l Veterinary career chart l
Just for... (Cats) (Dogs) (Ferrets) (Birds) (Fish)
All cats are members of the family Felidea. Interestingly enough, the cat family split from the other mammals at least 40,000,000 years ago, making them one of the oldest mammalian families. All cats share certain characteristics that are unique to the cat family.
Cats are pure carnivores. They need a high level of protein in their diets - around 30% - and lack the digestive equipment to do well on a diet of grains, fruits or vegetables. In fact, if you were to design a creature to live from hunting mammals you would have trouble doing better than the design of the cat. If you know cats at all, you know that they have powerful jaws, long, sharp teeth, and claws that draw back into their paws when not in use. Cats hear extremely well. Their eyes are adapted for vision in dim light for hunting just before dawn and just after dusk, the prime hunting periods.
Cats certainly can take care of themselves when necessary. They don't need the same kind of care as a dog. But cats also dearly love your companionship. Cats will be just as aloof or as friendly as you expect him to be.
Some science purists attribute all of a cat's actions to instinct. On the other extreme are people who assume human motivations for their cat's actions... The truth is likely to be somewhere in between.
