Cats Flashcards
Who were the pre-historic ancestors of cats?
Saber tooth tigers.
Gkve some history of saber tooth tigers.
35 million years ago, they were widespread in Europe, asia, africa, and north america.
Who was the wild ancestor of modern cats?
African bush cat.
When did fossils start to show similarities to today’s modern small cats?
About 12 million years old.
When did domestication of cats start?
about 6000 years ago (4000 BC)
Where did domestication of cats start?
Ancient Egypt.
Why were cats domesticated?
Companionship, religious reasons,
some believe also for rodent control.
When did specific cat breeds develop?
Around the middle of the 19th century (mid 1800’s)
People started to keep ancestry records and pedigrees.
How does the breed development of cats compare to dogs?
Cat breeds developed much much later than dogs.
What are female cats and male cats called?
Queen, Tom
What are young cats of either sex called?
kittens.
What is the birth process of cats called?
Queening
What is calling?
The sound a queen makes that is associated with mating
What is the estrous cucle of unmated queens?
10-22 days
Average is 13 to 15 days.
Estrus in cats?
They are induced ovulators.
What does it mean that cats are induced ovulators?
They will not ovulate during estrus unless they are bred by a tom.
How is the penis of a tom unique?
The tom has spurs on his penis.
What is the point of the spurs on the tom’s penis?
It helps stimulate the vagina and cervix during mating.
Why do we need to stimulate the female with the spurns?
This stimulation is critical for induced ovulators.
Explain the antomoy of how induced ovulation works.
There are nerves that run from the vagina and the cervix to the brain.
Once the vagina or cervix is stimulated, the nerves send signals to the brain, which results in the release of LH.
Okay, based on the other explaintion, how would you describe induced ovulators?
Its a neural reflex arc!
What happens if a cat is not bred?
If the cat is not bred, the CL never even develops. Remember, the LH is not stimulated to release.
They will not be pregnant or ovulate without the spurs.
When is ovulation able to be induced?
generally, can be induced at nay time.
However, there are periods in which mating will likely not result in a pregnancy and periods in which it will.
Cats have a large vocabulary of what?
Pure sounds.
How can pure sounds evolve in cats?
They can be combined into a large variety of “complex” calls.
What are the five pure sounds of a cat?
Murmur
Purr
Growl
Squeak
Shriek
Of the pure sounds, What is a cat murmur? (Sound and purpose)
Soft noise when exhaling.
Requesting or greeting.
Of the pure sounds, What is a cat purr? (Sound and purpose)
Soft, buzzlike sound,
most commonly used in social situations.
Of the pure sounds, What is a cat growl? (Sound and purpose)
Harsh, low-pitched,
Agonistic encounters.
Of the pure sounds, What is a cat squeak? (Sound and purpose)
High pitched raspy sound.
Playing greeting, anticipation of pleasant stimuli
Of the pure sounds, What is a cat shriek? (Sound and purpose)
Loud, harsh, high pitched sound.
Pain or agressive situaitons.
What are three complex calls of cats?
Mew,
Moan
Meow.
Of the complex calls, What is a cat Mew? (Sound and purpose)
High pitched, medium amplitude sound. Sounds like a long “e”
Mother/ kitten interaction
Of the complex calls, What is a cat moan? (Sound and purpose)
Low frequency and long duration sound that sounds like an “o” or “u”
Begging to be released or is used when the cat wants to do something, but is being restrained.
Of the complex calls, What is a cat meow? (Sound and purpose)
Characteristic feline sound
Usually used as a greeting.
In terms of sounds, how are cats unique?
The call between young and mother are complex.
It simple in most!!
How do cats convey moods and emotions?
Cats use tail, face, ear, mouth, hair.
They have more variation than dogs.
Dogs use lying positions. What do cats use?
Crouching positions
When is a cats tail high?
When greeting or investigating.
When is a cats tail low? and what else?
tail low and the tip is wagging:
When hunting.
What are some usual signs of aggression? (5)
walking on tiptoes
Head lowered
Back arched
Hair raised
Mouth open with teeth exposed.
Refer to the graphic in your cat notes for pictures on cat moods.
Okay
Describe a cats neutral position.
Everything is normal and fairly flat. Ears are perked and neutral.
tail is in the middle, back is a stright line.
As agression increases, what happens?
Things start to go up.
Hips goes up, ears go up, tail moves down.
As fear increases, what happens to cat posture?
They get smaller and compress.
Fall into a crouch, tail tucks, ears flatted, squeeze head into shoulders.
If a cat is both aggressive and scared, how does posture change.
They get bigger but also scrunch and compress.
back arches, tail goes straight up, legs extend. but, ears flatten and they hunch into themselves.
What is a good way to tell a cats emotions?
Size of pupils
How do pupils change when a cat is agressive?
constricted (small pupils)
How do pupils change when is a cat is defensive (feeling threatened.)
They dilate.
Refer to notes for cat facial expressions.
Okay.
In terms of cat behaviors, what is learned in the order on the timeline?
Fear responses (like back arching)
Approach avoidance
Play sequences
Pounce
Horizontal leap
Chase
In terms of learning behavior timelines, when do cats learn fear responses?
15 days - continuous
In terms of learning behavior timelines, when do cats learn approach avoidance?
18 days- continuous
In terms of learning behavior timelines, when do cats learn play sequences?
21 days - continuous
In terms of learning behavior timelines, when do cats learn pounce?
28 days- continuous
In terms of learning behavior timelines, when do cats learn horizontal leap?
30 days- continuous
In terms of learning behavior timelines, when do cats learn to chase?
32 days- continuous
Why might the cat development timeline be less through than the dog one?
Cats are much less studied than dogs
What is an intresting difference between the development of cats and dogs?
Cats have a lot more arrows! They are lifetime learners.
In terms of what they learn when, what is a big difference between dogs and cats?
Dogs learn to play first.
Cats learn fear and aggressive responses first then how to play.
Why is playing on the developmental timeline?
It is not an instinct!! It must be learned!!
When cats are reared with dogs starting around day 30, what effect does that have on socialization?
Rearing with puppies reduces fear of dogs.
If a cat is handled early from birth until 30 days, what effect does that have on socialization?
Accelerates eye opening and exploratory behavior.
If a cat is handled by day 29 onward, what effect does that have on socialization?
handling and play with different people reduces fear.
When cats are isolated around 68 days, what effect does that have on socialization?
no effect.
When cats are isolated around 15 days onward, what effect does that have on socialization?
Anxious and disorganized as adults.
Compared to dogs, how destructive are cats?
Destructiveness occurs at a much lower frequency in cats compared to dogs.
What are three destructive things that cats do commonly?
Clawing
Wool sucking
And plant eating
What kinds of cats do more wool sucking?
long-haired cats.
Why might a cat claw?
usually related to territorial aggression
What might cause clawing in cats?
stimulated by changes in the enviroment.
Can start through the presence of novel cats, novel pets, and novel people.
What might cause wool sucking
Poorly understood phenomenon
Some think its related to being weaned too early.
May happen if kitten lose their mom.
What decreases wool sucking? Increases it?
The presence of food decreases wool sucking.
Fasting increases it
Why do cats eat plants?
Really poorly understood.
What is a solution to plant eating in cats?
Most of the time the best solution is to try and get the cat to eat plants that arent toxic to it.
What is the number one behavioral issue in cats?
destructive behavior
