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Facts About Cats and Women

Published August 11, 2011 in Love For Earthlings, What's New |
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For starters, take a look at BBC’s humorous jab at one feline’s love for his female…

What is it about cats and women? Why are there “cat ladies” but not “hamster ladies”? Why do so many women seem to gravitate towards cats? The crazy-cat-lady stereotype aside (by the way, every segment of the population has its extremes, cat-loving women should not have to take a bad rap for a few odd birds) we know many more women than men who have a special bond with their cats. So, what’s the rub?

A new study supports the idea that a special relationship exists between women and cats. To be published in the journal Behavioural Processes, the study explains how researchers observed the interactions between 41 cats and their human families; the scientists noted all behaviours of both cats and humans, and also assessed their personalities as well as their influence over one another.

While many people might consider cats to be aloof, self-serving prima donnas, the study concludes otherwise; beyond food-seeking behaviour of the cats, they found that cats forge true attachment to their owners.

Here is a summary of what they found.

The researchers witnessed a mutual social interaction in which both cats and people signaled to each other when they wanted to give or receive affection.

Cats keep track of how their needs are being met. They were more likely to respond to owners’ needs, if their parents had previously responded to theirs.

Cats seem to remember kindness and return favours later. If owners grant their feline’s wishes to interact, then the cat will often reply to the parent’s wishes later.

Cats have an edge in this negotiation, since parents are usually already motivated to establish social contact.

While men got along with their cats, researchers saw more interactions between women and their animals, finding that cats were more likely to approach women than men and to do things like jump on their laps to initiate contact.

Adapted from an article by Melissa Breyer


How Much Do Cats Sleep?

Published August 11, 2011 in Dr Peto Says, What's New |
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Domesticated cats are seldom accused of overexertion. The life of a house cat basically consists of four activities: playing, ruining upholstered furniture, eating and sleeping — and that last activity takes up the most time by far.

Cats are among the top sleepers in the animal kingdom, and for good reason: They are, in the wild at least, predators, and their prey does not usually want to get caught. This means that cats have to do quite a bit of chasing, and that chasing (hopefully) culminates in a huge burst of energy for the final takedown. If they do not have the energy for a successful hunt, they do not get to eat. So they have evolved to sleep (or sometimes just rest) for most of the time they do not spend hunting, saving up the strength to catch dinner.

What they eat may contribute to their sleep time, as well. They live on protein, which packs a lot of energy into a relatively small package. They need not spend endless hours grazing or foraging the way large herbivores do.

So, just how much sleep does a wild cat get? Anywhere from 16 to 20 hours a day, typically. For very young and very old cats, it is near the upper end of the range, and newborns sleep almost 24/7.

While cats do spend at least two-thirds of their lives asleep, they are not “asleep” in quite the same way humans are. They do experience both non-REM and REM sleep, but for cats, “asleep” is not “off the clock.” Cats are always on the alert, even when they are dozing.

If a strange noise wakes them up, they are almost instantly aware and fully operational. It is an ability that cats (and wild animals in general) depend on to stay safe, and fed, in nature’s Darwinian existence.

House cats, of course, have left “survival of the fittest” behind. They need not chase down their dinner. They are, on the contrary, served their meals, sometimes gourmet ones, in a timely fashion. But the instincts have not changed; house cats have the same genetic programming as feral cats.

Domesticated felines, like their wild counterparts, sleep about 16 hours a day, on a pretty regular schedule, saving up their energy for the hunt. You never do know when the gourmet food is going to run out.

Did You Know?

Sloths typically beat out most cats in terms of sleep time, coming in at an impressively slothful 19 to 20 hours a day.

    In the wild, female lions tend to sleep more than male lions. They need the extra rest because they do the hunting for the pride.

    Cats are crepuscular, not nocturnal. They are most active at dawn and dusk.

    Adapted from an article on Animal Planet