The cat needs between 12 and 16 hours of sleep, but usually he or she sleeps more, an average of 15 to 18 hours per day. The cat is still awake about 6 to 9 hours in a day, including part of the night to hunt.
The cat is an animal with a large proportion of sleep that is REM sleep (the last stage - fifth stage - of a cycle of sleep phases) during which he or she dreams: the daily duration of this phase lasts from 180 to 200 minutes in cats, as against approximately 100 minutes for humans. That's why the cat is frequently used in experiments in respect of sleep cycles.
REM sleep: Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a normal stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eyes. REM sleep is classified into two categories: tonic and phasic. It was identified and defined by Kleitman and Aserinsky in the early 1950s (src: Wikipedia)
During the phases of REM sleep, the electrical activity of the brain, eyes and muscles is very important. Several movements occur such as agitation of the vibrissae (whiskers), the twitching of the legs and tail , the beating of the eyelids, the change in position for example.
It should be noted that these phases of REM sleep are very important in the cat: it allows him or her to keep a balanced mind (since he/she dreams of hunting, what he does during the time he is awake). This REM sleep time may be increased by meals spread throughout the day. During the REM sleep it is likely that the cat catches imaginary prey because it is possible to observe in some individuals the movement of limbs that evoke hunting positions.
When the cat enters a phase of REM sleep, the delimitation of its encephalogram is similar to that of awakening despite a total loss of consciousness: the nervous system is probably empty, or selecting and storing the events of the day and evoking memories of past perceptions, hence the assumption that REM sleep is a witness to the dream.
Sunday 1 March 2009
Cats & Pets Comparing USA and France
American Market
The market for pet food in the United States alone, was worth approximately $16 billion USD for 2008, against 13 billion in 2003. The market generally shows strong growth (from 8% to 10% per year between 1999 and 2002).
Dog food accounts for over half of the total market. This is particularly due to the fact that 33% of American households own a dog, while 25% only have a cat. The proportion of households owning a cat is almost identical to France, while the number of people keeping a dog is much higher in the United States than in France.
Dry food represents about half of the total market. As in France, dry foods are gaining ground in the market for cat food.
The market for cat food in 2002 was $4.20 billion USD, representing 52% of the market for dog food and presents a strong segmentation of dried foods, food canned snacks for cats, semi-moist food, drinks ...
In 1988, in the United States there was a total of 142.7 million dogs and cats, representing over three-quarters of the market for pet food. The rest of the market was targeted at 192 million fish, 17.3 million birds, 8.8 million reptiles, and 16.8 million other small animals (rabbits, hamsters, etc..) in American households [89].
The 2001 market was still very fragmented between different producers. The market leader was Nestle-Purina representing 14.2% of the overall market share.
French market
Only for France (in Europe occupying the first place for the number of pets), the food market rose to 2.3 billion (Euros) for all pets. Dogs accounted for 48.6% of total expenditure and cats have a population in France of 9.94 million (slightly more than the population of dogs, 8.51 million), representing 35.3% of the total market. The rest of the market is absorbed by the 36 million fish, 6.6 million rabbits, and 3.8 million birds (2004).
Calculated on the basis of total financial turnover a cat consumes in France between 60% and 65% of what a dog consumes. This figure is consistent with the situation in the United States.
The percentage of French households owning at least one cat is 26%; identical to the percentage of households owning at least one dog.
In France, the market for cat food is made up of 67% of wet food, a sector dominated by Nestle-Purina and Masterfoods, but the sector is crumbling (especially with the collapse of the "low end" Ronron and Kitekat of Masterfoods), and the market share of dry cat food (dominated by Nestle-Purina and Purina Friskies with one) progresses. Insofar as one kg of dry food is equivalent to 4 kg of wet food, manufacturers of cat food are struggling to offset the decline in wet foods. The French market for cat food is tending to stagnate or even decline.
Source: French Wikipedia
The market for pet food in the United States alone, was worth approximately $16 billion USD for 2008, against 13 billion in 2003. The market generally shows strong growth (from 8% to 10% per year between 1999 and 2002).
Dog food accounts for over half of the total market. This is particularly due to the fact that 33% of American households own a dog, while 25% only have a cat. The proportion of households owning a cat is almost identical to France, while the number of people keeping a dog is much higher in the United States than in France.
Dry food represents about half of the total market. As in France, dry foods are gaining ground in the market for cat food.
The market for cat food in 2002 was $4.20 billion USD, representing 52% of the market for dog food and presents a strong segmentation of dried foods, food canned snacks for cats, semi-moist food, drinks ...
In 1988, in the United States there was a total of 142.7 million dogs and cats, representing over three-quarters of the market for pet food. The rest of the market was targeted at 192 million fish, 17.3 million birds, 8.8 million reptiles, and 16.8 million other small animals (rabbits, hamsters, etc..) in American households [89].
The 2001 market was still very fragmented between different producers. The market leader was Nestle-Purina representing 14.2% of the overall market share.
French market
Only for France (in Europe occupying the first place for the number of pets), the food market rose to 2.3 billion (Euros) for all pets. Dogs accounted for 48.6% of total expenditure and cats have a population in France of 9.94 million (slightly more than the population of dogs, 8.51 million), representing 35.3% of the total market. The rest of the market is absorbed by the 36 million fish, 6.6 million rabbits, and 3.8 million birds (2004).
Calculated on the basis of total financial turnover a cat consumes in France between 60% and 65% of what a dog consumes. This figure is consistent with the situation in the United States.
The percentage of French households owning at least one cat is 26%; identical to the percentage of households owning at least one dog.
In France, the market for cat food is made up of 67% of wet food, a sector dominated by Nestle-Purina and Masterfoods, but the sector is crumbling (especially with the collapse of the "low end" Ronron and Kitekat of Masterfoods), and the market share of dry cat food (dominated by Nestle-Purina and Purina Friskies with one) progresses. Insofar as one kg of dry food is equivalent to 4 kg of wet food, manufacturers of cat food are struggling to offset the decline in wet foods. The French market for cat food is tending to stagnate or even decline.
Source: French Wikipedia
Medieval Cats
Witches as portrayed in Medieval times and notice the cat bottom right of the picture - a witches "familiar".
In theory, the image of the cat is positive in Islam because of the affection which Mohammed held the cat as he was saved from the bite of a snake by a cat. In contrast, Medieval cats were satanized in Christian Europe during the major part of the Middle Ages and the Rebirth. In the medieval symbolic system, the cat was associated with the bad luck and evil, all the more when it was black, embodying slyness with femininity. It was an animal of the devil and of witches.
Supernatural capacities were allotted to the cat, one of which was the faculty to have nine lives. The various waves of plague, due to the proliferation of the rats, as a consequence resulted in the reduction in the number of cats because people thought that cats spread the disease, when it was carried by parasites attached to rodents that the cat could have caught. The peoples' dislike and superstition of the humble medieval cat made the plague worse.
The domestic cat seems to have been universally persecuted in medieval times and killed at will in any ghastly way possible. Medieval cats had a very tough time of it, black cats particularly. There was probably a fear of cats and that fear is still with many people today.
Medieval cats to Fear of Cats
Cat History
The Egyptians of Antiquity made the cat god-like under the features of the protective goddess Bastet, symbol of fruitfulness and maternal love, whose worship was mainly in the town of Bubastis.
The archaeologists discovered very many mummies of cats which show at which point the Egyptians venerated them; one can see these mummies in places such as Paris (museum of Louvre), in London (British Museum) or Cairo (Egyptian Museum of Cairo). As animals for hunting rodents, ancient Greece for a long time only used animals of the weasel family (e.g. ferrets).
Aristotole quotes the presence of a market to cats in Athens. The Romans, on the other hand, dedicated a passion with the cat: initially held with the upper classes, the use of which was spread in all the Empire and all the layers of the population, ensuring the dispersion of the animal in all Europe.
Please note: this page is a search engine (SEO) optimisation test page. This short post was an experiment! I Google translated a piece of cat history from Wikipedia France I think it was and made one or two small amendments and posted it. The idea was to see how Google would treat it. As you can see it ranks well in a Google search (April 2011) , proof that Google no matter how good it is, cannot actually read the words.....
Update 1st June 2011: Well the test worked out quite well. Google quite liked the page. So what about cat history?
Cat history is really about wildcat history because the wild cats occupy by far the majority of the time of over the entire period of the history of the cat.
The first cats originate from about 5 millions years ago while the domestic cats were on the planet about 9,000 years ago. You can see the massive difference.
Once the first cats were domesticated in the middle east including Cyprus called the fertile crescent as it is watered by the great rivers of the area, it was thousands of years until the concept of purebred pedigreed cats took hold.
The beginnings of cat breeding to enhance appearance probably occurred before the cat fancy started in the late 1800s in England. The cat fancy is the breeding and showing of purebred cats.
I suspect that there were cat breeders in the Middle East of Japan or indeed Siam (Thailand many hundreds of years ago. It is simply that they were not recognized as purebred cats. You also have what I call "de facto" purebred cats. These are cats that have evolved in an island habitat and so interbreed to create a particular appearance. They are recognised as purebred and not registered with cat associations but are purebred nonetheless. A good example is the Bharaini Dilmun. This is a current cat. The Manx would have been technically purebred before the breeders made it their own as they are both naturally occurring cat breeds.
Once the cat fancy started and told hold there was a flurry in the creation of new breeds in the middle of the 20th century. The first cat breeds were the Angora, Siamese, Persian and Abyssinian.
In and around the 1970s to the end of that century there was a big interest in wildcat hybrids. These are exotic cats. They have wild blood. The first was the famous Bengal cat. The most exotic of the wildcat hybrids is the Savannah in my opinion.
Wildcat hybrids occur rarely in the wild. It is thought incidentally that the Abyssinian, an all domestic cat (no wild blood) originated as a wildcat hybrid (a cross with a jungle cat) on the west coast of India in the middle of the 1800s.
A major landmark in cat history was the worship of the cat by the Egyptians. The consensus is that the Egyptians loved their domestic cats. But was this really the case. I don't think so. It was a relatively good time for the domestic cat in comparison to the horrible middle ages. During that dark age cats were linked to witchcraft. When you think about it is not far from worshiping a cat shaped god called Bastet by the ancient Egyptians.
Today, there is no room for new cat breeds. The extreme breeding days are waning and people prefer the natural (e.g Maine Coon) over the extreme appearance (modern Persian). There is a slight backlash against the wildcat hybrid. Four states in the USA ban them and Australia too.
There was talk recently in the Times newspaper about doing the same in the UK. I believe this is incorrect as the Savannah cat is no threat to native species or if you like any more so than feral cats.
Which leads me briefly to say that there is currently a war against the feral cat in the USA. It is said that there are equal numbers of feral and domestic cats in the USA. There is a feral cat problem that in fact is a human behavior problem only most people don't see it that way.
The archaeologists discovered very many mummies of cats which show at which point the Egyptians venerated them; one can see these mummies in places such as Paris (museum of Louvre), in London (British Museum) or Cairo (Egyptian Museum of Cairo). As animals for hunting rodents, ancient Greece for a long time only used animals of the weasel family (e.g. ferrets).
Aristotole quotes the presence of a market to cats in Athens. The Romans, on the other hand, dedicated a passion with the cat: initially held with the upper classes, the use of which was spread in all the Empire and all the layers of the population, ensuring the dispersion of the animal in all Europe.
Please note: this page is a search engine (SEO) optimisation test page. This short post was an experiment! I Google translated a piece of cat history from Wikipedia France I think it was and made one or two small amendments and posted it. The idea was to see how Google would treat it. As you can see it ranks well in a Google search (April 2011) , proof that Google no matter how good it is, cannot actually read the words.....
Update 1st June 2011: Well the test worked out quite well. Google quite liked the page. So what about cat history?
Cat history is really about wildcat history because the wild cats occupy by far the majority of the time of over the entire period of the history of the cat.
The first cats originate from about 5 millions years ago while the domestic cats were on the planet about 9,000 years ago. You can see the massive difference.
Once the first cats were domesticated in the middle east including Cyprus called the fertile crescent as it is watered by the great rivers of the area, it was thousands of years until the concept of purebred pedigreed cats took hold.
The beginnings of cat breeding to enhance appearance probably occurred before the cat fancy started in the late 1800s in England. The cat fancy is the breeding and showing of purebred cats.
I suspect that there were cat breeders in the Middle East of Japan or indeed Siam (Thailand many hundreds of years ago. It is simply that they were not recognized as purebred cats. You also have what I call "de facto" purebred cats. These are cats that have evolved in an island habitat and so interbreed to create a particular appearance. They are recognised as purebred and not registered with cat associations but are purebred nonetheless. A good example is the Bharaini Dilmun. This is a current cat. The Manx would have been technically purebred before the breeders made it their own as they are both naturally occurring cat breeds.
Once the cat fancy started and told hold there was a flurry in the creation of new breeds in the middle of the 20th century. The first cat breeds were the Angora, Siamese, Persian and Abyssinian.
In and around the 1970s to the end of that century there was a big interest in wildcat hybrids. These are exotic cats. They have wild blood. The first was the famous Bengal cat. The most exotic of the wildcat hybrids is the Savannah in my opinion.
Wildcat hybrids occur rarely in the wild. It is thought incidentally that the Abyssinian, an all domestic cat (no wild blood) originated as a wildcat hybrid (a cross with a jungle cat) on the west coast of India in the middle of the 1800s.
A major landmark in cat history was the worship of the cat by the Egyptians. The consensus is that the Egyptians loved their domestic cats. But was this really the case. I don't think so. It was a relatively good time for the domestic cat in comparison to the horrible middle ages. During that dark age cats were linked to witchcraft. When you think about it is not far from worshiping a cat shaped god called Bastet by the ancient Egyptians.
Today, there is no room for new cat breeds. The extreme breeding days are waning and people prefer the natural (e.g Maine Coon) over the extreme appearance (modern Persian). There is a slight backlash against the wildcat hybrid. Four states in the USA ban them and Australia too.
There was talk recently in the Times newspaper about doing the same in the UK. I believe this is incorrect as the Savannah cat is no threat to native species or if you like any more so than feral cats.
Which leads me briefly to say that there is currently a war against the feral cat in the USA. It is said that there are equal numbers of feral and domestic cats in the USA. There is a feral cat problem that in fact is a human behavior problem only most people don't see it that way.
Domestication of the cat
The first paleontological discoveries located the first signs of domestication of the cat in Egypt, towards 2000 BC, but the discovery in 2004 of the remainders of a cat at the sides of humans in a burial in Cyprus pushes back the beginning of this relation to between 7,500 to 7,000 years BC.
The cat discovered had a morphology very close to the wildcat of Africa, without the modifications of the skeleton due to domestication: it was about a cat tamed rather than domesticated. The cohabitation of cats and man probably arrived with the beginning of agriculture: the storage of the grain attracted the mice and the rats, which attracted the cats, their predatory nature naturally attracting them to the area. The study undertaken by Carlos Driscoll on 979 cats made it possible to determine the probable origin of the domestic cat.
The domestic cat is not the only species among Felidae used like pet, the Jaguarundi or weasel cat, for example, are or were tamed to drive out the mice and the rats.
The cat discovered had a morphology very close to the wildcat of Africa, without the modifications of the skeleton due to domestication: it was about a cat tamed rather than domesticated. The cohabitation of cats and man probably arrived with the beginning of agriculture: the storage of the grain attracted the mice and the rats, which attracted the cats, their predatory nature naturally attracting them to the area. The study undertaken by Carlos Driscoll on 979 cats made it possible to determine the probable origin of the domestic cat.
The domestic cat is not the only species among Felidae used like pet, the Jaguarundi or weasel cat, for example, are or were tamed to drive out the mice and the rats.
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