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...

Fat acceptance vs. averages

Maine Coons can be even larger, averaging nine to twenty-two pounds—again, many of them lean toward the heavier end. The “generic” American...

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...