Feline Management - History

Risk Factors for a Broken Bond

- Cat is intact & less than 6 months old - Acquired at no cost - Cat doesn't live with caretakers - garage of basement - Behavioral probs. - scratching, inappropriate elimination, aggression - Inadequate time to develop attachment - Unrealistic expectations by the caretaker - Ignorance

The house cat

- Cats that are kept indoors & are totally dependent on humans for food & care. - Majority are mixed-breed cats with only a small amount being purebred.

What are the primary physical changes seen in domestic cats?

- Coat types, coat lengths, & colors (most common) - Shortened muzzles & ear shapes

Socialization & Experience is Key!

- Early socialization is key - Kittens must recognize humans as a a part of their social group.

Carnivoria

- Enlarged carnassial teeth (Upper premolar & lower molar) - Small sharp incisors for holding prey - 4 elongated canine teeth to stab & tear (Cats bite and hold)

How do mom cats affect their kittens?

- Friendly cat mothers boost a kitten's confidence - Shy or fearful mothers may pass on these traits through their defensive actions.

Why do people love cats?

- Loving & affectionate & provide companionship - Clean & easy to care for - Unique personalities - Specific characteristics include: intelligent, independent, & friendly - Cute!

General Characteristics

- Rounded head - Flexible & light-footed body - Excellent abilities for balance, speed, hearing, & eyesight

Public concerns of the feral cat

- Sanitation - Nocturnal fighting & calling - Risk of being bitten or scratched - Human health: ringworm, toxoplasmosis, rabies - Destruction of yards & gardens - Potential danger to natural wildlife: native bird

Cat People Vs. Dog People Similarities

- Talk to their pet - Felt less lonely when they were with their pet - Felt playing with their pet is beneficial to them - Pet is a family member - Share food with pet - Felt their pet reacted to their mood

What happened during this dark period?

- This dark period of myths & fears about cats were developed & began being eliminated from Europe. - At the same time, crusaders returning from the war brought rats with fleas carrying the bubonic plague. - 75 million or more people were killed (30-60% of pop.)

How many more cats are there than dogs?

10 million

When did the Smilodon branch go extinct?

10,000 years ago

How old are kittens when they can attach to any mammal?

2-7 weeks

Where cats have migrated.

200 BC - Cats move to India 400 AD - Romans began using cats as a vector control 300-500 AD - Cats are found in Great Britain

How many known cat species are there?

38. 37 are wild and 1 is domestic.

Proailurus

A bobcat-size creature that roamed Eurasia & Africa 34 million years ago.

What happened in 2004 at an older cite in Cyprus?

A cat had been deliberately buried with a human (made it certain that the island's ancient cats were domesticated). - This pushed back the domestication date to 9,500 years ago (youngest species to be domesticated).

What do domesticated cats have the ability to do?

Ability to return to a semi-wild state. - Not completely dependent on humans - Can return to the wild survive & proliferate in both urban & rural areas

Felis Silvestris

African wildcat; Believed to be domesticated cat's primary wild ancestor.

How long have humans & cats been living together?

Archeological evidence shows that humans & cats have been living together for 3,000-5,000 years.

Where did all domestic cats descend from?

Based on genetic analysis, they descended from a Middle Eastern wildcat, Felis Silvestris, up to 12,000 years ago. - Precisely when the 1st agricultural societies began to flourish in the Middle East's Fertile Crescent.

Which animal is the most popular pet in America?

Cats

When did cats become useful?

Cats only became useful to people when we began to settle down, until the earth & store surplus crops.

The free roaming cat

Cats that are socialized to humans, but lead lives free from human control. - Owned cats who roam w/o supervision - "Porch cats" - Barn cats - Stray cats that were once prev. owned

Cat People Vs. Dog People Differences

Dogs: take on trip, errands in the car, & go for walks/runs Cats: allow pet on furniture, allow to sleep on bed

What did Egyptian tombs indicate?

Egyptian tombs around 4000 BC indicate the first consistent evidence of cats in human settlements. - Pet cats that died were ritually mourned & mummified for burial. - Feline mummies have been included in human burial tombs.

How many cats are euthanized in shelters?

Estimated 1.4 million cats are euthanized in shelters annually. - Of the cats entering the shelters, approximately 37% are adopter, 41% are euthanized, & less than 5% of cats who came in as strays are RTO'd.

How many cats are living in US homes?

Estimated 90 million cats living within 30-34% of US homes

How many homeless cats are there?

Estimated homeless cat range up to 70 million. - The average number of litters a fertile cat produces is 1-2 per year, the average number of kittens is 4-6 per litter.

Felidae

Family of cats

The level of dependency of the free roaming cat on humans include:

Food, shelter, affection, & even time inside a human home.

What does domestication involve?

Geographical, reproductive, & behavioral isolation of the selected group from the wild group.

What did grain stores bring?

Grain stores brought mice. Cats flourished with the abundance of prey in the storehouses & practically domesticated themselves.

Felinae

Includes all the non-pantherinae cats.

Smilodon

Large prehistoric cats (saber tooth)

Feral cat

Lives completely or almost completely free from direct human contact. - Can be born feral or can revert back to a feral state. - Lives alone or in loosely organized colonies.

Benefits of Living with a Cat

Living with an animal is good for your heatlh. - Something to care & nuture for - Positive touch - Less stress - Improves mental health - Companionship & decreased lonliness - Nonjudgmental acceptance & affection - Development of responsibility & enhanced self-esteem through care giving

What is domestication?

Long-term breeding & containment of a species by humans. (100's-1000's of years)

Mammalia

Milk producing animals. (Large, small, land, sea, oddities, platypus)

When did cats start making a come back?

Not until the late 1600's did the public's image of cats begin to rally in the west (turning point). 1700's - cats became vector control & ended up being barn cats. - Cats were welcomed back into market places public establishments, & finally homes.

What kind of owners contribute to the over population of cats?

Owners who allow their cats to roam & don't S/N.

What does the Dinictis cat species include?

Panthers, lions, tigers, cheetahs. Ocelots, bobcats, lynxes, cats.

What happened with cats over time?

People favored cats with more docile traits & certain cats adapted to the environment, producing the dozens of breeds of house cats known today.

What did pictorial evidence indicate?

Pictorial evidence 1600-1650 BC indicated a close relationship with humans. - Eating, hunting, & relaxing with humans in hieroglyphics & associating with other domestic species.

Dinictis

Small cat species (ancestor of our cats)

What do domesticated cats require?

Socialization with humans, but they do not need to be "tamed."

Why did cats stop being worshipped?

Soon after possibly because of religious influences, cats began to lose their value as sacred animals. - Cats became associated with Pagan beliefs - 400 years of persecution evolved the torture & killings of both cats & the women that cared for them.

Why did Egyptians raise some cats?

Specifically for ritual sacrifice & mummified burial

The Feline Side of the Bond

Strength of the relationships are gauged by type & frequency. - Length of time of interaction has been found to be longer when initiated by the cat. - Cats seem to prefer to interact with adults rather than children. - Cats seem to control the type & intensity of the relationship rather than humans.

The human side of the bond

Strong predictors of a person's attitude toward cats has been shown to be affected by positive experiences with cats as a child.

Cats and Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptian reverence for cats is well-known and well-documented in the archeological record & to be convicted of killing a cat in Egypt often meant a death sentence for the offender.

Felis Catus

The domestic cat. A small, typically furry, carnivorous mammal.

Where & when did early archaeological evidence come from?

The island of Cyprus in 1983. - Archeologists found a cat's jawbone dating back 8,000 years ago. - Unlikely that humans would have brought wild cats over to the island. - Suggested the domestication occurred before 8,000 years ago.

Chordata

The phylum of the animal kingdom that includes vertebrates. (Fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, & mammals)

Pantherinae

The subfamily of cats that contains the "roaring" cats like lions, tigers, jaguars and leopards.

What similarities do wild cats & domesticated cats have?

They have similar skeletons which complicates positive ID.

What do new species show?

They show structural & behavioral changes from ancestors. - Small body - Shortened muzzle - Larger head in relation to body, dome-shaped with smaller teeth - Softer coat with wider range of colors & patterns - Retention of juvenile behavior characteristics (Persian cat)

What happens when kittens interact with only one person?

They will bond closely with that person, if handled by multiple people they tolerate handling better.

How are cats viewed today?

Today, cats are superstars. - The protagonists of of comic strips & TV shows - By mid-90's, cat services and products had become a billion dollar industry. - Even in today's pop. culture, left over ambivalence remains. That the cat doesn't seem to be able to entirely shake its association with evil. (Black cats on Halloween)

What happened during the which trials?

Witch trials of the 16th and 17th century cats were burned, hung in a public place, & burned at the stake with their owners.