Well, in order to keep this manageable I have decided that a page on cat facts should be reduced to eight sections. Cats should be divided into four groups, wild, domestic moggies, domestic purebreds and feral. Each group has two types of primary cat fact (1) the most important cat fact and (2) the most popular or entertaining cat fact.
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Wildcats
Primary Fact - Conservation -- I would think that everyone who knows wildcats would agree or concede that the most important cat fact is conservation. The wild cats are under threat from human expansion that results in greatly increased commercial activity that destroys wildcat habitat and drives poaching.
The Bengal tiger is being decimated by both and particularly the latter for its body parts. The Siberian tiger may have a population of 400-500 but its population in terms of breeding ability (and therefore survivability) is the equivalent of 14 individuals. When a population of wild animals reaches a threshold its days of survival in the wild are numbered.
The Iberian Lynx may well be the first wildcat since the saber tooth tiger to go extinct in the wild some 10,000 years ago. Its population is incredible low at about 250 individuals. Their survival is jeopardised by human hunting directly and indirectly.
These are mere examples. There is great work being carried out by conservationists but in my honest opinion they are no match for the business juggernaut and human population explosion.
Popular Fact - Size -- The Siberian tiger is the biggest naturally occurring wildcat in the world. The biggest cat in the world in something that humans created; a Liger which is a cross bred tiger and lion, which due to hybrid vigor is substantially larger than either of its parents. His name is Hercules. He weighs 900 lb. The heaviest tigers weigh about 700 lbs.
Domestic Cat - Moggie
Primary Fact - Cat Caretaking -- The fact that many cat "owners" fail to ensure that their cats are neutered, a regrettably necessity in the modern world, causes untold misery to the domestic cat population and leads indirectly to the mass slaughter of unwanted and abandoned cats that sometimes become feral cats.
So, although there are many wonderful caretakers there are still too many irresponsible cat owners. Within the actions of irresponsible cat owners I include the declawing of cats. One thought comes to mind in respect of this procedure: a lack of respect for the cat and an arrogant attitude by humankind. Expectation management concerning cat caretaking cures almost all known cat behavior problems. What do I mean? Please read this.
Popular Fact - The world's fattest cat was Himmy weighing in at 46lb and 15.25 oz. The average weight of a domestic cat is less than one quarter of that.
Domestic Cat - Purebred
Primary Fact - No more new breeds -- There are over 100 cat breeds. Many are on the fringes. There are incidentally more dog breeds. I would say with some confidence that saturation level has been reached with respect to the number of cat breeds. Why? It is no longer possible to create a breed that is healthy and which can be sufficiently distinguished from an existing breed. Everything has a beginning, middle and end. This is the end of the expansion in cat breed numbers.
Popular Fact - Most popular cat breed -- The world's most popular purebred cat is probably the Maine Coon as at the date of this post. The Persian was the most popular and is still the most registered at the Cat Fanciers' Association. But cat breeders register cats so all that tells us is that the Persian is the most bred purebred cat. Are they all desired by customers? Gotta break the rule and add one more purebred cat fact that captures the public's imagination. The largest pet cat is Magic, an F1 Savannah cat.
Feral Cat
Primary Fact - Slaughter -- We all must get it into our heads that we cannot go on simply slaughtering unwanted feral cats by the lorry load - 2 + million per year in the USA. We need to take proactive action such as registration of cats, limitations of cat numbers, obligatory neutering etc. This is complicated and messy but the law makers need to address the problem because people won't.
Popular Fact - More killing - Odd but true I believe. A decent sized number of people are interested in shooting feral cats. They hate cats and they think it is fair game to shoot them. They argue that is solves the population crises of feral cats. It does not. It actually achieves the opposite.
For feral cats it is all about a short, dirty and uncomfortable life and avoiding people. Except a band of beautiful people who help and do the right thing such as Elisa.
See Feral Cats and Feral Cat Problem.
Now you can read more and more and more cat facts on this page: Cat Facts.
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