Cat (Domestic)

From Wikipedia: "The domestic cat is a small, typically furry, carnivorous mammal. They are often called house cats when kept as indoor pets or simply cats when there is no need to distinguish them from other felids and felines."

## General Information

### Anatomy

The first notable facet of construction of a cat's body is its sharp teeth and powerful biting jaw which in conjunction are designed to grip prey at the neck and then severing the spinal cord, killing the prey.

Then there are the cat's retractable claws, which are designed more for self-defense and gripping caught food then they are hunting but are still used in both modes.

They're also digitigrade animals, meaning they walk on their toes rather than their soles. This, coupled with their free-floating shoulders (which allow cats to fit into much more narrow spaces, relative to shoulder width) are responsible for their iconically slipping silent gait.

Domestic cats are typically nocturnal and crepuscular, meaning they are most active during the night and during the hours of dawn and dusk. This rhythm is aided by their large eyesockets and the reflective lining behind their retinas which allow cats to see well in near darkness.

Their hearing is superhuman in tone and sensitivity, as is their sense of smell: They sense of balance is equally sharp allowing them to rotate their with enough accuracy to land on their feet in a short fall. Their whisker are also a part of their sensory system, detecting objects in darkness and sensing air currents. Cats have fewer taste buds on their tongues which are rough like sandpaper to facilitate grooming.

Male cats have penile spines which rake against the vaginal walls of the cats they mate with: this serves the duel purpose of inducing ovulation and clearing out sperm from previous encounters.

### Behavior

Domesticated cats are a semi-solitary animal: this means that while they don't seek out companionship among their species to form packs or prides, they will tolerate each other's presence. Groups of domesticated cats are typically strongly individualized, and conflict and power struggle in resource-scarce environments are commonplace.

Cats of almost all breeds engage in perching from high locations and sunbathing. It is not uncommon for cats to sleep for short periods of time many times a day, and they will typically accrue between 12 and 14 hours of sleep a day.

Cats hunt small prey: primarily small birds and rodents. They will sometimes present their kills to human caregivers: it is not agreed what the driving force of this behavior is.

Many cat owners report their cat as standoffish.

## General Impressions

Since cats are most active during night, dawn, and dusk, they quickly associate with those times of day as well as the moon which is most visible when cats are active. These impressions, coupled with the perching behavior associate cats to wisdom and secrets.

Their hunting habits lead to the antithetical association of animals they typically hunt: that is birds and rodents: the manner of hunting associates them to stalking and ambush.

The construction of their bodies associates them to the idea of grace; and their standoffish behavior, coupled with their tendency to hunt more than they need to eat, causes many to associate them with cruelty, apathy, or antipathy, and hedonism.

Cats and dogs are considered by many the antithesis to one and other. This antithetical relationship to the masculine dog causes cats to be associated to the feminine.

## Breed Specific Impression

### Black Cats

While technically not a breed, black furred cats have specific impressions which cats with patterned fur or fur of other colors don't associate with. A 12th century decree by Pope Gregory IX stated that black cats were the agents of the devil (this is considered one of the root causes of the black plague). In western Christian and post-Christian cultures, this causes black cats to associate with the devil, evil, bad luck, and magic.

## Literary Examples of Cats as Symbols

### Alice in Wonderland from Lewis Caroll

#### The Cheshire Cat

The Cheshire cat is a resident of the wonderland that Alice visits. They're typically a fat tiger cat with a cool color scheme (purple pink, teal, and black) and they have the ability to make themselves selectively invisible; leading to the cat disappearing everything but it's eerie smile. The cat acts as an unreliable navigator for Alice, providing her with guidance while also being as unhelpful and aggravating as possible.

In addition, to the standard impressions of wisdom, guidance, apathy, and hedonism, the Cheshire Cat also associates with madness, since the Wonderland mythos, as a whole, associates with madness and absurdity and the Cheshire Cat in their role as a guide acts as synecdoche for the whole mythos.