Cats, also termed as domestic cat or house cat, are the predatory carnivorous species that belong to species Felis. They come in a variety of types and are often characterized according to their personality traits, like color, pattern of coat and shape of head, ears, etc. Some cat breeds have long hair and tail, while others have short, some are easy to handle while others take time to settle. Similarly, there are types of cats that don’t shed, i.e., they shed no or less hair whereas others shed lots of hair.

Apart from these distinguishing features, there is one major category under which all types of cats can be segregated, i.e. pedigree and non pedigree cats. Pedigree or pure bred cats are those cats that have a family lineage for the past four generations while non pedigree cats are basically mixed or cross bred cats. Hence, if you want to choose a certain breed of cat, you need to know in detail about the different types of cats and their personality traits.

Different Types of Cats

Persian: Being one of the most popular pedigree long haired cat, Persian cat can be a great domestic cat who gel well with other children and even other animals. They are active, extremely responsive, sweet and affectionate cats that will shower their owner with lots of love and companionship. Persian cats have a broad, round head with large eyes, short nose and small ears set wide apart on their head. They come in amazing colors and patterns, and have a long silky, shiny coat.

Abyssinian: Abyssinian cats are one of the most common short hair cat breeds, having unique thick coat colors. These cats gel well with children and other pets, and are often found participating in different family activities. Abyssinian cats are intelligent, active, playful and lovable cats that have a long, strong and muscular body with thin legs and feet.

Turkish Van: Turkish Van cats are smart, playful and lovable cats that have a pure white coat with some coloring on their tails and heads. These are semi long-haired cats that have a thick, strong body with large round and slightly tilted eyes, and long bushy tail.
Read the rest of this entry »

The presence of one or several cats in one’s home may be a very good thing for the development of one’s children. Cats can be something more than mere companions. When children interact with pets, they can learn valuable lessons of altruism, but they also have the chance to practice things such as patience and respect.

Children should be encouraged to take utmost care of the family’s pets. This may teach them how to become responsible for themselves, the others, their actions. It’s also good for children to learn at an early age how to look after another small being such as a cute, playful pet. Karen Lee Stevens, the founder of the All for Animals Association and the creator of Compassion for Critters animal protection program, says that children should take care of their pets, but still gives certain warnings in this respect. She says that regardless of their best intentions, children should not be allowed to take all by themselves care of their pets. Thus, parents must teach their children by the power of the example, how to feed their pets properly, how to play with them, handle pets, how to treat them in general. Otherwise, parents might have unpleasant surprises.

Children, in their innocence and due to the richness of their imagination, can get dangerous ideas about how to handle a pet. And of course, cats make no exception to this imminent danger. Because of that, parents must know that they are the ones who are ultimately responsible for the cat’s well-being, not their children. By acknowledging this simple fact, both cats and children can avoid being traumatized by each other.

Mieshelle Nagelschneider, another cat behavior expert, also agrees with these previously mentioned ideas. She says that by buying a cat, parents must take up the responsibility of looking after it when children fail to do that in a proper manner. Also, she stresses the idea that parents must be perfectly aware of their children’s level of responsibility before buying them a cat or any other living creature to play with and look after. Read the rest of this entry »

Cat’s whiskers are made of sinus hair and are extremely important for the survival of these animals. Thus, they include a highly sophisticated smelling system which is able to detect the slightest change of the wind’s direction for instance, but also the most sudden movements around them.

Whiskers help cats to survive because cats are in fact predators by instinct. Thus, being a feline species, they are very skilled in hunting smaller animals such as mice, as well as frogs, insects, birds, and so on. Whiskers actually are some sort of prominent follicles that can help cats detect their prey from a small distance much like a pair of glasses can help someone read something written in very small characters on a piece of paper. Because they suffer from presbytism, cats cannot see very well the prey they actually catch. This is the opinion of Alice Moon-Fanelli, both veterinarian and assistant professor at the Cummings Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Tufts University, mentioning the fact that whiskers can help cats get into certain circumstances, but they can also help them get out of other difficult situations.

In wilderness, cats hold their whiskers straight forward when they are about to attack their prey. This is what Michael Tewes, a professor and coordinator of the Feline Research Program at the A&M Texas of the Caesar Kleberg Wild Animals’ Research Institute, says about them. As an expert in the life of large felines, Tewes says that whiskers can make the animals’ life shorter or longer, depending on their good or bad state. They can act as warning signs helping them against the destruction of the felines’ canines. The destruction of the cats’ canines could have some severe consequences on the animals’ general health and may even be the cause of premature death. Read the rest of this entry »