Cat

Cats are small, furry, carnivorous mammals featured in the series.
==Description==
:Cats are small, furry quadrupeds. They possess flexible bodies, quick reflexes, sharp teeth, retractable front claws and powerful haunches for jumping. Built for hunting small , felines have an innate sense of balance aided by their long tails, excellent night vision, and heightened senses, including a keen sense of smell and hearing. Their whiskers help with their balance. Whilst most of what a cat will need is scent and hearing, as demonstrated by Blindfall. While all cats posses theses skills, certain groups specialize in different traits: ThunderClan cats are known for their stealth in the undergrowth, ShadowClan cats have enhanced night vision and stealth, RiverClan cats specialize in swimming, WindClan cats are the swiftest and fastest, and SkyClan cats have powerful haunches to help them leap into the trees.
:Feral cats, such as those depicted in the series, are cats born in the wild as opposed to cats that are lost or released, which are referred to as stray cats. These cats are much more aggressive than their domesticated counterparts; housecats living near the Clans often spread stories of how Clan cats eat live prey and sharpen their claws on bones. Despite feral cats being solitary hunters, cats in the series are socialized animals, living in hierarchical groups and they have a variety of methods of communicating between each other such as purring, meowing, hissing, growling, and snarling. Cats also communicate through their body language, by the twitches of their tail, whiskers, ears, widening or narrowing of their eyes, and bristling fur. Only cats are able to understand cat speak.
:Cats come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and pelt-lengths. They typically have long tails, round eyes, large ears, round muzzles, small noses, and long whiskers. Cats frequently spend their time grooming themselves and each other to upkeep their pelts. Housecats are usually softer and plumper than wild cats. After visiting the Cutter, housecats will have narrow faces compared to the broad ones of adult wild cats. Their pelt colors range from various shades of black, gray, brown, ginger, and white. Tabbies can have a variety of stripe patterns, including tiger and mackerel. Some cats have more than one color on their pelt, most often paired with white. Pure white cats with blue eyes are susceptible to being deaf. Although, kits are born with blue eyes. Though, their eye-color will develop overtime.
:Cats are pregnant for two moons and their kits usually open their eyes from 2-16 days. The kits will usually inherit coat-colors and characteristics from their parents. Kits are either born male or female, referred to as toms and she-cats in the series. However, cats may be transgender or identify as non-binary later on in life.
:In the books, she-cats can have up to nine kittens, called kits, in one litter, though they can have litters of just one kit, this is extremely rare. A she-cat's pregnancy typically lasts two moons, and the kits nurse on their mother's milk until they are roughly two moons old. The care of the kits often falls to their mothers, but at times fathers may step in an assist in the nursery. Younger cats have smaller proportions than their adult counterparts, with kits having stubby legs and short tails. Around six moons old, wild young cats will have narrow foreheads, then grow into their adult bodies by a year of age, with fuller pelts and stronger muscles. Toms typically have wider heads and broader shoulders compared to she-cats.
:Using their strong sense of smell, cats can easily identify each other and foreign cats. Clan cats mark their territory with their own scent by either spraying or rubbing up against branches, stones or the ground. Cats are also skillful hunters, catching a wide variety of birds, small mammals, fish, amphibians, and rabbits. The cats in the series share the forest with other animals, including but not limited to badgers, s, and , all of which pose a threat to them. Wild cats are also threatened by the impacts of s, including their s, their that travel on the s, and the destruction of their homes through fire or disforestation for Twoleg developments. However, some cats enjoy living with their Twolegs, preferring it over the life of a wild cat.
===Defined groups===
:Cats are divided into different known groups:
*Clan cats, felines residing in one of the five warrior Clans.
**Unofficial Clans include ClawClan and BloodClan.
*Kittypets, cats owned by Twolegs.
*Rogues and loners, non-Clan cats who live on their own.
*Tribe cats who live in the mountains.
==See also==
*Warrior
*Cat names
*Mates
==External links==
*Cat
==Notes and references==
Category:Creatures