colour of eyes of kitten changes as they become old. Kittens start walking at the age of about two weeks. Whiskers are long straight hairs that protrude from the lips of cats. The whiskers are sensitive to air currents. Whiskers or vibrissae are delicate sensitive organs of touch equivalent to fingertips of human beings. Whiskers may help catch reflections of sound, thus serving somewhat the same function as antennae do in other animals. As the air moves, the whiskers vibrate and cats use messages in these vibrations to sense the presence, size and shape of nearby objects without seeing or touching them. Cat also uses its whiskers for determining width of a gap. Cats have about twenty four movable whiskers, twelve on either side of their nose. Small groups of whiskers are also situated on other parts of the body as well such as on the outer edges of cheeks, above the eyes and on the back of the front legs. The whiskers function as radars in cats. Cats have retractable claws. The useful websites related to cats are
http://directory.google.com op/recreation/pets/cats, http://www.petplace.com/ , www.pbs.org/nature/excats, http://www.i-love-cats.com/, http://www.thecatbasket.freeserve.co.uk/,www.nhm.org/cat.For information about cats visit the website of animal planet channel cat guide at http://animal.discovery.com/guides/cats/cats.html. For more information on cats visit the website of Encyclopedia Encarta at http://www.encarta.msn.com/,visit the encyclodedia Aniwa at http://www.aniwa.com and visit the website of Encyclopedia Britannica at http://www.britannica.com/.