CAT (AS. catt, Ger. Katze, Fr. chat, OF. cat, It. gatto, Sp., Portug. gato, Welsh cath, Corn. cath, Ir., Gael. cat, OChurch Slav. kotelǐ, O. Pruss. catto, cat, Lat. catus, cub; borrowed in Finn. katti, Turk, qadi, Ar. qitt, qutt, Hind. katās; of uncertain origin). The cats are typical æluroid carnivores, constituting the family Felidæ, and well represented by the ubiquitous house-cat, which is considered at length below.
Cats in general, as a family, are distinguished
among carnivores by their uniformity of structure, by the flexibility and strength of the spine, the small head, capable of being turned in any direction, the looseness of the skin, and the exceeding suppleness, quickness, and muscularity, the last especially exhibited in the jaws and in the wonderful arrangement of levers in the limbs. These are correlated with their predatory habits, and manner of procuring their prey, which is by lying in wait, or by stealthy approach, followed by a spring, a clutch of the claws, and a crushing bite. All the anatomy, therefore, represents agility and power in the highest degree; and all cats except two or three of the heaviest (lion, tiger) are arboreal to a greater or less degree. The skull is remarkable for the bony ridges which give attachment to the great jaw-muscles, the immense size of which causes a corresponding increase in the width of the zygomatic arches; and the facial portion, short in all carnivora as compared with herbivora, is here much shorter than in the dog or bear tribes, giving the characteristic roundness to the head. The lower jaw is strongly attached, and capable only of a simple hinge-like motion. The dentition consists of six small incisors in each jaw, large canines, and one permanent molar on each side, that in the upper jaw being small, the lower large and acting against the fully developed premolar in the upper. All
are carnassial, for little ‘grinding’ of the food
is called for; and the canines of some, as
especially of the extinct sabre-toothed tiger, are
formidable tusks. The tongue is rough; the
intestinal canal very short, being in some species
only three times the length of the body. The
most striking and characteristic peculiarity of
cat-structure, however (though imperfect in one
genus—Cynælurus; see ), is the arrangement
for the protrusion and retraction of the
claws, by which they are made the principal
instruments whereby these creatures get their
living. Their plan, as has been said, is to get
as near as possible to their animal prey, seize
and hold it until they can overcome it by biting
through the arteries of the neck (in the case
of large quadrupeds) or otherwise put it to
death; they cannot chase it down and worry
it to death after the manner of dogs. This
requires that their toes should be separated, flexible, and capable of a powerful grip, and their claws sharp and hooked. The acquirement of such tools has been accompanied by provision for keeping them out of the animal's way, in the ordinary use of its feet, and at the same time saving them from becoming blunted by contact with the ground, as happens to those of all other clawed animals, by a peculiar arrangement.
In the cats, the last (third) phalanx, or tip-bone, of the toe, which carries the claw, does not touch the ground, but it is so modified as to turn up beneath a hood of skin over the end of the bone (second phalanx) next behind it; this it does naturally, when at rest, by virtue of the elasticity of a ligament which passes from it down to the second phalanx, and holds it in place without any conscious effort. From the lower (proximal) end of this claw-bone a powerful flexor tendon runs back beneath the bones of the toe to the leg-muscles, the contraction of which pulls the claw down with a circular motion which drives it and hooks it into the flesh, where it will tear loose before it will let go. Such is the mechanism of the action so familiar and effective in the cat when she is angry and ‘shows her claws.’ The cheeta (q.v.) lacks this power, and correspondingly its predatory habits partake of much that characterizes dogs.