Cat

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Cat

Domesticated

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Felidae
Genus:	Felis
Species:	F. silvestris
Subspecies:	F. s. catus

Trinomial name

Felis silvestris catus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

A young kitten.

This article is about the domestic cat or house cat. For the biological cat family, see Felidae. For the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, see Cats (musical).

Cats, also called domestic cat or house cat (Felis silvestris catus), are carnivorous (meat-eating) mammals, of the family Felidae. Cats have been domesticated for over 3000 years, and they are popular pets. Cats were first domesticated and kept because they eat mice, but later they were kept because they are friendly and good companions. A young cat is called a kitten. Cats are sometimes called kitty.

The word "cat" is also used for other felines: the big cats (lions, tigers, and others) and wild cats (lynxes, pumas, and others). These big cats aren't tamed and can be very dangerous. There are many different breeds of tabby cats.

Cats are carnivorous; they eat birds and small mammals (like mice).

In past times and today still, people kept cats because the cats hunted and ate mice, rats, and insects. Today, people often keep cats as pets, but there are also cats that live wild. These kinds are called "feral cats".

Cats are quiet and well-behaved animals, so they are popular pets. Many house cats no longer hunt their own food, but eat food that their owner gives them, made in factories.

House cats are not often taught to do things, but large cats raised by people in enclosed spaces can be taught to do tricks. When a cat is happy, it moves its chest very quickly, which makes a soft noise. This is called "purring". Cats are also very clean animals. They lick their fur many times a day, and they like clean places. They also sleep a lot, sometimes up to 20 hours a day. This makes them easy to care for.

Cats cannot taste sweet foods (with sugar) because of a mutation (change) in their ancestors which removed the gene necessary for tasting sweet things.

A female cat is a Queen and the male cat is a Tom. It is redundant to say "tomcat".

[change] Polydactyly

Polydactyly means many digits, or many "fingers" from poly (many) and dactyl (digit). Sometimes there is a mutation (change) in cat families. Most cats have only four toes per paw. These mutated cats have five. Rarely, some are born with more than five toes per paw. All of these cats are called polydactyl cats. They can also be called Hemingway cats because author Ernest Hemingway owned many of these cats. This mutation can happen in any breed (kind) of cat.

[change] Other meanings

As a verb, "to cat" means to pull a ship's anchor to rest at its cathead. It can also mean to look for a mate.
Cat can be a short nickname for Catherine, Cathleen, Caitlin, Catalina and Catarina.