Concise summary of the domestic cat's skeleton

Here is a thorough yet concise summary of the domestic cat's skeleton. Useful for cat caregivers to know. Knowledge is very supportive of good cat caregiving. It is always useful to have some basic cat anatomy and cat health knowledge as it allows a cat caregiver to be better at their job! This is a 2 minute read.

MORE: CAT ANATOMY IN MORE DETAIL

The domestic cat's skeleton is designed for flexibility, strength, and lightweight agility. The key components of a cat's skeleton include:

Skull - A cat's skull is similar to that of other carnivores, with powerful jaws and teeth for catching and tearing prey. The skull has large eye sockets, a short snout, and strong neck vertebrae.

Vertebral Column - Like all mammals, cats have a vertebral column consisting of cervical (neck), thoracic (chest), lumbar (lower back), sacral, and caudal (tail) vertebrae. Cats have relatively flexible vertebrae which allow them to contort their body and squeeze into tight spaces.

Ribs - Cats have 13 pairs of curved ribs which cage and protect the heart and lungs. The ribcage is flexible to allow cats to breathe even when occupying small spaces or contorting their body.

Shoulder Girdle - Cats have well-developed shoulder blades (scapulae) and collar bones (clavicles) which anchor the front limbs. The shoulder girdle provides strength and range of motion for climbing, pouncing, and catching prey.

Pelvic Girdle - The pelvic girdle consists of the hip bones (coxal bones) which the hind limbs attach to. A cat's pelvis is adapted for speed, agility, jumping, and forceful backward kicks with the hind legs.

Limbs - Each limb consists of an upper arm or thigh bone, two lower arm/leg bones, delicate wrist/ankle bones, and five digits on the forefeet and four or five digits on the back feet. Limbs are lightweight yet very strong, enabling cats' amazing jumping, climbing, and hunting abilities.

The skeletal structure, together with lightweight but strong bones, allows cats an almost unparalleled degree of agility, flexibility, speed and balance. Did this overview cover the key points thoroughly? Let me know if you have any other questions!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Detailed overview of the nervous system of the domestic cat

Here is a detailed overview of the nervous system of the domestic cat:

The cat's nervous system, like that of all mammals, can be broken down into the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.

The Central Nervous System consists of the brain and spinal cord.

The cat brain is similar in organization to the human brain, containing the forebrain (which includes the cerebrum and thalamus), midbrain, and hindbrain (which includes the cerebellum and medulla oblongata). However, the cat brain is significantly smaller relative to body size compared to humans.

Some key things to know about the cat brain:

• The cerebrum is smaller compared to body size than many other mammals. However, areas associated with sensory processing (sight, hearing, touch) are well-developed, reflecting the cat's strong reliance on these senses for hunting.
• The cerebellum coordinates motor control and balance, important for their agility and hunting abilities.
• The olfactory bulbs are 40x larger than in humans, showing their enhanced sense of smell.

The cat spinal cord resembles the human spinal cord, containing ascending and descending nerve tracts. It transmits information between the brain and the rest of the body.

The Peripheral Nervous System consists of nerve circuits originating from the central nervous system that interface with sensory receptors and govern organs/tissues outside the brain and spinal cord, like muscles.

It contains the somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system:

• The somatic system includes the neurons that innervate skeletal muscles to enable voluntary movement.
• The autonomic system controls involuntary functions like digestion and heart rate. It has sympathetic and parasympathetic arms for “fight or flight” vs “rest and digest” responses.

I hope this helps summarize the basic organization and features of the cat's nervous system? Let me know if you need any part explained further or have additional questions!

CLICK HERE TO VISIT A PAGE ON CAT ANATOMY.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Four eared cats have two ears and four ear flaps

This is a quick note and a cross-post. I am a little irritated by the news media who have recently written about a Tennessee kitten with "four ears". There's lots of excitement within the news media about this. They like anatomical curiosities. It's a bit like the Victorian voyeurism of freaks at freak shows. 

Four eared cats have two ears and four ear flaps. Image: MikeB

But they get it wrong. When a cat has "four ears" they actually have four ear flaps - the bit that we see and which captures sound - but internally they have two middle ears and two inner ears. In other words they have two ears but they have for ear flaps, one extra which is normally much smaller than the original one due to a genetic mutation about which the scientists don't know anything almost because this is quite a rare condition.

That's the picture. I wanted to correct what the newspapers are saying. Because they almost blindly shout from the rooftops that this cat has four ears when he does not. He has two ears because the word "ear" describes the entire anatomy including the ear flap, the middle ear, and the inner ear.

In another act of misrepresentation I would argue, they have called this ginger tabby and white cat with a long face and large ear flaps (possible Oriental Shorter genes somewhere in the) "Audio". That's the opposite to what he should be called because 'audio' means producing sound whereas ear flaps capture sound. Another anomaly!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

The domestic cat is NOT weird as stupid newspaper journalists claim

Online newspaper journalists have a tendency to claim that the domestic cat is "weird". It just plain stupid. Domestic cats behave as they instinctively have evolved to behave. They behave differently to humans and from a cat's perspective, no doubt humans behave weirdly. 

In fact human behaviour is far more weird than cat behaviour. Look at what humans are doing to the planet at the moment? They are destroying the planet upon which they rely for sustenance and for all their needs. If that isn't weird I don't know what is.

But a website called Your Tango says that cats are weird and they list 15 facts to prove it. So what are these facts? I will touch on a few of them to illustrate my argument.

Perspiration

The first one they list is that "cats sweat through their paws". What is weird about that?! That's perfectly normal. Cats can't sweat through their bodies because they have a coat which is highly functional. And they keep their coat clean all by themselves without having to go into the shower! Far more practical than human behaviour. 

Also when they groom themselves it helps to cool them through the same scientific process which makes sweating effective: the latent heat of evaporation.

Tasting sweetness

And they add that "cats can't taste anything sweet". So what? Cats are obligate carnivores. They've evolved to eat meat. They don't need to be able to taste sweetness. 

Look, if humans couldn't take anything sweet just like cats there would be much less human obesity. Around 40% of Americans are obese. It is a similar percentage UK residents. This obesity is nearly always caused by overeating and eating the wrong foods including foods high in carbohydrate i.e. sugars. Sugars and salt are addictive to humans.

Ironically, the only reason why domestic cats can be obese (and there are too many obese domestic cats thanks to poor human caregiving) is because of the high carbohydrate content in the unnatural dry cat food that they are given so often. Humans have passed on their obesity to the domestic cat.

Grooming exaggeration

Then Your Tango begins to get things wrong. They add that "cats spend up to half their lives grooming themselves". Wrong! Completely wrong! Cats are fastidious groomers but they don't spend half their lives grooming themselves.

Sleeping exaggeration

And they say that cats spend 70% of their lives sleeping. This is incorrect as well because cats, particularly full-time indoor cats, spend a lot of their time perhaps even more than 70% sometimes of their lives not sleeping but snoozing. That's because they've nothing to do thanks to full-time indoor living and a sterile environment. They are not sleeping in the proper sense. We know this because they leap into action at the slightest activity near them.

DNA

The journalist also adds that domestic cats shed 95.6% of their DNA with tigers. That's probably correct and there is also nothing weird about it at all. It's what you would expect because thanks to millions of years of evolution both the tiger and the domestic cat stem from the same ancient cat-like animal. 

Their evolutionary paths split millions of years ago but their ancient origins are the same. Nothing strange about that. It is all nature, evolution and scientific.

I won't bother to go on because I'm wasting my time. I've made my point. Online journalists need to be more careful and stop using click bait words and tactics. I've seen too much of it; too much stupidity and carelessness.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

The skin of a cat is not tightly attached to the muscle below

This is about how small cats - the wild cats and the domestic cat - are able to better protect themselves in the event of a fight with another cat over territory thanks to their anatomy.

Small wild cats and the domestic cat are able to protect themselves thanks to their anatomy. Image: MikeB

Small cats try and avoid physical fights to avoid harm which, in turn, ensures that they remain as fit as possible to be the excellent predator that they are. Injuries can blunt their predation and even lead to starvation. 

They avoid other cats by marking territory with scratch marks, urine and faeces. Also they can sometimes scream loudly at their neighbours to tell them not to encroach on their home range.

In short a range of methods are employed to achieve a result without actually fighting.

When there is physical confrontation between small cats over their home range, they will try to avoid fighting by sumo-style standoff signalling using sounds and body language postures. If effective the weaker cat slinks off very slowly. Job done.

The last resort is an actual fight and under these extreme circumstances the small cat has an anatomy which helps to protect them.

RELATED: ChatGPT on animal welfare, sentience, cat anatomy, declawing, speciesism and more.

Here are some aspects of the small cat anatomy adaptations to inter-species fighting.

1. The skin of the small cat is not tightly attached to the muscle below.
2. The cat's body is very loosely enclosed within their skin.
3. The muscles move and slip within the skin.
4. Small cats seem to be able to rotate their body with their skin allowing the cat to often squirm free.
5. The cat's fur protects them.
6. The cat's fur seems to slide when grasped.
7. A combatant's teeth and claws might penetrate fur and skin but they a less likely to penetrate muscle.

These aspects of the small cat anatomy helps to thwart the grip of a combatant. The odds are that a couple of small cats fighting over territory will come out of a fight without serious injury. You see ears mangled sometimes for example but that won't hinder survival.

They often return to their home ranges and continue to patrol it diligently as before.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

The genetic reason why cats can't taste sweetness

There is a scientific reason why cats can't take sweetness and is all about genetics. James G Sanderson and Patrick Watson in their book Small Wild Cats say this about that genetic reason:

"In 2005, scientists discovered that all cats lack one of a pair of proteins required to sense sweetness. The missing protein was the result of a deletion, the loss of part of a chromosome or sequence of DNA in a gene."

In other words, going back a long time in the history of the evolution of the cat, there was a genetic mutation and the interesting argument is that because of that mutation, the entire family of cats became carnivores. It was the beginning of their flesh eating lifestyle.

The point is that plants contain sugars because of photosynthesis and if cats 30 million years ago or 10 million years ago had been able to taste sweetness and enjoy it they would have started to eat plants and perhaps become omnivores like foxes but they became strict or hyper-carnivores able only to enjoy the flesh of animals and nothing else practically. Cats do eat a small amount of plant material for health reasons and the snow leopard is the greatest feline plant eater.

RELATED: 7 reasons why domesticate cats eat grass.

Although cats can detect bitterness, the opposite taste. It is believed to be a survival skill because toxins are often taste bitter. That's why you will find domestic cats leaving the bile duct - the only piece of prey anatomy that they leave behind (sometimes) - after catching a mouse. Bile is bitter and the cat believes that that part of the mouse is toxic.

My further research indicates that this lack of sweet receptors can be boiled down to a lack of the taste receptors known as  "T1R2" and "T1R3," which are responsible for detecting sweetness. They are present in the tongues of humans and are activated by sugar molecules. Without them we would be unable to taste sweetness. But with them we've become addicted to the taste of sweetness! And salts! But that's something else.

RELATED: There are actually 14 benefits to cats through the use of their tongue! Click the link to find out what they are.

Briefly, you might know that the tongue of the domestic cat is an amazing organ with two different types of backward facing papillae which the cat uses to groom themselves and tear the flesh from bones of their prey.

The concept of genetic mutations is very very important. It is how evolution works. When a mutation occurs which is a failure in copying the DNA properly during development, it can make the resultant offspring more able less able to survive in the wild. Or there might be neutral consequence.

If as a consequence of the genetic mutation the offspring survive more efficiently than their siblings and other animals of the same species they will have a greater chance to have their own offspring and over millions of years the only offspring being born will be those carrying the genetic mutation and at that time the species we have evolved into a modified version or an entirely new species. That is how evolution works through natural selection as opposed to artificial selection wishes the process of cat breeding.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Domestic cats can assess a snake attack and react all in 0.04 of a second

I have written about the cat's rapid reactions before when mentioning the ability of the diminutive sand cat to kill snakes fearlessly. The cat is able to out-react the snake. The snake has no chance in a fight with a humble stray cat. In the early days of cat domestication they were used to keep down rodent numbers and deal with snakes. That was thousands of years ago and they are doing the same thing today in the front-line trenches in Ukraine where cats keep the Ukrainian soldiers company and kill snakes and rats.

RELATED: Tender, beautiful and sad picture of a domestic cat sleeping with their Ukrainian warrior companion.

Cats probably have faster reactions than snakes and snakes are known to have impressive reaction times. The humble domestic or stray cat is incredible when it comes to the rapidity of their reactions. The video shows us this amazing skill. The cat can kill snakes as they can avoid the bite even when the snake is right in the face of the cat as seen in the video.

Cat avoids snake bit in a most impressive way. Screenshot.

"Cats have highly developed sensory systems, including keen eyesight, acute hearing, and sensitive whiskers, which contribute to their ability to react swiftly. They are known for their ability to pounce on moving objects with remarkable accuracy and agility." - AI computer Poe.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

All small cats are fully capable swimmers (when they have to be)

You might find that the general consensus among the public is that small cats including the domestic cat don't like water and therefore don't swim in it. To a certain extent they are correct. But not entirely as when required small cats swim like champions.

Domestic cat swimming very competently. Image: MikeB (Canva under license).

The paradigm small cat is a domestic cat. There are, actually, 30 small wild cat species plus one extra namely the domestic cat.

RELATED: Where do small wild cats live?

And we only have to look at the domestic cat and how they cope with being in water to see that all small cats are very capable swimmers.

Most small cats given the option will skirt around water such as jump over a small stream. But if that stream is a river they will wade in or swim through it when required.

They are born with this capability. It is entirely instinctive and, interestingly, if you look carefully at the feet of a domestic cat there is webbing between the toes.

Sphynx showing off their webbed feet! Image in public domain.

The picture above shows a hairless cat with very strong webbing between the toes. You'll find the same in all domestic cats. I take this to mean that through evolution the anatomy of the small cat species has evolved to assist the cat to swim to improve their survival.

Here is a black Oriental SH with webbed feet:

Black OSH with webbed feet. Image in public domain.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Cat's hind leg has a mind of its own forcing the cat to fight back

This video is scarcely believable because what we see is a cat losing control of his right hind leg to the point where the hind leg in question has a mind of its own and starts to attack the cat. The cat then fights back. That's what it looks like and it is incredibly odd.

My brief thoughts about this strange video is that the right hind leg was scratching the cat's neck which is very typical cat behaviour. And my theory is that this scratching process is an automated, instinctive process perhaps partially governed by the autonomic nervous system which is the nervous system which runs the beat of the heart and the breathing.

And therefore, the hind leg takes on a mentality of its own almost which in this instance annoyed the cat so he or she fought back.

That's just a thought but you have to try and understand what's going on and there does seem to be a fight between the hind leg and the cat who owns the hind leg! But it ends up in play-fighting. Cool. This cat does not need a caregiver or another cat to play with!

Sometimes cats do something similar with their tails.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Hind leg fights back! Screen grab from video above.

Cat direct register gait seen brilliantly in the snow

Direct register cat gait is seen clearly when walking in quite deep snow. Image: MikeB from screenshot taken from video below on Twitter.

The domestic cat walks with direct register which means that cats place their hind paws directly in the same spot where their front paws landed. This creates a narrow track with overlapping pawprints in the snow as you can see. The reasons why cats and in fact many other animals do this is because of the reasons set out below the video.

Stealth and balance. It allows the cat to move silently and precisely. They minimise the amount of noise and of course disturbance that they make while walking. And in the snow, it is probably quite important because walking in the snow can be quite noisy and if the hind paws registered directly with the forepaws they don't go into the snow. They are silent.

It looks like this cat has walked along this snow track before and returned, using the exact same positions for his or her feet.

Cats instinctively walk silently and stealthily because they are one of the world's most skilled hunters. And when hunting they need to go undetected.

Direct register walking also helps in maintaining balance particularly when the cat is walking along a narrow surface or along a branch for instance.

Energy conservation. With a gait in direct register, the cat as a skilled predator can move more efficiently and they can conserve energy. They minimise the distance travelled by their bodies' center of mass between each step. This minimises their movement and reduces unnecessary movements which allows them to retain energy for more important activities such as a surge in speed when hunting or escaping larger predators.

And also, it goes without saying when looking at this video and the still image that walking in direct register provides a kind of camouflage for the cat's presence. The cat leaves a narrower and less conspicuous trail. This makes it more challenging for a predator of cats to detect and attack them.

The direct register gait of cats applies to walking. Cats do not maintain a direct register gait when they are running. They transition to a form of movement called the "rotary gallop". This form of movement allows them to move much faster while the direct register method of walking is mainly used for slower, stealthy movements. The rotary gallop is used for quick bursts of speed when hunting over a short distance after the stealthy approach.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Unsterilised male cats produce more sperm during July to December (Brisbane)

It probably will not surprise you to know that unsterilised tomcats produce more sperm during the mating season which is spring and summer. A study - believed to have been conducted in Brisbane, Australia - found that tomcats produce more sperm during the months of July and December for Brisbane. Clearly the season depends on where the cats live! For Brisbane spring is September to November.

Masculine-looking tomcat with jowly cheeks. Image: Pixabay.

The scientist who conducted this experiment used electroejaculation methods which I presume means using electricity to stimulate a male cat to ejaculate sperm.

It sounds pretty upsetting to be honest but the scientists who conducted the experiment said that it did not cause any harm or discomfort.

It seems that the purpose of the study was to see whether it is possible to provide information to cat breeders about those peak moments when their male stud cat is producing more sperm than normal and which would probably enhance the breeding process.

I don't know for sure whether a breeder would find this kind of study useful. They might not because they may know instinctively when their stud cat is more fertile and more able to produce offspring. Perhaps there is no problem whatsoever in a male stud cat producing offspring but a breeder will tell you.

My report here is based upon the summary of a study carried out by I. Johnstone entitled: "Electroejaculation in the domestic cat".

The scientist, found that there was a great deal of variation between "collections from the same cat indicating the necessity for at least five collections when assessing the fertility of a tomcat."

They found that "sperm counts were higher in the latter half of the year, at the time of increased sexual activity for cats in the Brisbane area."

They say that the "results have indicated that semen volume tends to increase from July to December, thus indicating increased accessory gland activity during the breeding season."

What are 'laces' in the cat fancy?

Laces refers to white fur on the back feet. You'll see them on some cat breeds like the Birman and Snowshoe. The Birman is a pointed cat with 'gloves' (white fur on the feet to contrast with the dark pointing). These gloves on the hind feet are referred to as laces. In the Birman the laces finish with an inverted V extended half to three-fourths up the hock. The hock is at the end of the foot and the beginning of the leg; the joint between the tarsal bones and tibia of a digitigrade. The cat is a digitigrade (walks on their toes).

Blue point Birman showing gloves and laces. Image: Wikipedia.

Full image credit: By Claudia Zaino - Albafeles Sacred Birmans, CC BY-SA 2.5 it, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2308036.

The cat fancy likes to use these terms that are applicable to human clothes. Another is 'britches' (or pantaloons) which describes the longer fur at the top of the hind legs of some cat breeds.

My cats mouth is "spotty" and looks strange to me. I'm concerned.

The picture comes from Reddit.com again - a good source of questions about cat appearance and behavior. The problem stated in the title is one which crops up from time to time on the Internet. It can look a little concerning because cat owners expect the inside of their cat's mouth to be pink because the mucous membrane there is normally evenly pink. 

Pigmentation in the mucous membrane of a cat's mouth. Image: Reddit.com

But sometimes the cells of the mucous membrane can be black because of the production of melanin which is the same pigment which colours the hair strands. It's all perfectly normal. They look a bit like freckles inside the mouth. This is not a health problem in any shape or form. Sometimes there are large blotches of black mucous membrane and sometimes you might see little dots of pigmentation along the gum line. No problem.

It is nice that the owner of this cat who posted the picture on the Reddit.com website is asking if other people are concerned about the appearance of her cat which she must love and care for well.

On a slightly different topic, it seems that the interior of his mouth is pretty healthy too! Sometimes you see some quite bad inflammation of the gums due to gum disease which in turn is due to calculus building up around the gum line. 

Tragedy as female cat suffers catastrophic reaction to general anesthetic.

This contains bacteria which causes the inflammation. It is very hard, as we all know, to clean a cat's teeth! That's why they end up going to the veterinarian for teeth cleaning which, you might already know, carries a health risk because they have to anaesthetise the cat and there is an approx. 1 in 400 chance of the anaesthetic damaging the cat's brain which can render them blind and even kill them (click the link above for a tragic example).

Why do cats have whiskers? It is cruel to trim them.

A domestic cat's whiskers (and the same, of course, applies to feral and stray cats) are remarkable items of feline anatomy. Most people think of them as serving a single purpose: to measure the width of gaps to tell the cat if she can get through it but they do a lot more than that.

They are very sensitive as at their base there is a mass of nerve endings. This makes cats' whiskers so sensitive they can feel air currents wafting around solid objects which the cat can't see clearly in the dark depths of night even with their super-sensitive eyes.

Vital cat's whiskers. Image: MikeB

Night hunting

Whiskers are particularly important when a cat hunts at night. Dr. Desmond Morris in his seminal book Cat Watching tells us that we know whiskers are vital to a cat when hunting at night because if they are damaged, they cannot make a perfectly clean kill in the dark but when they are in perfect condition, they can kill cleaning in the depths of night. 

Feelers

They achieve this because these supersensitive appendages a.k.a. vibrissae can feel the neck of the mouse or bird that the cat has caught and armed with the information that whiskers pass back to their brain they are able to visualise the neck and the position of the vertebrae within the neck and deliver their killing nape of the neck bite to split the vertebrae and kill the prey animal.

In this example, the whiskers are acting like feelers and they become the eyes of the domestic cat in the dark. They have a split-second ability to check the body outline of the victim. Dr. Morris believes that the tips of the whiskers "must read off the details of the shape of the prey, like a blind man reading Braille, and in an instant tell the cat how to react".

And in some photographs of cats that have caught prey the whiskers are almost wrapped around the animal's body passing back vital information to the cat's brain about the slightest movement if the prey is still alive.

Nocturnal hunter

And we know that the domestic cat is a primarily nocturnal hunter although they are diurnal meaning they hunt at night and day but they favour dawn and dusk i.e. they are crepuscular. This is because that is the time when prey animals are more active. Because of this whiskers are particularly vital in their success rate in killing prey.

Anatomy

Anatomically speaking, the whiskers are greatly enlarged and stiffened hairs as you no doubt know. They are twice the thickness of ordinary hairs. And as you also might know they are embedded in the tissue of the cat's upper lip to a depth of three times that of other hairs. That last bit you probably didn't realise and deep under the skin they are supplied with a mass of nerve endings as I've mentioned above.

Normally, a cat has 24 whiskers, 12 on each side of the nose. They are arranged in horizontal rows.  The length of whiskers varies enormously between cats. Here for example are the amazing whiskers on a female cat:

Amazing whiskers on a cute female cat. Image in public domain.

Moveable

They can move forwards when the cat wants to check things out with their whiskers. If you put a cat tease in front of a cat's face you might be lucky enough to see their whiskers dart forwards as if to touch the feathers of the tease.

And they can move backwards when the cat needs to protect them as part of a defensive action. And they can move backwards when for example the cat has their head in a food or a water bowl. This brings up another issue which is "whiskers stress". 

Whisker stress

Many people believe that some cat bowls are the wrong shape i.e. they are too deep and too narrow. Cat food bowl should be quite wide and flattish. This allows the whiskers to avoid the sides of the bowl which avoids whiskers stress which is a form of irritation to the cat and it might be so bad as to encourage the cat to not feed. I don't think that happens an awful lot but it may happen in certain individual cats.

Also, the top two rows of whiskers can be moved independently of the bottom two. The strongest whiskers are in rows two and three according to Dr. Morris.

Non-facial whiskers

You will also see whiskers in other parts of the body. For example, there are a few on the cheeks, over the eyes and on the chin.  Surprisingly, you might also see some at the back of the front legs. They are all sensitive detectors.

The cat's whiskers

When we say that something is "the cat's whiskers" we mean that it is very good. It is an apt expression because whiskers are indeed very good. They are a very special piece of feline anatomy.

Trimming

For this reason, they should never be trimmed or cut in anyway shape or form. Some people ask whether they can trim a cat's whiskers. The answer quite positively is no as you can understand from the long description above. 

Image: MikeB

My now deceased sister cut off the whiskers of our family cat when she was a girl. To this day I have no idea why she did it. It was a cruel act.

Hairless cats

Some purebred cats have crinkly whiskers or no whiskers due to a genetic mutation. I am referring to the hairless cats; the Sphynx and Don Sphynx. 

Hairless cat showing poor quality whiskers. Image: Pixels by Pixabay.

This is an example of how breeding a purebred cat based on a genetic mutation which creates a defect (no hair and poor whiskers) can be cruel to the cat. A hairless cat cannot rely on their whiskers as described above.

Reason why Ragdoll cats have blue eyes

Ben in his video below explains why Ragdoll cats have blue eyes for the standpoint of physics. But it isn't just Ragdoll cats which have blue eyes. Kittens have too and Siamese must have blue eyes and other breeds are allowed to have blue eyes under their breed standards. 

The physics behind the blue eyes of cats including the Ragdoll. Screenshot.

The Ragdoll breed standard states that Ragdolls must have blue eyes. EYES: large, vivid blue ovals. Wide set and moderately slanted, complementing wedge.

And the anatomical reason and the physics behind the blue colour of their eyes is explained in the video below. The same reason applies to kittens when their eye colour is developing but not yet developed.

Blue eyes caused by scattering of blue light not pigment. Image: MikeB

And the same physics applies to the blue sky. The color blue has a shorter wavelength than the other colours and it is scattered more by the particles in the air which is why the sky is blue.

RELATED: Why are kittens’ eyes blue?

It is this scattering of blue light and not the other colours which accounts for blue eyes in Ragdoll cats.

Why does the dominant white gene cause deafness in some cats?

The dominant white gene in cats is associated with an increased risk of deafness. This is because the gene affects the development of the cells in the inner ear that are responsible for hearing.

All-white semi-feral cat. Image in public domain.

The dominant white gene can cause the cells in the inner ear to fail to develop normally, leading to a condition called congenital sensorineural deafness. This type of deafness is caused by damage to the hair cells in the inner ear, which are responsible for converting sound waves into electrical signals that are sent to the brain.

RELATED: What percentage of white cats are deaf?

Cats that have one or two copies of the dominant white gene are at an increased risk of developing congenital deafness. This is particularly common in cats with white fur and blue eyes, as the gene that causes blue eyes is closely linked to the dominant white gene.

RELATED: Deafness in cats – causes, diagnosis and management plus dog info. too

It is important to note that not all cats with the dominant white gene will be deaf, and not all deaf cats have the dominant white gene. Deafness can also be caused by other genetic mutations, environmental factors, or as a result of age-related hearing loss.

Cat claw is bent sideways, what should I do?

The cat's caregiver asks the question in the title and adds:

"Should I leave like this or do something? He can walk fine and it only seems to hurt if you touch it, I didn't see any blood or complaining"

My response is as follows (it continues below the picture - what would your response be?):

"As the cat's claw is embedded into bone and that bone is the distal phalange of the foreleg and hindleg toe, it would seem to me that the claw has broken at its base where it enters into the bone.

Cat claw is bent sideways, what should I do? This is a screenshot from a video provided by the user whose username is: u/Kistar2.

It will be sore because there are nerve endings and blood vessels which pass into the base of the claw.

As the others have said, cats are stoic. They don't show pain generally but your cat does indicate that it is tender to the touch.

It would appear that he or she has landed badly after jumping down, jumping up or perhaps clawing their way up something and the claw has been damaged in a way which I think requires a veterinarian to check out.

That's my assessment. I could be wrong. I am not a veterinarian but I have spent 15 years studying domestic cats including their anatomy including the cat's claw as I am interested in a ban on declawing. Good luck."

Do domestic cats feel the cold?

Do domestic cats feel the cold? There are six topics to be addressed in answering this question. 

Wildcat ancestor from hot climate

Firstly, the North African wildcat is the wild ancestor of the domestic cat. That wild cat's attitude towards the cold and towards heat is within the domestic cat. And the North African wildcats as you can imagine live in a very warm climate.

Do domestic cats feel the cold? Yes, of course but they tolerate it better than humans. Image: MikeB

Feline behaviour

This is why the domestic cat likes to be in a warm environment. That's why they like to be on your lap if they are lap cats. That is why they sleep in the airing cupboard where the hot water cylinder is. That is why my cat is right now in a utility room where the boiler (furnace) is situated.

We know that domestic cats like warmth. They seek it everywhere all the time. Therefore, by definition, they dislike cold. That's the first point.

Tolerant

The third point is that domestic cats are very tolerant. They are less complaining than humans. They are more tolerant of pain and distress. There are more tolerant of extreme conditions. That does not mean they don't feel the cold, it just means that they tolerate it better than humans at a psychological level. Their brain processes the feeling of discomfort, in this instance through being cold, better than humans do.

You will find stories on the Internet of domestic and stray cats being frozen to the ground, literally. In these instances, sometimes, when the cat has been rescued, they've had to amputate their paws because of frostbite. A horrible thought.

And of course, feral cats in many parts of the world survive winter in freezing conditions. That's why nice people who operate TNR programs provide feral cats with little homes which are insulated so they can at least feel warmer during those very cold days and nights.

Cat coats

We therefore know that domestic cats feel cold but they tolerate cold better. And one reason why they are better able to tolerate cold is because they have a permanent overcoat on them 👍✔️.

Clearly, some cats are better protected in this regard than others. The longhaired cats with a downy undercoat are going to feel less cold than sleek, single-coated cats.

The well-known Maine Coon cat example has a shaggy, semi-longhaired coat because they originate in the state of Maine as barn cats. They were semi-domesticated in that state, before they became show cats, in the 1800s and before.

Siberian cats. Image in public domain.

The Siberian purebred cat is another example of a domestic cat with a history of coming from a cold part of the world. They have coats designed for cold climates.

Evolution

Arguably they will be too hot in warm homes and in warm climates. A thought. An interesting further thought is this: Siberian cats and Maine Coon cats (for example - there are other breeds) would not have evolved through natural selection to have these warm, longhaired coats unless nature recognised the fact that they needed to keep warm and in doing that nature obviously agreed that they feel the cold. Evolution has protected these cats from cold conditions. It is, therefore, an admission that domestic cats and semi-domestic cats feel the cold.

Nervous system and anatomy

It has to be said that the anatomy of the domestic cat is really very similar to that of humans in very many ways. And certainly, in terms of feeling and detecting cold their nervous system and brain is very similar to that of humans. This strongly supports the idea that domestic cats feel the cold.

Longhaired feral cats

Interestingly, you will find that there are very few feral cats that are long haired because the gene that creates long hair is recessive. That means two carriers of the gene are going to have to meet and procreate to produce a litter of kittens that are longhaired. 

Most feral cats you see will be shorthaired. And they will feel the cold. But in feeling the cold, as mentioned, they process it in a way which enables them to accept it without complaint

Should domestic cats have wet noses?

No, positively not unless your cat has condensation on their nose leather because they've been outside in freezing weather, or they have a URI. But under normal circumstances a cat's nose should be dry but not hard dry and therefore very slightly damp because there is always a little bit condensation and the air from the lungs is moist. To stress: there may be a bit of moisture there but to the touch the nose leather should not be 'wet' per se. 

I think the problem here is that people are mixing up cats with dogs. Wet noses for dogs are normal but that does not mean that they should be wet all the time. 

There are a range of conditions for a dog's nose leather. But I sense that people think that a dog's nose should be wet and the same applies to cats. Wrong, I am afraid.

Pic: MikeB.

Other than that, I don't understand why some people think a cat's nose should be 'wet'. That's plain wrong. It'll be wet if they have an upper respiratory infection as mentioned. Of course. 

You only have to think about humans and how the end of their nose looks and feels normally. It is not wet. 

About the tip of a cat's nose (nose leather).

Sometimes cats lick their nose as displacement behaviour i.e., distracting behaviour when they can't make up their mind. This may cause the nose to be temporarily a little bit moist but that is it.

Cat Displacement Activity.

I have lived with cats for decades and my current cat for 8 years and touch wood he has been healthy throughout those years. His nose has always been dry and at the most a little damp because of the moist air from the lungs and condensation. I don't mean bone dry and almost chapped but nicely soft but not moist or wet.

Enough said really. I could waffle on but what is the point?

Is my cat going to remember me when I come back from college in three months' time?

The woman asked the following: Do cats forget their owners? I’m leaving my cat for three months cause I’m going to college and I’m gonna miss him so much:,) is he going to remember me when I’m back?

This is the loved cat. Photo: u/Cloutlordcatto on Reddit.com

She asked the question on the Reddit.com website. My response to her question is as follows:

Provided that you have a very good relationship with your cat (you clearly have), he will remember you immediately you talk to him because he'll remember your voice and he will be pleased to meet you again. I can guarantee it. Domestic cats have good long-term memories. There are stories of cats remembering their owners when reunited after years apart. The link below goes to an article which I wrote some time ago about the long-term memory of domestic cats. Cats have good long-term memory. He is a super-looking cat by the way. Good luck at college.

Perhaps the obvious point to make is this: there is no reason why cats should not have decent memories. Anatomically speaking domestic cats are very similar to humans. You will not have to go far on the Internet to find stories of cats remembering their owners after being separated for months. 

And, of course, domestic cats need memories in order to 'survive'. Their ability to form memory comes from their wild cat ancestor. The North African wildcat, needs the ability to form memories in order to survive by, for example, avoiding places and animals which are hazardous to it. Domestic cats can for example smell the fading scent of urine that has been deposited by another cat as a marker on their territory. In order to make this work they have to be able to memorise the previous scent to make a comparison.

And, of course, cats allowed outside remember their home range. They remember the markers and major objects in their territory. They remember cats coming into their territory. And of course, they remember visitors to their home, often by the body odour of the visitor. Once a domestic cat knows that a stranger is safe, they will attach the body odour of the person to the knowledge that they are safe. When the person visits again even months later, they will smell the person and recognise them through their body odour.

And sometimes cats been missing for years and are finally reunited with their owner because of a microchip in their neck. And when they go up to their owner, they show through their behaviour that they recognise them. And they settle in to their old home within minutes. It is as if they never left so, yes, domestic cats have good long-term memories and it makes sense that they do.

On a personal level, years ago, I left my then female cat at a boarding cattery when I went to America to do some research on cats and when I came back, she recognised me immediately. She recognised my voice before she saw me. This was entirely expected. I had been away for two weeks.

Quick update: I have just bumped into a study which talks about cat short-term memory. It's interesting for this reason: when cats walk through and over obstacles, they have to memorise the positioning of those obstacles to allow their hind legs to avoid them. And you may have seen those astonishing videos on TikTok of cats navigating many obstacles placed in a corridor. They walk through these obstacles without knocking any of them over. They are employing their short-term memory to prevent their hind legs making contact with the obstacles which are quite close together.

I have written about domestic cat working memory. CLICK HERE TO READ IT IF YOU WISH.

I would be pleased if you would share your experiences of your cat's powers of long-term memory!

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You can ignore this section because it is here to improve SEO (search engine optimisation).

I have been trying to find out how memory in a person or cat's brain works. I'm not sure that people know precisely how it does work. The answers that I have found on the Internet are rather vague. But one scientist says that "long-term memories must literally be built into the brain's synapses". Synapses are those areas where neurons are connected. They say that to build a memory which can last years, neurons must manufacture new proteins and expand the docks, as it were, to make the transmitter travelling run more efficiently".

The University of Queensland Australia, says that "Memory is the reactivation of a specific group of neurons, formed from persistent changes in the strength of connections between neurons". It seems, therefore, to me, that memories are embedded into neurons perhaps in protein molecules and the memory is recalled when the neuron is reactivated. I am simply interpreting what I read and don't take what I state as verbatim truth!