Cat as the pet

[Tanogaki]

The cat (Felis catus), also known as the house cat or domestic cat, is a small carnivorous mammal kept as a domestic animal. It is the only domesticated cat species. Advances in archaeology and genetics suggest that the domestication of cats occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC. It is commonly kept as a pet and farm cat, but also roams freely as a feral cat, avoiding human contact. Cats are prized by humans for their companionship and pest-killing abilities, with retractable claws suitable for killing small prey such as mice. It has a strong and flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp teeth, and a well-developed sense of night vision and smell. It is a social animal but is also a solitary predator and hunts at dusk. Cat communication includes vocalizations—including meows, purrs, meows, hisses, growls, and purrs—as well as body language. It can hear sounds that are too faint or too high for the human ear to hear, such as those made by small mammals. It secretes and senses pheromones.

Female domestic cats in temperate regions can give birth from spring to late fall, female domestic cats in equatorial regions can give birth year-round, with litters typically ranging from 2 to 5. Domestic cats are bred and shown at events as registered purebreds, a hobby known as cat fandom. Cat population control can be achieved through neutering, but overpopulation and abandonment have led to large numbers of feral cats around the world, leading to the extinction of birds, mammals, and reptiles.

As of 2017, domestic cats were the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats and approximately 42 million households with at least one cat. In the UK, 26% of adults own a cat and as of 2020, the pet cat population was estimated at 10.9 million. As of 2021, there are an estimated 220 million domestic cats and 480 million stray cats worldwide.