Facts About Domestic House Cats

Mysteriously lovable and cunningly charming, domestic cats have captivated the hearts of humans worldwide. Cats are unlike any other animal domesticated by humans in that they came into our homes for food and no other reason. They make affectionate and loving pets, but still retain many of the features that allowed them to survive in the wild.

  1. Origin

    • The domestic house cat is widely thought to have originated in Egypt approximately 3,600 years ago. Recent findings, however, suggest that domestic cats originated in the Middle East nearly 10,000 years ago. Researcher Carlos A. Driscoll concluded that every house cat in the world originates from a subspecies of wildcat found in the Middle East, Felis silvestris lybica. This conclusion was based on DNA samples taken from wildcats and domestic cats worldwide.

    The House Cat Today

    • More than 30 percent of American households have cats, and more than 600 million cats live with humans worldwide. More than 35,000 kittens are born in the U.S. each year. Cats are an obviously important part of households in Western cultures, evidenced by an estimate that---as of the mid-1990s---services and products exclusively for cats had become a billion-dollar industry.

    Breeds

    • The Cat Fancier's Association, the largest cat registry in the world, recognizes 35 breeds of domestic cat. The International Cat Association, the second largest registry, recognizes 38 breeds. Genetically, all of these breeds are very similar, with the only differences being in features such as coat color and fur length and texture. There is a notable absence of the wide range of shapes, sizes and dispositions found in the breeds of dogs. This is due to all house cats having descended from a common ancestor, the Middle Eastern wildcat.

    Anatomy

    • Domestic cats retain many of the features that aided their survival in the wild. They have excellent vision, and can see up to 120 feet away. Their peripheral vision is about 285 degrees, and they need only one sixth the amount of light that humans need in order to see, thus providing them with the ability to see well at night. Their hearing is sharp---a cat can hear sounds as high-pitched as 65 kHz (compared to a human's 20 kHz). A cat can pivot its ears 180 degrees, using 12 or more muscles to do so. Cats use 500 muscles to leap, jump and sprint. A cat can run as fast as 31 miles per hour.

    Communication

    • A feature that makes cats favored pets is their ability to communicate their emotions and needs to humans. Cats have more than 100 vocal sounds. They will rarely meow at another cat; they reserve this sound exclusively for humans. Much of a cat's communication is done with its tail: a tail held high indicates happiness; a twitching or thrashing tail should be taken as a warning; and a tucked tail signals insecurity. When a cat jerks its tail from side to side, it indicates indecision. A sound individual to cats is the purr, which is created by contractions of the cat's diaphragm. While sometimes heard in anxious or ill cats, the purr is often a sign of contentment.