"Meow"

OCTOBER 2021 | EDITION № 1 "MEOW"

"MEOW"

WARM YOUT HEARTS WITH "MEOW" SOUND

"MEOW" History TEXT BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Felis catus has had a very long relationship with humans. Ancient Egyptians may have first domesticated cats as early as 4,000 years ago.

Plentiful rodents probably drew wild felines to human communities. The cats' skill in killing them may have first earned the affectionate attention of humans. Early Egyptians worshipped a cat goddess and even mummified their beloved pets for their journey to the next world— accompanied by mummified mice! Cultures around the world later adopted cats as their own companions.

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Catunication

Cats communicate by marking trees, fence posts, or furniture with their claws or their waste. These scent posts are meant to inform others of a cat's home range. House cats employ a vocal repertoire that extends from a purr to a screech.

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Diet

Domestic cats remain largely carnivorous, and have evolved a simple gut appropriate for raw meat. They also retain the rough tongue that can help them clean every last morsel from an animal bone (and groom themselves). Their diets

TEXT BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

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vary with the whims of humans, however, and can be supplemented by the cat's own hunting successes.

"Meow" aging TEXT BY CATCARE4LIFE

Cats obviously mature much more rapidly than people, but once

It has often been suggested that we simply need to multiply a

they are fully developed physically and behaviourally – from

cat’s age by 7 to get a comparative human age. However, this is

about 3 years of age – for many years their outward appearance

very crude and does not take into account a number of aspects of

changes very little. They usually still appear very youthful, and it

how cats mature and age. A much more appropriate method is to

can actually be very difficult to tell the age of an adult cat.

take the end of the first year of the cat’s life to be equivalent to 15

Despite the youthful outward appearance, inside the cat will be

human years, the end of the second year to be approximately

getting older. It is much easier to understand how to manage our

equivalent to a 24-year-old person, and thereafter to consider

cats’ lives, health and behaviour if we can associate their age with

each year of a cat’s life to equate to approximately 4 human years.

an equivalent of our own human years.

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OCTOBER 2021 | EDITION № 1 "MEOW"