Tails talk

A cat’s tail is a great communicator, as every cat owner knows. When excited, the cat’s tail flicks quickly from side to side. If it is still...

Jumping, pouncing, etc.

jumping ability, for the cat can jump six times her own length. (And that’s from a still position, not a running leap.) This comes from the...

Sprinters, not long-distance runners

cheetah . Talk of the cheetah’s amazing speed has to be accompanied by a disclaimer: very fast, but only for short distances. Every cat, ...

Gut juices

saliva as the first digestive fluid to start working on the food, but cat saliva contains hardly any ptyalin, the enzyme that breaks down sta...

“Hair up!” in Latin

Let’s learn some hair-related Latin terms: piloerection (“hair standing up”) and arrector pili (“raiser of hair”). Piloerection occurs in hu...

Do cats freckle?

calico develop freckles as they age, with the spots appearing on their eyelids, mouth, nose and paw pads—in short, on all the exposed areas...

Chest appendices

country expression. Well, most male mammals (including humans) have teats, and they are all useless. A male cat has five or six pairs and th...

Three types of hair

Whether short or long, a cat’s coat, or fur, is of great appeal to humans, especially those of us who like to touch. Nature made cats toucha...

The cold nose test

dogs : a healthy animal will have a slightly cool nose. In both animals the nose is a kind of external thermometer. If your cat’s nose feels...

Nose leather

Cats are almost entirely covered with hair . One of the few bare areas is the end of the nose, which is known as the leather. Kept damp by s...

True and false vocalists

Both you and your cat possess a larynx, also known as the voice box, at the opening to the windpipe. Vocal chords, made up of cartilage, pro...

Global position systems

Automobile makers tout their sophisticated global positioning systems (GPS) in vehicles, but GPS is nothing new in nature. For centuries bir...

It means “many fingered”

Key West , Florida , are literally collectors’ items, fetching high prices. The scientific term for the condition of having extra toes or fing...

Toe-walking

fancy scientific terms: digitigrade describes animals that walk on their toes, while plantigrade refers to those that walk on the whole foot...

The no-slip grip

Cats, like humans, have sebaceous glands in their skin that secrete sebum, a fatty substance that gives hair its sheen and also provides a w...

Pad vibes

The pads on a cat’s paws make excellent grippers, which your cat proves through her agile climbing. But the pads are also sensitive as all g...

No clipping here!

Whiskers are part of the total look of the cat, and most cat owners like them. But occasionally an owner will notice a wild hair (pun intend...

Flexible whiskers

head . The long upper-lip whiskers are called mystacials, and the muscles under them can move the bottom and top rows of hairs independent...

Whiskers first

kitten is born, her eyes are shut and her ears are practically deaf at first, so the fully functional whiskers are one of the chief sources...

Alas, they’re called “canines”

We’re referring to the most noticeable teeth in the cat’s mouth—the “fangs,” two on the top, two on the bottom. Biologists referred to these...