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Cats are the members of the Felidae family of canivorousmammals. Lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, African wild cat arethe members of the cat family. Their closest relatives arecivets, hyenas and mongooses. However, what we generallyrecognize as cat is the domestic or the house cat.

The association between cats and humans dates back tobetween 7000 to 4000 years ago. From being dragged intosatanic ritual beliefs, Halloween and unlucky black cattags to being cute, caring and loyal companions, cats haveseen it all. Cats have also been associated with bad omens,death and witchcraft. On the other hand there have beencultures like Vikings who worshipped the Goddess Freya, thegoddess of fertility, who was closely associated to cats.

Cat appears in the Vietnamese and Chinese Zodiac systems.They are highly respected in Islam since it is believed thatProphet Mohammed approved domestication of cat. Feeding acat is regarded as a great deed in Islam. Ancient Egyptianshailed cats as embodiment of their Goddess Bast. In many ofthe pyramids, mummified cats were found in the thousands.This signifies the importance of cat for the ancientEgyptians.

Today, there are dozens of breeds of cat that aredomesticated. As for your cat vocabulary, a group of cat isclowder, male cat is tom, female cat is queen and the cutelittle baby cat is called kitten.

An average cat weighs between 2.5 to 7 kgs. And live for 15to 20 years. However, you can ensure a longer life for yourpet cat by getting it spayed or neutered and getting all thenecessary vaccinations done.

Cats are extremely intelligent. They communicateeffectively through purring, hissing and gestures. Thanks tothe 32 muscles in their ear, they have a sharp sense ofhearing. Cats can conserve their energy by sleeping for longdurations. Cats mostly land on their feet. They have a verygood sense of balance and have great flexibility. They usetheir tail to regulate the angular momentum during theirflight in a fall. They walk on their toes. They can alsomanipulate their walk in such a way that they make minimumsound and leave negligible tracks.

Cats have very superior eyesight and senses which arematched by no other animal. They have very good nocturnaleyesight. They have a field of view of 200 degrees. Theirwhiskers assist them in navigation. Surprisingly cats cannottaste sugary food because they have faulty sweet receptors.

Cats are fussy eaters. They are known to eat grass, leaves,shrubs and houseplants but they'll eat only the specificfood which they get used to. Whatever they are, they aresome of the most popular pet around the world. So much sothat they outnumber dogs as pets in USA.