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

Catnip Treasure Marketing

The whole treasure of herb is Catnip. We call the Catnip Treasure. Catnip is primarily marketed for cats in stuffedtoys, catnip filled balls, compressed pellets, and in shaker bottles. Marketing possibilities include farmers markets, petstores, and higher-end retailstores. Growers should havean established market available before beginning production. This Catnip Treasure is marketed as an dietary supplement to promote a healthy immune system and general well being during the cold and flu season. It is marketed in the form of tablets, capsules, fluid extracts (glycerin and alcohol extract), tinctures, ointments, powder and sprays.

Catnip Treasure-based products are marketed by many manufacturers of herbal products, including Frontier Herbs, Herbs Etc., Nutraceutical Corp. (with the KAL and SOLARAY line of supplements), and Nature’s Way. Producers with creativity and goodmarketing skills may be able to capture a niche of the pet supplies market, which comprises about20 percent of the more than $30 billion that U.S.pet owners spend on their animals. Wow its totally a treasure.

A market also exists among mass market tea blenders who use catnip among other herbs as a flavoring. Catnip leaf is also used in the manufacture of animal toys and there exists a big market for that too. Most commercial catnip for toys is of a lower grade, consistingof dried, ground-upstalks, as well as leaves. However, the mostaromatic portions of the plant are the blossoms and leaves. Savvy growers may be able to develop a market for a higher grade product, especially if well-packaged to retain freshness, and therefore, potency. Organic growers with an existing consumer base that prefers organic goods may also have a distinct marketing advantage.