When Halloween approaches, people often wonder why the noble cat has been earmarked an omen of evil or impending disaster. There are other questions people have about cats: Are cats happy when they purr? How do cats make the purring sound? Do they really have nine lives? Do cats think? Why do cats get stranded in the tops of trees? Are they right- or left-pawed? Some of these questions have probably popped into your mind whether you are a cat-fancier or not.
Some of the earliest tales of feline perfidy come from mythology. When the sun god Apollo created a lion to frighten the moon goddess Diana, she created a cat just to make fun of Apollo and mock him. The Egyptians said the black cat represents the wicked deeds done in the dark of the moon, and from that idea came the notion that a black cat is a Halloween harbinger of trouble and bad luck. Yet, at other times the cat was honored as a sun god fighting the serpent of darkness.Ever since I was a little girl and dressed my kittens up in doll clothes and put them to bed in the small carriage, I have loved cats. My present cat, Jennifer, came to live with me 13 years ago when she was just a kitten. She was soon renamed "Jenni-Purr" by my daughter because of the loudness of her motor, which the cat turned on whenever she was picked up. I was sure she purred because she loved us and was so loved in return. But recently I have learned from Muriel Beadle, who wrote the "The Cat," that purring is simply an instinct.
Beadle tells a charming tale of a princess who was put under a spell and given the impossible task of spinning 10,000 skeins of linen thread within 30 days if she was to save her true love from death. To accomplish this mighty feat she enlisted her three cats. They helped spin the linen thread in the allotted time. To reward her feline friends she gave them the ability to purr, a memorial of the sound of the whirring made by the spinning wheel.
A more practical explanation of this purring is that the ability develops during the kitten's first month when it begins to nurse. As it latches onto the teat, it begins kneading the mother cat's nipples, which forces the milk to flow freely. The first kitten starts the "dinner-gong" function of purring, at which signal the others of the litter come immediately to the "dining table." This pattern of kneading and purring continues throughout the cat's life. The cat's vocal cords are elastic, fibrous bands that vibrate and produce the sound while both inhaling and exhaling, according to Mildred Moelk in "Vocalizing in the House Cat," but the character of the purr changes, the inhaled strokes being louder.
Do cats really have nine lives? Well, no, but some poor pets have lost their lives needlessly when unkind or unthinking people have tried to test the theory. Some people like to say that a year in a cat's life equals seven years of a human's life, but that's not true either. Neutered cats live longer than intact ones, and, as in the human species, the females outlive the males by a few years. But as Adolph Suehsdord says in "Cats in our Lives," "A 10-year-old cat and a 70-year-old person might be said to have traveled a similar distance down life's road, but at no other milestone does the ratio have much relevance. Eight-month-old cats bear young far more frequently than 5-year-old people, and truly ancient cats of more than 20 years are certainly more common than senior citizens of 140."
Beadle says the first three weeks in a cat's life equals 18 months of a human's life; the second month for a cat equals a human's young childhood, and it is weaned by its mother at six weeks. Five-month-old cats are young adults. Kittens grow fast because feline milk is 10 percent protein. At about three weeks the kitten develops paw preference, which remains throughout its life.
One of the features of kittens that makes them so attractive to people is the fact that they have exceptionally large eyes in relation to their head size, making them resemble human babies in this respect. Their eyes are the cat's primary sense organs and are sensitive to both light and dark. The muscles in the iris have a figure arrangement that causes the eyes to become mere slits in bright light and makes them appear huge in darker places. Contrary to a popular notion, cats cannot see in absolute darkness.
Cats' whiskers are a supplement to vision. They extend beyond the head and let the cat know whether a small opening offers room enough for the cat to enter or pass through a fence or wall. The whiskers also help the cat move around in the dark without bumping into furniture.
I used to wonder why cats, and especially kittens, were afraid to come down from the top of a tree they have scampered up at full speed. Cats' claws are curled under, and the toes on their back feet are much less flexible than the toes on the front feet. They are good at climbing trees or curtains in the house. They can run up a tree or post or heavy drapes as fast as they can run on flat ground. But they cannot turn around and come down head first because their hind claws cannot turn and cling.
The front claws are sharp, spreadable and protractible. The hind claws are exposed all the time, are walked on, not tucked under, and wear away, thus becoming blunted, and cannot act as grappling hooks to keep them from falling. "If it tried to descend head first with its hind quarters unsupported, its body weight would tumble it heels over head," Beadle said.
In his book "Do Cats Think?" Paul Corey offers this yarn in proof that they do think. "I have watched our young Missy Manx carefully avoid a dry leaf while stalking, apparently because she knows its crackle or rustle might warn what she is creeping up on. This is such a fine point in the art of hunting that it seems to me to emphasize the cat's fantastic ability to learn."
Cat stories have long been of interest to people. Some of the more well-known stories include the smart-alec "Puss in Boots," who managed to secure for his master a princess for a bride and a kingdom to rule. The more familiar legend of Dick Whittington and his cat is based in England, but variants of that tale date back to 12th century Venice and even to Persia in the 900s.
Another series of cat fables was told by the French poet Jean de La Fontaine. One of those tales concerned a cat who was a judge. He pretended to be so hard of hearing that when a weasel and a rabbit came to him to settle their quarrel, he had them come very close to him to debate their troubles. He then caught and ate both of them.
Another of La Fontaine's cat stories was of a stupid feline who was conned by a monkey into reaching his paw into the fire to drag out some chestnuts. From that yarn has come the present day warning, especially among business executives who hesitate to aid a competitor by warning themselves to be "careful of pulling someone else's chestnuts out of the fire."
So today there is a cat tale to match the feelings of most people, whether you are an ailurophobe (cat hater) or one who loves cats and can be called an ailurophile.