5 Things About Cats

5 Things About Cats

Vision

Cats have the biggest eyes relative to head size of any mammal, which symbolises how vital their vision is for survival (probably why those road stud lights are called cat's eyes). Their pupils are also large, having the capability of expanding to cover most of the eye's surface for better perception in the dark.

Their night and peripheral visions are exceptional due to an abundance of rod cells sensitive to low light conditions - positioned near the sides of the retina. Night vision gets enhanced further by the 'tapetum lucidum', which functions like a mirror - light passing through the retina reflects back through the eye. These factors all culminate in the ability to see in ~6-8x darker situations than humans.

Although they can't focus on things less than a foot in front, the whiskers compensate like a second pair of eyes. They have lots of nerve endings that make them sensitive, like fingertips. Whiskers help with navigation, orientation and spatial awareness, useful to measure the widths of gaps or locating objects (they are even on the backs and sides of the front legs). The ones on the face also trigger the blink reflex for eye protection, which doesn't hinder vision due to their nictating membrane layer.

Taste

Cats only have ~470 taste buds and have a gene mutation that prevents sweet taste buds and sugar molecules from binding, meaning sweet flavours cannot be tasted - allegedly being the only mammal that can't.

Their taste buds are more associated with the umami and bitter flavour types, e.g., being receptive to hearty/bitter taste of amino acids or fatty acids. These attributes make food highly palatable to cats, whereas if they get given crap food, cats will refuse it to the point of starving.

They seem to prefer warmer meat - around 38 degrees celsius. It resembles fresh prey, so cold food would probably represent undesirable prey that has degraded and could be dangerous to eat in the wild.

Claws

Cats can voluntarily protract and retract their claws. When they are out, they grant extra traction on surfaces, aid climbing, and help with combat. They're very sharp and curve downward, letting them dig into trees and go up to catch birds. Dew claws are an extra structure on the sides of the feet, which give extra grip and can resist against any possible skidding.

Retracting the claws will prevent them being worn down on rough surfaces to retain sharpness, while moving more quietly for stalking/hunting. If a cat hits you with retracted claws, it's more likely to be some form of playful 'back-talk' than aggression.

Cats are infamous for scratching/destroying furniture; however, it's presumably territory marking. Their paw glands leave scents - like the face and tail base glands when they brush against you as a kind of 'claim'. Sometimes, they will knock household items off of high places as well. It's speculated to be a test to find hidden prey.

Hunting

Hunting is a specialty for cats, having different physical abilities for prey location, stalking and catching. In the ears for instance, there are usually 32 muscles that make them capable of 180-degree rotation to fixate on sounds and movements in a given direction. Cats hear ultrasound too - high-pitched prey squeak noises are picked up on.

When moving to track prey, the back feet actually move into the exact position where the front feet were prior. It limits noise and footprints left, indicating they probably watch out for predators, too. For pouncing, their explosive legs allow them to jump 5-6x their own height, and hit speeds of ~30mph for a short distance.

Boxes are a great form of replicative enrichment for them since they enforce their stealth instincts, hiding from predators whilst waiting to strike prey (or they could sleep). It's theorised that one reason cats and dogs circle before lying down to sleep, is to feel the wind direction and face it, to perhaps detect scents of predators sooner, giving them more time to escape.

Purr Healing

It's a frequent misconception that purring infers contentment, because there is another reason for them to do so when injured. The purr frequencies are akin to vibrations used in treatment for bone fractures, torn muscle, ligaments, tendons and wounds. It allows them to self-heal for repair when sedentary, keeping bones and muscles in shape despite inactivity.

There are specific ranges where some injuries heal better than others. ~25-50 hertz seems like the best range for internal injuries - supporting with bone density, fractures, joint flexibility and muscles, e.t.c., whereas within 2 hertz of 100 appears to link with superficial types such as edema swelling and wounds.

Guess this is why people say they have 9 lives?