Cats are the second-most popular pet in the United States, surpassed only by dogs. It is estimated that there are 220 million pet cats and 480 million stray cats worldwide. We all know that domesticated cats (Felis catus) are not wild – but they did descend from African wildcats, and they haven’t changed that much over the years. If released outdoors, many domestic cats still have the skills needed to survive on their own.

Unlike dogs, which are generally leashed outdoors, some domestic cats roam the streets alone. There are dangers for these cats – being hit by a car or attacked by a coyote, for example – but people today generally leave these felines alone. This was not always the case. In 1900, a stray cat risked being captured and sold to science, according to the Cambridge Tribune in November 1900: 

Harvard College annually purchases several hundred cats. Not angoras, nor Persians, nor bob-tailed cats, nor the pink-eyed varieties, but just ordinary, backdoor-yard, night-prowling cats, of all colors and sizes. They are brought to the college by old men, by students, and by young urchins scarce able to carry them. They appear at all times of day and are promptly received at the side entrance to the Lawrence Scientific School. But these cats never come back. Once concealed behind the big doors of the hygienic department of the Scientific School, they are lost to the world and their former owners. Whenever you see an urchin carrying a cat around Harvard square, you may be sure of his destination … Their value to science makes them scarce in the Harvard yard, but in the outskirts of Cambridge they are more plentiful. Fifteen cents a cat brings them in from all the Cambridges and Somervilles. Occasionally a dog makes its appearance from the same quarter, and disappears in the same direction. Dogs are more valuable. They bring $1.25 each, and are also used for scientific purposes. In the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard a course in hygiene is conducted annually, at which cats and dogs form the piece de resistance – the chief object of study. Although the course is primarily intended to teach personal hygiene, first aid to the injured, and emergency work, it begins with a close study of anatomy, physiology and the processes of nature. It is in this phase of the work that the cats and dogs are employed. It seems an uncanny business, but is not more so than the similar study at the medical school. For the cats and dogs are dissected, as are human bodies in the medical school, and their tissues, nerves and circulatory system prepare the physiological student for his further investigations …

Last Saturday evening an urchin appeared in Memorial hall as students were leaving dinner, and insisted upon selling a cat he held in his arms somewhere within its precincts. He was directed to the Lawrence Scientific School, and was seen at a late hour trying to enter its portals. 

People often think the Egyptians first domesticated cats; scientists now believe that neolithic farmers in Cyprus employed tame cats some 9,500 years ago. Farmers probably brought these tamed cats to the island from the Middle East mainland to help keep rodents from eating stored grains. As agriculture spread around the world, so did domesticated cats.

Because wild cats are predators, they conserve as much energy as possible when not hunting. Domestic cats carry on this tradition and sleep up to16 hours per day, or two-thirds of their lives. We humans, on the other hand, sleep away merely one-third of our lives.

Cats have extraordinary hearing. They can hear noises that are too faint or of too high a frequency for people to hear, such as the ultrasonic sounds made by their favorite prey – small rodents. 

Cats can be left-pawed, right-pawed, or neither. Male cats are likely to be left-pawed, while female cats are likely to be right-pawed. Cats that show a paw preference tend to be more affectionate and playful than cats that do not have a dominant paw.

By analyzing cat DNA, researchers have learned that cats cannot taste sweetness, which may explain why a cat has no interest in your dropped candy bar. Cat taste receptors detect primarily meat compounds, including umami. Umami is the savory flavor of meat, and it is the primary flavor cats seek in their food. Tuna has especially high concentrations of these molecules. An affinity for fish may seem strange in an animal that evolved in Middle Eastern deserts, but this adaptation may have helped them survive. In the Middle Ages, cats at port cities feasted on the fish waste left by fisherman.

People have been breeding dogs, horses, cattle and sheep for thousands of years, but people first began breeding cats only in the mid-1800s. Most cat breeds have existed for 150 years or less. People bred cats not for their utilitarian value, but for their looks – their coat colors and patterns. North American cats are genetically similar to Western European cats. European settlers brought cats to North America, and their presence on this continent has been too short for much genetic differentiation from their European ancestors.

In the wild, female cats may mate with more than one male. Kittens in one litter may have more than one father. Today we use the term kitten to refer to a baby cat, but this was not always the case. From the 1400s to the 1600s, the term catling was used as often as the word kitten.

Cats are unusual in that each front leg is attached to the shoulder by an unattached collarbone. The collarbone is buried in the shoulder muscles. This allows cats to pass their body through any space that they can fit their head into.

Cats have teeth that are specialized for killing prey and tearing meat. They do not have grinding molars like we have. Rather, their upper and lower molars pair with each other to shear meat into small pieces. A cat’s canine teeth are spaced perfectly in the jaw for biting and severing the spinal cord of small rodents, their preferred prey. Cats have better teeth than most people because their teeth are shaped so that food does not adhere to them, and they are spaced so food particles do not collect between them. (Also, they do not eat sugar the way people do.) A cat’s tongue has rigid backward-facing spines. These spines act like a hairbrush to clean and detangle fur.

We all know that cats are said to have nine lives. Other cultures, too, recognize the amazing abilities of cats to extricate themselves from difficult situations and their uncanny ability to right themselves during falls. In Italy, Greece and South America, cats are said to have seven lives. In Arab nations, cats may have six lives. There is one thing that people worldwide can agree on: They all love their domestic cats.

Have you taken photos of our urban wild things? Send your images to Cambridge Day and we may use them as part of a future feature. Include the photographer’s name and the general location where the photo was taken.

---

Jeanine Farley is an educational writer who has lived in the Boston area for more than 30 years. She enjoys taking photos of our urban wild things.