Cat

The cat (Felis catus), also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felines and felids, is a small carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin and household pests. It has been associated with humans for at least 9,500 years and is currently the most popular pet in the world.


A skilled predator, the cat is known to hunt over 1,000 species for food. It can be trained to obey simple commands. Individual cats have also been known to learn on their own to manipulate simple mechanisms, such as doorknobs and toilet handles. Cats use a variety of vocalizations and types of body language for communication, including meowing, purring, "trilling", hissing, growling, squeaking, chirping, clicking, and grunting. They are also bred and shown as registered pedigree pets. This hobby is known as "cat fancy".


Until recently the cat was commonly believed to have been domesticated in ancient Egypt, where it was a cult animal. However, in 2004, the earliest known location of cat domestication was discovered to be ancient Cyprus, and a subsequent study in 2007 found that the lines of descent of all house cats probably run through as few as five self-domesticating African Wildcats (Felis silvestris lybica) circa 8000 BC, in the Near East.

Nomenclature and Etymology
The word cat derives from Old English catt, which belongs to a group of related words in European languages, including Welsh cath, Spanish gato, Basque katu, Byzantine Greek kátia, Old Irish cat, German Katze, and Old Church Slavonic kotka. The ultimate source of all these terms is Late Latin catus, cattus, catta "domestic cat", as opposed to feles "European wildcat". It is unclear whether the Greek or the Latin came first, but they were undoubtedly borrowed from an Afro-Asiatic language akin to Nubian kadís and Berber kaddîska, both meaning "wildcat". This term was either cognate with or borrowed from Late Egyptian čaus "jungle cat, African wildcat" (later giving Coptic šau "tomcat"), itself from earlier Egyptian tešau "female cat" (vs. miew "tomcat"). The term puss (as in pussycat) may come from Dutch poes or from Low German Puuskatte, dialectal Swedish kattepus, or Norwegian pus, pusekatt, all of which primarily denote a woman and, by extension, a female cat.

A group of cats is referred to as a "clowder", a male cat is called a "tom" (or a "gib", if neutered), and a female is called a "molly" or "queen". The male progenitor of a cat, especially a pedigreed cat, is its "sire", and its female progenitor is its "dam". An immature cat is called a "kitten" (which is also an alternative name for young rats, rabbits, hedgehogs, beavers, squirrels and skunks). In medieval Britain, the word kitten was interchangeable with the word catling. A cat whose ancestry is formally registered is called a pedigreed cat, purebred cat, or a show cat. In strict terms, a purebred cat is one whose ancestry contains only individuals of the same breed. A pedigreed cat is one whose ancestry is recorded, but may have ancestors of different breeds. Cats of unrecorded mixed ancestry are referred to as domestic longhairs and domestic shorthairs or commonly as random-bred, moggies, mongrels, or mutt-cats.

Physiology

Two cats curled up together Cats conserve energy by sleeping more than most animals, especially as they grow older. The daily duration of sleep varies, usually 12–16 hours, with 13–14 being the average. Some cats can sleep as much as 20 hours in a 24-hour period. The term cat nap refers to the cat's ability to fall asleep (lightly) for a brief period and has entered the English lexicon—someone who nods off for a few minutes is said to be "taking a cat nap".


Due to their crepuscular nature, cats often enter a period of increased activity and playfulness during the evening and early morning, dubbed the "evening crazies", "night crazies", "elevenses", "crazies", or "mad half-hour" by some. The temperament of a cat can vary depending on the breed and socialization. Cats with oriental body types tend to be thinner and more active, while cats that have a cobby body type tend to be heavier and less active.


The normal body temperature of a cat is between 38 and 39 °C (101 and 102.2 °F). A cat is considered febrile (hyperthermic) if it has a temperature of 39.5 °C (103 °F) or greater, or hypothermic if less than 37.5 °C (100 °F). For comparison, humans have a normal temperature of approximately 36.8 °C (98.6 °F). A domestic cat's normal heart rate is around 165 beats per minute (bpm), about twice that of a human (average 80 bpm), but cats' heart rates can vary widely, even reaching around 300 bpm.


In captivity, indoor cats typically live 14 to 20 years, though the oldest known cat lived to age 36. Domesticated cats tend to live longer if they are not permitted to go outdoors (reducing the risk of injury from fights or accidents and exposure to diseases) and if they are neutered. Some benefits of neutering are that castrated males cannot develop testicular cancer, spayed females cannot develop ovarian cancer, and both have a reduced risk of mammary cancer. The lifespan of feral cats is hard to determine accurately, although one study reported a median age of 4.7 years, with a range between 0 to 10 years.




A cat carrying a house mouse home to eat.Cats are obligate carnivores: their physiology has evolved to efficiently process meat, and they have difficulty digesting plant matter. Cats are unusually dependent on a constant supply of the amino acid arginine, a diet lacking arginine causes marked weight loss and can be rapidly fatal. The cat also cannot produce the amino acid taurine, and taurine deficiency can cause a condition called macular degeneration where the cat's retina slowly degenerates, causing irreversible blindness. Similar to its teeth, a cat's digestive tract has adapted to meat eating, containing only those segments of intestine best able to break down the proteins and fats in animal flesh. This trait severely limits the cat's ability to properly digest and use plant-derived nutrients, as well as certain fatty acids. Despite the cat's meat-oriented physiology, several vegetarian or vegan cat foods are available that are supplemented with chemically synthesized taurine and other nutrients, in attempts to address nutritional shortfalls. However, some of these products still fail to provide all the nutrients that cats require and diets containing no animal products pose the risk of causing severe nutritional deficiencies

Nepetalactone

Nepetalactone is an organic compound first isolated in the plant catnip, Nepeta cataria. Nepetalactone is bicyclic terpenoid, i.e. it is a ten-carbon compound derived from isoprene with two fused rings, a cyclopentane and a lactone. Nepetalactone is a cat attractant. The structure and the effects of the compound are similar to those of valepotriates. A number of isomers of nepetalactone are known.
Nepetalactone was first reported in 1941 after it was isolated by steam distillation of catnip.[1]
The compound is also present in the wood of tartarian honeysuckle (lonicera tatarica), shavings of which are often used in cat toys.

Effects on animals
As 4aα,7α,7aα-nepetalactone it is the active chemical in Nepeta cataria that causes its characteristic effect on cats. Around 75% of cats are affected; susceptibility is gene-linked. The chemical interacts as a vapour at the olfactory epithelium. The compound only mildly affects humans: it is a weak sedative, antispasmodic, febrifuge, and antibacterial. In high doses it also has an emetic effect. Nepetalactone also has effects on some insects: it repels cockroaches and mosquitos,[1] is poisonous to some common flies and is a sex pheromone to aphids.

Nepeta

Nepeta is a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. The members of this group are known as catnip or catmint because of their famous effect on cats—nepeta pleasantly stimulates cats' pheromonic receptors, typically resulting in temporary euphoria. It can also induce mild euphoria in humans.
The genus is native to Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is now also common in North America. Most of the species are herbaceous perennial plants, but some are annuals. They have sturdy stems with opposite heart-shaped, green to grayish-green leaves. The flowers are white, blue, pink or lilac and occur in several clusters toward the tip of the stems. The flowers are tubular and spotted with tiny purple dots.

Uses
Oil isolated from catnip by steam distillation is a repellent against insects, in particular mosquitoes, cockroaches and termites. Research suggests that in a test tube, distilled nepetalactone, the active ingredient in catnip, repels mosquitoes ten times more effectively than DEET, the active ingredient in most insect repellents, but that it is not as effective a repellent when used on the skin.Additionally, catnip and catnip-laced products designed for use with domesticated cats are available to consumers.

Species
Nepeta curviflora flowers
Nepeta cataria (Catnip, True Catnip, Catmint or Field Balm) is a 50–100 cm tall perennial herb resembling mint in appearance, with greyish-green leaves; the flowers are white, finely spotted with purple. It has been introduced to many countries, including the United States. A lemon-scented cultivar, N. cataria 'Citriodora', looks exactly like true catnip but has the scent of lemons and can be used like Lemon balm.
Nepeta grandiflora (Giant Catmint or Caucasus Catmint) is lusher than true catnip and has dark green leaves and dark blue, almost purple flowers.
Nepeta × faassenii (N. racemosa × N. nepetella; Faassen's Nepeta or Faassen's Catnip) is mostly grown as an ornamental plant. This hybrid is far smaller than either of above and is almost a ground cover. It has greyish-green leaves and light purple flowers.
Some Dracocephalum, Glechoma and Calamintha species were formerly classified in Nepeta.
Nepeta species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species including Coleophora albitarsella.
Selected species
Nepeta agrestis
Nepeta annua
Nepeta apuleii
Nepeta beltranii
Nepeta camphorata
Nepeta cataria
Nepeta ciliaris
Nepeta coerulescens
Nepeta curviflora
Nepeta densiflora
Nepeta dentata
Nepeta dirphya
Nepeta discolor
Nepeta elliptica
Nepeta everardi
Nepeta floccosa
Nepeta foliosa
Nepeta fordii
Nepeta glutinosa
Nepeta govaniana
Nepeta granatensis
Nepeta grandiflora
Nepeta heldreichii
Nepeta hemsleyana
Nepeta hindost
Nepeta hispanica
Nepeta italica
Nepeta jomdaensis
Nepeta kokamirica
Nepeta kokanica
Nepeta laevigata
Nepeta lamiopsis
Nepeta latifolia
Nepeta leucolaena
Nepeta leucophylla
Nepeta longibracteata
Nepeta manchuriensis
Nepeta melissifolia
Nepeta membranifolia
Nepeta micrantha
Nepeta multibracteata
Nepeta multifida
Nepeta mussinii
Nepeta nepalensis
Nepeta nepetella
Nepeta nervosa
Nepeta nuda
Nepeta parnassica
Nepeta parviflora
Nepeta phyllochlamys
Nepeta prattii
Nepeta pungens
Nepeta racemosa
Nepeta raphanorhiza
Nepeta scordotis
Nepeta sessilis
Nepeta sibirica
Nepeta sibthorpii
Nepeta souliei
Nepeta spruneri
Nepeta staintonii
Nepeta stewartiana
Nepeta sungpanensis
Nepeta supina
Nepeta taxkorganica
Nepeta tenuiflora
Nepeta tenuifolia
Nepeta tuberosa
Nepeta ucranica
Nepeta veitchii
Nepeta virgata
Nepeta wilsonii
Nepeta yanthina
Nepeta zandaensis
Natural hybrids
Nepeta × faassenii

Effects on cats
Catnip and catmints are mainly known for the behavioral effects they have on cats, particularly domestics. When cats sense the bruised leaves or stems of catnip, they may roll over it, paw at it, chew it, lick it, leap about and purr, or heavily salivate. Some will growl, meow, scratch, or bite the hand holding it.

A domestic cat demonstrating the effects of catnip such as rolling, pawing, and frisking
About two thirds of cats are susceptible to catnip. The phenomenon is hereditary; for example, most Australian cats do not react to it. There is some disagreement about the susceptibility of lions and tigers to catnip.
Catnip has nepetalactone, a terpene. Nepetalactone can be extracted from catnip by steam distillation. Cats detect it through their olfactory epithelium, not through their vomeronasal organ. At the olfactory epithelium, the nepetalactone binds to one or more olfactory receptors where it probably mimics a cat pheromone, such as the hypothetical feline facial pheromone or the cat urine odorant MMB.
Other plants that also have this effect on cats include valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and plants that contain actinidine or dihydroactinidiolide (Smith, 2005).