Can cats control their purr?
Cat communication
The purr is a continuous, soft, vibrating sound made in the throat by most species of felines. Domestic kittens can purr as early as two days of age. This tonal rumbling can characterize different personalities in domestic cats. Purring is often believed to indicate a positive emotional state, but cats sometimes purr when they are ill, tense, or experiencing traumatic or painful moments such as giving birth. A more expansive definition is "purring signals a friendly social mood, and it can be given as a signal to, say, a vet from an injured cat indicating the need for friendship, or as a signal to an owner, saying thank you for friendship given."
Dog whistle
The upper limit of the human hearing range is about 20 kilohertz (kHz) for children, declining to 15–17 kHz for middle-age adults. The top end of a dog's hearing range is about 45 kHz, while a cat's is 64 kHz. It is thought that the wild ancestors of cats and dogs evolved this higher hearing range in order to hear high-frequency sounds made by their preferred prey, small rodents. The frequency of most dog whistles is within the range of 23 to 54 kHz, so they are above the range of human hearing, although some are adjustable down into the audible range.
Sand cat
The sand cat is a solitary cat except during the mating season and when a female has kittens. It communicates using scent and scratch marks on objects in its range and by urine spraying.
It makes loud, high-pitched and short rasping sounds, especially when seeking a mate. Its vocalizations are similar to those of the domestic cat.
Parrot
Pet parrots may be kept in a cage or aviary; though generally, tame parrots should be allowed out regularly on a stand or gym. Depending on locality, parrots may be either wild-caught or be captive-bred, though in most areas without native parrots, pet parrots are captive-bred. Parrot species that are commonly kept as pets include conures, macaws, amazon parrots, cockatoos, greys, lovebirds, cockatiels, budgerigars, caiques, parakeets, and "Eclectus", "Pionus", and "Poicephalus" species. Temperaments and personalities vary even within a species, just as with dog breeds. Grey parrots are thought to be excellent talkers, but not all grey parrots want to talk, though they have the capability to do so. Noise level, talking ability, cuddliness with people, and care needs can sometimes depend on how the bird is cared for and the attention he/she regularly receives.
Parrots invariably require an enormous amount of attention, care, and intellectual stimulation to thrive, akin to that required by a three-year-old child, which many people find themselves unable to provide in the long term. Parrots that are bred for pets may be hand fed or otherwise accustomed to interacting with people from a young age to help ensure they become tame and trusting. However, even when hand fed, parrots revert to biting and aggression during hormonal surges and if mishandled or neglected. Parrots are not low-maintenance pets; they require feeding, grooming, veterinary care, training, environmental enrichment through the provision of toys, exercise, and social interaction (with other parrots or humans) for good health.
American Curl
Due to its large genetic pool with non-pedigree cats, the American Curl is generally a healthy breed. These cats' ears however require frequent cleaning to prevent infections, and need gentle handling to prevent damage.
Various matings between curled cats and normal cats revealed a dominant inheritance of the curl gene. Sex linked distribution was not found. The mutant gene was designated as curl and is symbolized by Cu. Another mutation of the ear pinna was found in Scottish Fold cats. In these cats anomalies were rarely found when heterozygous, however in homozygous (FdFd) cats, animals suffer from dysplasia of the lower limbs and tail. So the question arises if homozygous curls (CuCu) could also be affected by cartilage formation defects and bone abnormalities. However observations of a CuCu cat over two years showed no sign of anomaly.
Cat training
Cats meow for various reasons, and some are naturally more vocal than others. This becomes a problem behavior when there is excessive meowing or yowling, especially at night. Positive reinforcement training, sometimes accompanied by a clicker, is commonly used in this case. This involves ignoring the cat when she is making noise, and rewarding with treats and affection when she is being quiet.
Ultrasound
Dogs and cats' hearing range extends into the ultrasound; the top end of a dog's hearing range is about 45 kHz, while a cat's is 64 kHz. The wild ancestors of cats and dogs evolved this higher hearing range to hear high-frequency sounds made by their preferred prey, small rodents. A dog whistle is a whistle that emits ultrasound, used for training and calling dogs. The frequency of most dog whistles is within the range of 23 to 54 kHz.
Cat
Cats conserve heat by reducing the flow of blood to their skin and lose heat by evaporation through their mouths. Cats have minimal ability to sweat, with glands located primarily in their paw pads, and pant for heat relief only at very high temperatures (but may also pant when stressed). A cat's body temperature does not vary throughout the day; this is part of cats' general lack of circadian rhythms and may reflect their tendency to be active both during the day and at night.
Cats' feces are comparatively dry and their urine is highly concentrated, both of which are adaptations to allow cats to retain as much water as possible. Their kidneys are so efficient, they can survive on a diet consisting only of meat, with no additional water, and can even rehydrate by drinking seawater.
Drinking
Cats, canines, and ruminants all lower the neck and lap in water with their powerful tongues. Cats and canines lap up water with the tongue in a spoon-like shape. Ruminants and most other herbivores partially submerge the tip of the mouth in order to draw in water by means of a plunging action with the tongue held straight. Cats drink at a significantly slower pace than ruminants, who face greater natural predation hazards. Uniquely, elephants draw water into their trunks and squirt it into their mouths.
Cat communication
Urine spraying is also a territorial marking. Although cats may mark with both sprayed and non-sprayed urine, the spray is usually more thick and oily than normally deposited urine, and may contain additional secretions from anal sacs that help the sprayer to make a stronger communication. While cats mark their territory both by rubbing of the scent glands and by urine and fecal deposits, spraying, most frequently engaged in by unneutered male cats in competition with others of their same sex and species, seems to be the loudest feline olfactory statement. Female cats also sometimes spray.
Cat communication
Cats sometimes make excited chirping or chattering noises when observing or stalking prey. These range from quiet clicking sounds to loud but sustained chirping mixed with the occasional meow.
Persian cat
As with in dogs, hip dysplasia affects larger breeds such as Maine Coons and Persians. But the small size of cats means that they tend not to be as affected by the condition. Persians are susceptible to malocclusion (incorrect bite), which can affect their ability to grasp, hold and chew food. Even without the condition the flat face of the Persian can make picking up food difficult, so much so that specially shaped kibble have been created by pet food companies to cater to the Persian.
Roar (vocalization)
A roar is a type of animal vocalization consisting of both a low fundamental frequency (pitch) and low formant frequency. Many mammals have the ability to produce roars and other roar-like vocalizations. These include big cats, gorillas, elephants, some bovids, howler monkeys, bears, red deer, some pinnipeds and hammer-headed bats.
Cat
Cats and many other animals have a Jacobson's organ in their mouths that is used in the behavioral process of flehmening. It allows them to sense certain aromas in a way that humans cannot. Cats are sensitive to pheromones such as 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol, which they use to communicate through urine spraying and marking with scent glands. Many cats also respond strongly to plants that contain nepetalactone, especially catnip, as they can detect that substance at less than one part per billion. About 70–80% of cats are affected by nepetalactone. This response is also produced by other plants, such as silver vine ("Actinidia polygama") and the herb valerian; it may be caused by the smell of these plants mimicking a pheromone and stimulating cats' social or sexual behaviors.
Cat communication
Gentle biting (often accompanied by purring and kneading) can communicate affection or playfulness, directed at the human owner or another cat; however, stronger bites that are often accompanied by hissing or growling usually communicate aggression. When cats mate, the tom bites the scruff of the female's neck as she assumes a lordosis position which communicates that she is receptive to mating.
Laughter in animals
Rats emit long, 50-kHz ultrasonic calls that are induced during rough and tumble play, and when tickled by humans. The vocalization is described as distinct "chirping". Like humans, rats have "tickle skin", areas of the body that generate greater laughter responses than others. Rats that laugh the most also play the most and prefer to spend more time with other laughing rats. It has been reported that there is no decline in the tendency to laugh and respond to tickle skin as rats age, however, it has also been reported that in females, brain maturation after puberty appears to redefine tickling as aversive, leading to avoidance rather than appetitive responses. Further studies show that rats chirp when wrestling one another, before receiving morphine, or when mating. The sound has been interpreted as an expectation of something rewarding. High frequency ultrasonic vocalizations are important in rat communication and function to elicit approach behavior in the recipient.
Major urinary proteins
In addition to serving as social cues between members of the same species, Mups can act as kairomones—chemical signals that transmit information between species. Mice are instinctively afraid of the smell of their natural predators, including cats and rats. This occurs even in laboratory mice that have been isolated from predators for hundreds of generations. When the chemical cues responsible for the fear response were purified from cat saliva and rat urine, two homologous protein signals were identified: Fel d 4 ("Felis domesticus" allergen 4), the product of the cat "Mup" gene, and Rat n 1 ("Rattus norvegicus" allergen 1), the product of the rat "Mup13" gene. Mice are fearful of these Mups even when they are made in bacteria, but mutant animals that are unable to detect the Mups showed no fear of rats, demonstrating their importance in initiating fearful behaviour. It is not known exactly how Mups from different species initiate disparate behaviours, but mouse Mups and predator Mups have been shown to activate unique patterns of sensory neurons in the nose of recipient mice. This implies the mouse perceives them differently, via distinct neural circuits. The pheromone receptors responsible for Mup detection are also unknown, though they are thought be members of the V2R receptor class.
Cat training
A cat may be trained to do tricks such as playing dead or ringing the doorbell. Because of the cat's flexibility and bone structure, they are able to twist and bend their bodies, and jump a fair distance from standing still. This talent can be turned into tricks involving jumping through hoops and off scratching posts. Cats are able to learn many types of commands, such as to come when called, sit, roll over, shake a paw, and jump.
Puppy cat
Puppy cat (or puppy-like cat, pup cat, dog-like cat, etc.) is a term used to refer to specific breeds of domestic cats that have unusual behavioral tendencies that are reminiscent of young domestic dogs. These are within the scope of feline behavior, and may be enhanced through selective breeding. These behaviors, not specific to any breed, include following people around from room to room, the desire to receive frequent moments of physical affection such as being held and petted, a lack of aggression toward some fellow animals, and a placid nature. While these attributes are found desirable for owners interacting with their cats, problems can occur when the felines are exposed to dogs and strange people, with the cats possibly being too trusting and too friendly for their own good. Breeds known for these canine behaviors include the Abyssinian, Burmese, Maine Coon, Manx, and Ragdoll, though dog behavior traits can appear regardless of breed.
Cat behavior
A cat's posture communicates its emotions. It is best to observe cats' natural behavior when they are by themselves, with humans, and with other animals. Their postures can be friendly or aggressive, depending upon the situation. Some of the most basic and familiar cat postures include the following:Oral grooming for domestic and feral cats is a common behavior; recent studies on domestic cats show that they spend about 8% of resting time grooming themselves. Grooming is extremely important not only to clean themselves but also to ensure ectoparasite control. Fleas tend to be the most common ectoparasite of cats and some studies allude to indirect evidence that grooming in cats is effective in removing fleas. Cats not only use their tongue for grooming to control ectoparasites but scratch grooming as well may aid in dislodging fleas from the head and neck.
Cat anatomy
There are some things that the cats are not able to digest. For example, cats clean themselves by licking their fur with their tongue, which causes them to swallow a lot of fur. This causes a build-up of fur in a cat's stomach and creates a mass of fur. This is often thrown up and is better known as a hair ball.
Purple Man
The Purple Man’s body produces chemical pheromones which, when inhaled or absorbed through the skin, allow Killgrave to control others' actions, as long as he is physically present. These abilities can overwhelm most, but sufficiently strong-willed people, such as Doctor Doom and Kingpin, have been able to resist its influence, and Daredevil has been able to resist Killgrave as the powers rely on full sensory manipulation, Daredevil's blindness hindering the amount of input he receives and making it easier for him to resist what he picks up. Moon Knight defeated the Purple Man by wearing earplugs that prevented him from hearing the villain's commands; he, Daredevil, and other heroes gagged the Purple Man before giving him to the police to prevent him from commanding others.
Cat behavior
Cats use scent and pheromones to help organize their territory by marking prominent objects. If these objects or scents are removed it upsets the cat's perception of its environment.
Cat
Cats have relatively few taste buds compared to humans (470 or so versus more than 9,000 on the human tongue). Domestic and wild cats share a gene mutation that keeps their sweet taste buds from binding to sugary molecules, leaving them with no ability to taste sweetness. Their taste buds instead respond to acids, amino acids like protein, and bitter tastes. Cats also have a distinct temperature preference for their food, preferring food with a temperature around which is similar to that of a fresh kill and routinely rejecting food presented cold or refrigerated (which would signal to the cat that the "prey" item is long dead and therefore possibly toxic or decomposing).
To aid with navigation and sensation, cats have dozens of movable whiskers (vibrissae) over their body, especially their faces. These provide information on the width of gaps and on the location of objects in the dark, both by touching objects directly and by sensing air currents; they also trigger protective blink reflexes to protect the eyes from damage.
Cat communication
Chirping is also used by mothers to comfort and get the attention of the kittens in their litters. The kittens learn to identify their mothers' chirps fairly early in life. There was also mention of a call, that presumably was a chirp, in Brown et al. 1978 where a five-week-old kitten had wandered from the nest and when the mother chirped and the kitten immediately turned back in her direction.
Hairstyling tool
The brushing of a domestic animal's fur is often perceived as a mark of affection and/or a bonding experience, which can have a soothing effect, e.g. making a cat purr. Special brushes are made for cats and dogs. For an equine's tougher hair, a curry-comb is used.
Growling
Felines such as leopards and tigers also growl to signal territorial aggression, eliciting anti-predator responses from animals such as elephants. Similar to human interpretation of growling, elephants are able to distinguish the threat level based on the individual growl and will respond accordingly; elephants will retreat from tigers, but defend against leopards. Domestic house cats also growl, sounding like "brrrrrooowwww", usually followed by the typical hissing sound. In domestic cats, growling is a warning noise, implying unhappiness, annoyance, fear or other forms of aggression, and is a signal to back off. Cats may growl,similar to dogs, in the presence of other cats or dogs to establish dominance or to indicate they do not wish to interact with that individual
Cat senses
A cat has about twenty-four movable vibrissae ("whiskers"), in four sets on each upper lip on either side of its nose (some cats may have more). There are also a few on each cheek, tufts over the eyes, bristles on the chin, the cat's inner "wrists", and at the back of the legs. The Sphynx (a nearly hairless breed) may have full length, short, or no whiskers at all.
Abortion
Viral infection can cause abortion in dogs. Cats can experience spontaneous abortion for many reasons, including hormonal imbalance. A combined abortion and spaying is performed on pregnant cats, especially in Trap-Neuter-Return programs, to prevent unwanted kittens from being born.
Female rodents may terminate a pregnancy when exposed to the smell of a male not responsible for the pregnancy, known as the Bruce effect.
Cat pheromone
Cat attractants are odorants that have an effect on cat behavior. A cat presented with a cat attractant may roll in it, paw at it, or chew on the source of the smell. The effect is usually relatively short, lasting for only a few minutes after which the cats have a refractory period during which the response cannot be elicited. After 30 minutes to two hours, susceptible cats gain interest again.
Cat
Female cats are seasonally polyestrous, which means they may have many periods of heat over the course of a year, the season beginning in spring and ending in late autumn. Heat periods occur about every two weeks and last about 4 to 7 days. Multiple males will be attracted to a female in heat. The males will fight over her, and the victor wins the right to mate. At first, the female rejects the male, but eventually the female allows the male to mate. The female utters a loud yowl as the male pulls out of her because a male cat's penis has a band of about 120–150 backwards-pointing penile spines, which are about 1 mm long; upon withdrawal of the penis, the spines rake the walls of the female's vagina, which acts to induce ovulation. This act also occurs to clear the vagina of other sperm in the context of a second (or more) mating, thus giving the later males a larger chance of conception.
Cat
Among domestic cats, males are more likely to fight than females. Among feral cats, the most common reason for cat fighting is competition between two males to mate with a female. In such cases, most fights are won by the heavier male. Another common reason for fighting in domestic cats is the difficulty of establishing territories within a small home. Female cats also fight over territory or to defend their kittens. Neutering will decrease or eliminate this behavior in many cases, suggesting that the behavior is linked to sex hormones.
Sun parakeet
The sun conure is noted for its very loud squawks and screams compared to its relatively small size. It is capable of mimicking humans, but not as well as some larger parrots. They are popular as pets because of their bright coloration and curious nature. Due to their inquisitive temperaments, they demand a great deal of attention from their owners, with whom they can be loving and cuddly. Hand-reared pets can be very friendly towards people with whom they are familiar, but they may be aggressive with strangers and even territorial with visitors. Sun conures are capable of learning many tricks and can even perform in front of a live audience. They enjoy listening to music, to which they occasionally sing and dance. Like many parrots, they are determined chewers and require toys and treats to chew on. Many owners clip their conures' wings, but this is not necessary if the proper precautions are put in place. Due to environmental hazards, conures should not be allowed to fly unsupervised. Sun conures are great candidates for outdoor flight when well trained, as they are loyal, but risk potential must be minimized. In captivity, their lifespans range from 15 to 30 years.
Cat behavior
Cats like to organize their environment based on their needs. Like their ancestors, domestic cats still have an inherent desire to maintain an independent territory but are generally content to live with other cats for company as they easily get bored. Living alone for a longer time may let them forget how to communicate with other cats.
Cat
Cats conserve energy by sleeping more than most animals, especially as they grow older. The daily duration of sleep varies, usually between 12 and 16 hours, with 13 and 14 being the average. Some cats can sleep as much as 20 hours. The term "cat nap" for a short rest refers to the cat's tendency to fall asleep (lightly) for a brief period. While asleep, cats experience short periods of rapid eye movement sleep often accompanied by muscle twitches, which suggests they are dreaming.
Cat organ
A cat organ or cat piano ( or "Katzenklavier", or "piano à chats/piano chats") is a hypothetical musical instrument which consists of a line of cats fixed in place with their tails stretched out underneath a keyboard so that they cry out when a key is pressed. The cats would be arranged according to the natural tone of their voices.
Licking
Thermoregulation: Some animals use licking to cool themselves. Cats do not sweat the way humans do and the saliva deposited by licking provides a similar means of evaporative cooling. Some animals spread saliva over areas of the body with little or no fur to maximise heat loss. For example, kangaroos lick their wrists and rats lick their testicles.
Cat anatomy
The cat's oral structures provide for a variety of vocalizations used for communication, including meowing, purring, hissing, growling, squeaking, chirping, clicking, and grunting.
Emotion in animals
Research with rats has revealed that under particular conditions, they emit 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalisations (USV) which have been postulated to reflect a positive affective state (emotion) analogous to primitive human joy; these calls have been termed "laughter". The 50 kHz USVs in rats are uniquely elevated by hedonic stimuli—such as tickling, rewarding electrical brain stimulation, amphetamine injections, mating, play, and aggression—and are suppressed by aversive stimuli. Of all manipulations that elicit 50 kHz chirps in rats, tickling by humans elicits the highest rate of these calls.
Cat
During a fall from a high place, a cat can reflexively twist its body and right itself using its acute sense of balance and flexibility. This is known as the cat righting reflex. An individual cat always rights itself in the same way, provided it has the time to do so, during a fall. The height required for this to occur is around . Cats without a tail (e.g. many specimens of the Manx and Cymric breeds) also have this ability, since a cat mostly relies on leg movement and conservation of angular momentum to set up for landing, and the tail is little used for this feat. Their excellent sense of balance allows cats to move with great stability.
Jungle cat
The jungle cat has a uniformly sandy, reddish-brown or grey fur without spots; melanistic and albino individuals are also known. It is solitary in nature, except during the mating season and mother-kitten families. Adults maintain territories by urine spraying and scent marking. Its preferred prey is small mammals and birds. It hunts by stalking its prey, followed by a sprint or a leap; the ears help in pinpointing the location of prey. Both sexes become sexually mature by the time they are one year old; females enter oestrus from January to March. Mating behaviour is similar to that in the domestic cat: the male pursues the female in oestrus, seizes her by the nape of her neck and mounts her. Gestation lasts nearly two months. Births take place between December and June, though this might vary geographically. Kittens begin to catch their own prey at around six months and leave the mother after eight or nine months.
Cat communication
It was once believed that only the cats of the genus "Felis" could purr. However, felids of the genus "Panthera" (tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards) also produce sounds similar to purring, but only when exhaling. The subdivision of the Felidae into ‘purring cats’ on the one hand and ‘roaring cats ’ (i.e. non-purring) on the other, originally goes back to Owen (1834/1835) and was definitely introduced by Pocock (1916), based on a difference in hyoid anatomy. The ‘roaring cats’ (lion, "Panthera leo"; tiger, "P. tigris"; jaguar, "P. onca"; leopard, "P. pardus") have an incompletely ossified hyoid, which according to this theory, enables them to roar but not to purr. On the other hand, the snow leopard ("Uncia uncia"), as the fifth felid species with an incompletely ossified hyoid, purrs (Hemmer, 1972). All remaining species of the family Felidae (‘purring cats’) have a completely ossified hyoid which enables them to purr but not to roar. However, Weissengruber et al. (2002) argued that the ability of a cat species to purr is not affected by the anatomy of its hyoid, i.e. whether it is fully ossified or has a ligamentous epihyoid, and that, based on a technical acoustic definition of roaring, the presence of this vocalization type depends on specific characteristics of the vocal folds and an elongated vocal tract, the latter rendered possible by an incompletely ossified hyoid.
Origin of speech
Animal vocal signals are for the most part intrinsically reliable. When a cat purrs, the signal constitutes direct evidence of the animal's contented state. One can "trust" the signal not because the cat is inclined to be honest, but because it just can't fake that sound. Primate vocal calls may be slightly more manipulable, but they remain reliable for the same reason — because they are hard to fake. Primate social intelligence is "Machiavellian" — self-serving and unconstrained by moral scruples. Monkeys and apes often attempt to deceive one another, while at the same time constantly on guard against falling victim to deception themselves. Paradoxically, it is precisely primates' resistance to deception that blocks the evolution of their vocal communication systems along language-like lines. Language is ruled out because the best way to guard against being deceived is to ignore all signals except those that are instantly verifiable. Words automatically fail this test.
List of ThunderCats characters
Ma-Mutt is a demonic Bulldog that is Mumm-Ra's pet. While incapable of speech because of his canine physiology, he appears to be a sapient being of roughly human intelligence. He has demonstrated the ability to fly as well as to grow in size and seems to have greatly enhanced strength. Ma-Mutt also harnesses the same shapeshifting capabilities as Mumm-Ra.
Cat and mouse
Cat and mouse, often expressed as cat-and-mouse game, is an English-language idiom dating to 1675 that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes." The "cat" is unable to secure a definitive victory over the "mouse", who despite not being able to defeat the cat, is able to avoid capture. In extreme cases, the idiom may imply that the contest is never-ending. The term is derived from the hunting behavior of domestic cats, which often appear to "play" with prey by releasing it after capture. This behavior may arise from an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat.
Dog communication
Licking behavior can mean different things depending on the context and should not be simply interpreted as affection. Dogs that are familiar with each other may lick each other's faces in greeting, then they begin to sniff any moist membranes where odors are strongest i.e. mouth, nose, anal regions and urogenital areas. These greetings and identification sniffs may turn to licking as well. For mating behaviors, this is done more vigorously than when greeting each other. Licking can communicate information about dominance, intentions and state of mind, and like the yawn is mainly a pacifying behavior. All pacifying behaviors contain elements of puppy behavior, including licking. Puppies lick themselves and their litter-mates as part of the cleaning process, and it appears to build bonds. Later in life, licking ceases to be a cleaning function and forms a ritualized gesture indicating friendliness. When stressed, a dog might lick the air, its own lips, or drop down and lick its paws or body.
Lip-licking and sniffing are also recognized as calming signals.
Dogs are said to exhibit a left-right asymmetry of the tail when interacting with strangers, and will show the opposite, right-left motion with people and dogs they know.Long-distance contact calls are common in Canidae, typically in the form of either barks (termed "pulse trains") or howls (termed "long acoustic streams"). The long-distance howling of wolves and coyotes is one way in which dogs communicate.
Cats &amp; Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Not long after arriving, Diggs and Catherine are captured by Kitty Galore and her henchcat, Paws. Kitty reveals to Diggs and Catherine that she plots to transmit "The Call of the Wild" via an orbiting satellite which only dogs can hear through televisions, radios and cell phones to cause them to act hostile towards their humans. They will then be left alone and unwanted in kennels. Diggs and Catherine escape and meet up with Butch and Seamus. Kitty uses the roof of the fairground's flying swings ride for a satellite dish. Diggs, Butch, Catherine and Seamus arrive. Seamus presses a red button, thinking it is a shutdown button, but it instead loads the "Call of the Wild" signal. Dogs around the world start acting insane in their homes. Paws battles them, revealing he is a robot in the process. Diggs tricks Paws into biting the wires, destroying the satellite. Kitty's pet mouse, Scrumptious, fed up with Kitty's abuse towards him, fires her away. Kitty gets covered in cotton candy and lands in the magician's hat with the humans thinking it was a stunt.
Purr
A purr is a tonal fluttering sound made by some species of felids and two species of genets. It varies in loudness and tone among species and in the same animal.
Although true purring is exclusive to felids and viverrids, other animals such as raccoons produce purr-like vocalization. Animals that produce purr-like sounds include mongoose, bears, badgers, foxes, hyaenas, rabbits, squirrels, guinea pigs, tapirs, ring-tailed lemurs, and gorillas while eating.
Mammal
As in all other tetrapods, mammals have a larynx that can quickly open and close to produce sounds, and a supralaryngeal vocal tract which filters this sound. The lungs and surrounding musculature provide the air stream and pressure required to phonate. The larynx controls the pitch and volume of sound, but the strength the lungs exert to exhale also contributes to volume. More primitive mammals, such as the echidna, can only hiss, as sound is achieved solely through exhaling through a partially closed larynx. Other mammals phonate using vocal folds, as opposed to the vocal cords seen in birds and reptiles. The movement or tenseness of the vocal folds can result in many sounds such as purring and screaming. Mammals can change the position of the larynx, allowing them to breathe through the nose while swallowing through the mouth, and to form both oral and nasal sounds; nasal sounds, such as a dog whine, are generally soft sounds, and oral sounds, such as a dog bark, are generally loud.
Cat
Domestic cats use many vocalizations for communication, including purring, trilling, hissing, growling/snarling, grunting, and several different forms of meowing. By contrast, feral cats are generally silent. Their types of body language, including position of ears and tail, relaxation of the whole body, and kneading of the paws, are all indicators of mood. The tail and ears are particularly important social signal mechanisms in cats; for example, a raised tail acts as a friendly greeting, and flattened ears indicates hostility. Tail-raising also indicates the cat's position in the group's social hierarchy, with dominant individuals raising their tails less often than subordinate animals. Nose-to-nose touching is also a common greeting and may be followed by social grooming, which is solicited by one of the cats raising and tilting its head.
Dog communication
Dogs have an olfactory sense 40 times more sensitive than a human's and they commence their lives operating almost exclusively on smell and touch. The special scents that dogs use for communication are called pheromones. Different hormones are secreted when a dog is angry, fearful or confident, and some chemical signatures identify the sex and age of the dog, and if a female is in the estrus cycle, pregnant or recently given birth. Many of the pheromone chemicals can be found dissolved in a dog's urine, and sniffing where another dog has urinated gives the dog a great deal of information about that dog. Male dogs prefer to mark vertical surfaces with urine and having the scent higher allows the air to carry it further. The height of the marking tells other dogs about the size of the dog, as among canines size is an important factor in dominance. Dogs (and wolves) not only use urine but also their stools to mark their territories. The anal gland of canines give a particular signature to fecal deposits and identifies the marker as well as the place where the dung is left. A small degree of elevation may be sought, such as a rock or fallen branch, to aid scent dispersal. Scratching the ground after defecating is a visual sign pointing to the scent marking.
Animal psychopathology
Cats also display pica behavior in their natural environments and there is evidence to support that this behavior has a psychological aspect to it. Some breeds (such as the Siamese cat) are more predisposed to showing this type of behavior than other breeds, but several types of breeds have been documented to show pica. Cats have been observed to start by chewing and sucking on non-nutritive substances like wool, cotton, rubber, plastic and even cardboard and then progress into ingestion of these substances. This type of behavior occurs through the first four years of a cat's life but it is primarily observed during the first two months of life when cats are introduced into new homes is most common. Theories explaining why this behavior becomes active during this time suggest that early weaning and stress as a consequence of separation from the mother and litter-mates and exposure to a new environment are to blame. Eating wool or other substances may be a soothing mechanism that cats develops to cope with the changes. Pica is also observed predominately during 6–8 months of a cat's life when territorial and sexual behaviors emerge. Pica may be induced by these social stressors. Other theories contemplated include pica as a redirection of prey-catching/ingestion behavior as a result of indoor confinement, especially common among oriental breeds due to risk of theft. In natural environments pica has been observed in parrots (such as macaws) and other birds and mammals. Charles Munn has been studying Amazon macaws lick clay from riverbeds in the Amazon to detoxify the seeds they eat. Amazon macaws spend two to three hours a day licking clay. Munn has found that clay helps counter the tannin and alkaloid in the seeds the macaws ingest, a strategy that is also used by native cultures in the Andes Mountains in Peru.
Cat behavior
Purring or a soft buzz, can mean that the cat is content or possibly that they are sick. Meows are a frequently used greeting. Meows occur when a mother is interacting with her young. Hissing or spitting indicate the cat is angry or defensive. Yowls can mean that the cat is in distress or feeling aggressive. Chattering occurs when they are hunting or being restrained from hunting. If you see your cat making quick chirps, and moving their mouths extremely quickly while their eyes are set and staring at one place, they are chattering, and channeling their inner urge to hunt. Big cats do this as well, but since domesticated cats are not in the wild, they still have their innate need to hunt. Grown cats also do not meow to other grown cats. Cats meow in adult form to talk to other animals, such as dogs, and more importantly humans. Meowing to humans has been researched as that they do it to manipulate humans into what they want and need.
Jaguar
Like the other big cats, the jaguar is capable of roaring and does so to warn territorial and mating competitors away; intensive bouts of counter-calling between individuals have been observed in the wild. Their roar often resembles a repetitive cough, and they may also vocalize mews and grunts. Mating fights between males occur, but are rare, and aggression avoidance behavior has been observed in the wild. When it occurs, conflict is typically over territory: a male's range may encompass that of two or three females, and he will not tolerate intrusions by other adult males.
Felidae
Other common felid vocalisations include the gurgle, wah-wah, prusten, and roar. The first two sounds are found only among the Felinae (small cats). Gurgling is a quiet sound used during meetings between friendly individuals, as well as during courtship and when nursing kittens. The wah-wah is a short, deep-sounding call used in close contact, and is not found in all species (it is, for example, absent in the domestic cat).
Sesamstraat
Purk is a baby piglet. She wears a diaper and a little bow in her ear. She is clumsy and messy and loves to get herself dirty. She is still learning how to talk, and she can't walk yet. She's taken care of by everyone on Sesamstraat. Everybody loves Purk.
Emotion in animals
Growling can be an expression of annoyance or fear, similar to humans. When annoyed or angry, a cat wriggles and thumps its tail much more vigorously than when in a contented state. In larger felids such as lions, what appears to be irritating to them varies between individuals. A male lion may let his cubs play with his mane or tail, or he may hiss and hit them with his paws. Domestic male cats also have variable attitudes towards their family members, for example, older male siblings tend not to go near younger or new siblings and may even show hostility toward them.
Purr
The mechanism by which cats purr is an object of speculation. There is a unique "neural oscillator" in the cat’s brain of uncertain significance.
Cat massage
Effleurage and friction are both good techniques in massaging cats. After the cat has shown it is relaxed, the owners may start to pet it from the head to the tail, by using their open and relaxed hand. This is the effleurage technique. While practicing this movement, owners can look for abnormalities such as lumps or bumps. The effleurage stroke is helpful in stimulating blood circulation and warming up the tissue. Circular friction may be performed down the cat's body by using one's fingertip to draw small circles on its skin, including the tail.
Purr by Katy Perry
Purr's scent is fresh with a citrus twist which also features peach nectar and apple with green bamboo. It also includes a "delicate bouquet of jasmine blossom, pink freesia and Bulgarian rose, balanced by vanilla orchid, white amber, creamy sandalwood and musk." The bottle is purple, shaped like a cat, decorated with jeweled eyes and features metallic details. Its design was hand-sketched by Katy Perry herself, and was influenced by her Catwoman stage costume.
Cat communication
The mechanism of how cats purr is elusive. This is partly because cats do not have a unique anatomical feature that is clearly responsible for this vocalization. One hypothesis, supported by electromyographic studies, is that cats produce the purring noise by using the vocal folds and/or the muscles of the larynx to alternately dilate and constrict the glottis rapidly, causing air vibrations during inhalation and exhalation. Combined with the steady inhalation and exhalation as the cat breathes, a purring noise is produced with strong harmonics. Purring is sometimes accompanied by other sounds, though this varies between individuals. Some may only purr, while other cats also emit low level outbursts sometimes described as "lurps" or "yowps".
Cat behavior
Observational learning for cats can be described in the terms of the drive to complete the behaviour, the cue that initiates the behaviour, the response to the cue, and the reward for completing the behaviour. This is shown above when cats learn predatory behaviour from their mothers. The drive is hunger, the cue is the prey, the response is to catch the prey, and the reward is to relieve the hunger sensation.
Big cat
The ability to roar comes from an elongated and specially adapted larynx and hyoid apparatus. When air passes through the larynx on the way from the lungs, the cartilage walls of the larynx vibrate, producing sound. The lion's larynx is longest, giving it the most robust roar. The roar in good conditions can be heard 8 or even 10 km away. All five extant members of the genus "Panthera" contain this elongated hyoid but due to differences in the larynx the snow leopard cannot roar.
House sparrow
Aggressive males give a trilled version of their call, transcribed as "chur-"chur-r-r-it-it-it-it"". This call is also used by females in the breeding season, to establish dominance over males while displacing them to feed young or incubate eggs. House sparrows give a nasal alarm call, the basic sound of which is transcribed as "quer", and a shrill "chree" call in great distress. Another vocalisation is the "appeasement call", a soft "quee" given to inhibit aggression, usually given between birds of a mated pair. These vocalisations are not unique to the house sparrow, but are shared, with small variations, by all sparrows.
Cat play and toys
There are several different motor patterns associated with the play behaviour of cats and they have different roles in the social context.Pouncing is one of these motor patterns in which it is used to initiate play through physical contact. Chasing and horizontal leaping is an example of a motor pattern that may be used by a cat to end play. The movement of a cat's tail during play and the varying rates at which the cat may move its tail can even be a useful indicator of its level of playfulness. There are patterns of belly-up and stand-up actions that are engaged in by kittens in which seem to show that they prefer to engage in physical contact play in terms of their social role among other kittens.
Purr
Cats often purr when distressed or in pain, such as in labour. This purring may trigger a cat's brain to release a hormone which helps it in relaxing and acts as a painkiller. Purring may also be a healing mechanism to offset long periods of rest and sleep that would otherwise contribute to a loss of bone density. The vibrations and contractions of a purr show a consistent pattern and frequency around 25 Hz; these frequencies have been shown to improve bone density and promote healing in animal models and humans.
Kitty Kornered
While the cats are lounging around, Porky bursts through the window, making an incredibly menacing face. He chases them around the house until one of them throws him into a cabinet full of dishes and a teapot. Porky retaliates by setting his pet dog "Lassie" on the cats. The cats see the dog's shadow and run for their lives, not knowing that "Lassie" is for real only a shadow puppet created with Porky's fingers and he doesn't for real have a dog.
Beat deafness
A research team led by Aniruddh D. Patel of The Neurosciences Institute concluded that sulphur-crested cockatoos have the ability to perceive the beat in music and are able to rhythmically move to the tempo of the music as it changes. Only vocal learning species such as dolphins and parrots are hypothesized to have the ability to perceive beat. This is because beat perception and movement rely on complex vocal learning which require motor and auditory circuits in the brain. Vocal learning and beat perception do some overlapping in the parts of the brain that account auditory and motor areas. There is no significant evidence for beat perception in nonvocal learning species such as dogs and cats. However, California sea lions, a nonvocal learning animal, have demonstrated the ability to perceive beats in music.
Cat
Since cats lack sufficient lips to create suction, they use a lapping method with the tongue to draw liquid upwards into their mouths. Lapping at a rate of four times a second, the cat touches the smooth tip of its tongue to the surface of the water, and quickly retracts it like a corkscrew, drawing water upwards.
Scent rubbing
Scent rubbing in cats is performed by adult animals more often than juveniles, indicating that the behaviour is used as a means of marking territory or of expressing their status. Adult marmots display a form of scent rubbing called cheek rubbing more than young members of the species. Mature pumas spent a significantly longer time body rubbing than immature pumas, which is related to communication behaviours developing with age, mature females did not visit their community scrapes as often. Only sexually mature woolly monkeys exhibit chest rubbing, which suggests that this scent rubbing behaviour reproductive function.
Cat communication
Domestic cats purr at varying frequencies. One study reported that domestic cats purr at average frequencies of 21.98 Hz in the egressive phase and 23.24 Hz in the ingressive phase with an overall mean of 22.6 Hz. Further research on purring in four domestic cats found that the fundamental frequency varied between 20.94 and 27.21 Hz for the egressive phase and between 23.0 and 26.09 Hz for the ingressive phase. There was considerable variation between the four cats in the relative amplitude, duration and frequency between egressive and ingressive phases, although this variation generally occurred within the normal range.
Cat behavior
Cats carry these infantile behaviors beyond nursing and into adulthood. Some cats "nurse", i.e. suck, on clothing or bedding during kneading. The cat exerts firm downwards pressure with its paw, opening its toes to expose its claws, then closes its claws as it lifts its paw. The process takes place with alternate paws at intervals of one to two seconds. They may knead while sitting on their owner's lap, which may prove painful if the cat has sharp claws.
Cat senses
Cats often sleep during the day so they can "hunt" at night. Unlike humans, cats do not need to blink their eyes on a regular basis to keep their eyes lubricated (with tears). Unblinking eyes are probably an advantage when hunting. Cats will, however, "squint" their eyes, usually as a form of communication expressing affection and ease around another cat or human.
Curb bit
The curb bit's mouthpiece controls the pressure on the tongue, roof of the mouth, and bars. A mullen mouth places even pressure on the bars and tongue. A port places more pressure on the bars, but provides room for the tongue. A high port may act on the roof of the mouth as it touches. Some Western style curbs, particularly the spade bit, have both a straight bar mouthpiece and a high welded port, thus acting on the bars, tongue and palate. In the wrong hands, such bits can be extremely severe, but on an exquisitely trained animal, they allow the rider to communicate with the horse with a simple touch of the fingertips to the reins.
Cat
Cats, like dogs, are digitigrades. They walk directly on their toes, with the bones of their feet making up the lower part of the visible leg. Cats are capable of walking very precisely because, like all felines, they directly register; that is, they place each hind paw (almost) directly in the print of the corresponding fore paw, minimizing noise and visible tracks. This also provides sure footing for their hind paws when they navigate rough terrain. Unlike most mammals, when cats walk, they use a "pacing" gait; that is, they move the two legs on one side of the body before the legs on the other side. This trait is shared with camels and giraffes. As a walk speeds up into a trot, a cat's gait changes to be a "diagonal" gait, similar to that of most other mammals (and many other land animals, such as lizards): the diagonally opposite hind and fore legs move simultaneously.
Cat senses
A domestic cat's sense of smell is about fourteen times as strong as humans'. Cats have twice as many receptors in the olfactory epithelium (i.e. smell-sensitive cells in their noses) as people do, meaning that cats have a more acute sense of smell than humans. In fact cats have 200 million odor-sensitive cells in their noses where as humans only have 5 million odor-sensitive cells. Cats also have a scent organ in the roof of their mouths called the vomeronasal (or Jacobson's) organ. When a cat wrinkles its muzzle, lowers its chin, and lets its tongue hang a bit, it is opening the passage to the vomeronasal. This is called "gaping", "sneering", "snake mouth", or "flehming". Gaping is the equivalent of the Flehmen response in other animals, such as dogs, horses and big cats.
Purr by Katy Perry
Following the theme of the bottle's design, Purr's feline-inspired print advertisements featured Perry posing provocatively in a purple and pink cat suit. While she was shooting the commercial advert for Purr, the television show "Extra" conducted a behind-the-scenes interview with Perry about the design of the bottle. Purr was launched in November 2010 in the United Kingdom, where it was available exclusively at London's Selfridges store for one week, ahead of a national roll-out beginning November 20.
Cat behavior
A significant element of cat behavior is that they thrive on engaging their predatory instincts. When kept as an indoor pet, due to high-density living, traffic, or predators such as coyotes, they are essentially captives, like zoo animals. Understanding an indoor cat's personality can go a long way to satisfy their instincts and avoid potential schizophrenic behavior (such as sudden hissing, dashing around the house, or climbing the curtains). While there may not be common rules for providing a stable environment it appears that the following should be present:
Cat communication
The chirr or chirrup sounds like a meow rolled on the tongue. It is commonly used by mother cats calling their kittens inside the nest. Kittens recognize their own mother's chirp, and do not respond to the chirps of other mothers. It is also used by friendly cats when eliciting the approach of another cat or a human. Humans can mimic the sound to reassure and greet pet cats.
Stereotypy (non-human)
Many stereotypies can be induced by confinement; for example, cats pace in zoo cages. Pregnant sows whose feed is restricted bite at their stalls' bars and chew without anything in their mouths. In laboratory rats and mice, grooming is the most common activity other than sleep, and grooming stereotypies have been used to investigate several animal models of anxiety and depression.
Parrot
Parrots do not have vocal cords, so sound is accomplished by expelling air across the mouth of the trachea in the organ called the syrinx. Different sounds are produced by changing the depth and shape of the trachea. African grey parrots are known for their superior ability to imitate sounds and human speech, which has made them popular pets since ancient times.
Cat behavior
The first sign of a tom cat duel is when both cat draws themselves up high on their legs, all hair along the middle of their backs are standing straight up, and they mew and howl loudly as they approach one another. The steps the cats make become slower and shorter the closer they become to one another. Once they are close enough to attack, they pause slightly, and then one cat leaps and tries to bite the nape of the other cat. The other cat has no choice but to retaliate and both cats are rolling aggressively on the ground, and loud intense screams come from both cats. Before you know it both cats separate and stand face to face to begin the attack all over again. This can go on for some time until one cat does not get up again and remains seated. The defeated cat does not move until the victor has completed a sniff of the area and moves outside the fighting area. Once this happens the defeated cat leaves the area ending the duel.
Purr
All remaining species of the family Felidae (‘purring cats’) have a completely ossified hyoid, which enables them to purr but not to roar. Based on a technical acoustic definition of roaring, the presence of this vocalization type depends on specific characteristics of the vocal folds and an elongated vocal tract, which is rendered possible by an incompletely ossified hyoid.Purring may have developed as an evolutionary advantage as a signalling mechanism of reassurance between mother cats and nursing kittens. Post-nursing cats often purr as a sign of contentment: when being petted, becoming relaxed, or eating. Some purring may be a signal to another animal that the purring cat does not pose a threat.
Cat
Like almost all members of the Felidae, cats have protractable and retractable claws. In their normal, relaxed position, the claws are sheathed with the skin and fur around the paw's toe pads. This keeps the claws sharp by preventing wear from contact with the ground and allows the silent stalking of prey. The claws on the fore feet are typically sharper than those on the hind feet. Cats can voluntarily extend their claws on one or more paws. They may extend their claws in hunting or self-defense, climbing, kneading, or for extra traction on soft surfaces. Most cats have five claws on their front paws, and four on their rear paws. The fifth front claw (the dewclaw) is proximal to the other claws. More proximally is a protrusion which appears to be a sixth "finger". This special feature of the front paws, on the inside of the wrists, is the carpal pad, also found on the paws of big cats and dogs. It has no function in normal walking, but is thought to be an antiskidding device used while jumping. Some breeds of cats are prone to polydactyly (extra toes and claws). These are particularly common along the northeast coast of North America.
Cat
Domestic cats select food based on its temperature, smell and texture; they dislike chilled foods and respond most strongly to moist foods rich in amino acids, which are similar to meat. Cats may reject novel flavors (a response termed neophobia) and learn quickly to avoid foods that have tasted unpleasant in the past. They may also avoid sugary foods and milk. Most adult cats are lactose intolerant; the sugars in milk are not easily digested and may cause soft stools or diarrhea. They can also develop odd eating habits. Some cats like to eat or chew on other things, most commonly wool, but also plastic, cables, paper, string, aluminum foil, or even coal. This condition, pica, can threaten their health, depending on the amount and toxicity of the items eaten. See also Animal psychopathology § Pica.
Kneading (cats)
Many cats purr while kneading. They also purr mostly when newborn, when feeding, or when trying to feed on their mother's teat. The common association between the two behaviors may indicate the origin of kneading as a remnant instinct. Some experts consider kneading to "stimulate" the cat and make it feel good, in the same manner as a human stretching.
Roar (vocalization)
Roaring mammals have evolved various means to achieve their vocalizations. A proportionally large larynx contributes to a deeper fundamental frequency. The male hammer-headed bat has a larynx that takes up most of his thoracic cavity and is half the size of his backbone. A larger larynx also has enlarged vocal cords which also contributes to a deeper pitch; as the folds increase in mass, their oscillation rate decreases. In addition, the big cats (lion, tiger, leopard and jaguar, referred to as the "roaring cats"), have vocal cords that are square-shaped as opposed to the triangle-shaped cords of other felids; this allows them to produce a louder call with less lung pressure. The elasticity of the larynx and the length of the vocal tract affect the formant of a sound. In big cats and male red deer and fallow deer, specialized musculature pulls the larynx deeper in the vocal tract when roaring, lowering the vocal tract resonance.
Brown rat
Rats commonly groom each other and sleep together. Rats are said to establish an order of hierarchy, so one rat will be dominant over another one. Groups of rats tend to "play fight", which can involve any combination of jumping, chasing, tumbling, and "boxing". Play fighting involves rats going for each other's necks, while serious fighting involves strikes at the others' back ends. If living space becomes limited, rats may turn to aggressive behavior, which may result in the death of some animals, reducing the burden over the living space.
Origin of language
Animal vocal signals are, for the most part, intrinsically reliable. When a cat purrs, the signal constitutes direct evidence of the animal's contented state. We trust the signal, not because the cat is inclined to be honest, but because it just cannot fake that sound. Primate vocal calls may be slightly more manipulable, but they remain reliable for the same reason—because they are hard to fake. Primate social intelligence is "Machiavellian"—self-serving and unconstrained by moral scruples. Monkeys and apes often attempt to deceive each other, while at the same time remaining constantly on guard against falling victim to deception themselves. Paradoxically, it is theorized that primates' resistance to deception is what blocks the evolution of their signalling systems along language-like lines. Language is ruled out because the best way to guard against being deceived is to ignore all signals except those that are instantly verifiable. Words automatically fail this test.
Object permanence
However, many other types of animals have been shown to have the ability for object permanence. These include dogs, cats, and a few species of birds such as the carrion crow, Eurasian jays and food-storing magpies. Dogs are able to reach a level of object permanence that allows them to find food after it has been hidden beneath one of two cups and rotated 90°. Similarly, cats are able to understand object permanence but not to the same extent that dogs can. Cats fail to understand that if they see something go into an apparatus in one direction that it will still be there if the cat tries to enter from another direction. However, while cats did not seem to be quite as good at this ‘invisible displacement test’ as dogs are, it’s hard to say whether their poorer performance is a true reflection of their abilities or just due to the way in which they’ve been tested. A longitudinal study found that carrion crows' ability developed gradually, albeit with slight changes in the order of mastery compared to human infants. There was only one task, task 15, that the crows were not able to master. The crows showed perseverative searches at a previously rewarded location (the so-called ‘A-not-B error’). They mastered visible rotational displacements consistently, but failed at more complex invisible rotational displacements. Another study tested the comparison of how long it took food-storing magpies to develop the object permanence necessary for them to be able to live independently. The research suggests that these magpies followed a very similar pattern as human infants while they were developing.
Cat communication
Sometimes during play, a cat, or more commonly, a kitten, will raise the base of their tail high and stiffen all but the tip into a shape like an upside-down "U". This signals great excitement, to the point of hyperactivity. This may also be seen when younger cats chase each other, or when they run around by themselves. When greeting their owner, cats often hold their tails straight up with a quivering motion that indicates extreme happiness. A scared or surprised cat may erect the hairs on its tail and back. In addition, it may stand more upright and turn its body sideways to increase its apparent size as a threat. Tailless cats, such as the Manx, which possess only a small stub of a tail, move the stub around as if they possess a full tail.
Cat senses
Humans and cats have a similar range of hearing on the low end of the scale, but cats can hear much higher-pitched sounds, up to 64 kHz, which is 1.6 octaves above the range of a human, and even 1 octave above the range of a dog. When listening for something, a cat's ears will swivel in that direction; a cat's ear flaps (pinnae) can independently point backwards as well as forwards and sideways to pinpoint the source of the sound. Cats can judge within the location of a sound being made away—this can be useful for locating their prey.
Induced ovulation (animals)
Domestic cats are often described as induced ovulators. During intromission, the penis probably causes distension of the posterior vagina and induces release of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus via neuroendocrine reflexes. A surge of luteinising hormone (LH) occurs within minutes of mating. With multiple matings, the LH surge is greater and lasts longer than when only one mating occurs. There are reports of ovulation without mating in cats. Spontaneous ovulation not only occurs in cats, but occurs with some frequency. It appears that non-copulatory ovulation may be possible in response to a variety of visual, auditory or olfactory cues. It is more appropriate to consider domestic cats to be both an induced and spontaneous ovulator.
Cat behavior
Cats are also used for companion animals. Studies have shown that these animals provide many physiological and psychological benefits for the owner. Other aspects of cat behaviour that are deemed advantageous for the human-cat bond are cat hygiene (cats are known for good hygiene), they do not have to be taken outside (use of the litter box), they are perfect for smaller spaces, and they have no problems with being left alone for extended periods of time. Even though there are a number of benefits for owning a cat, there are a number of problematic behaviours that affect the human-cat relationship. One behaviour is when cats attack people by clawing and biting. This often occurs all of a sudden or could be triggered by sudden movements. Another problematic behaviour is the 'petting and biting syndrome', which involves the cat being pet and then suddenly attacking and running away. Other problems are house soiling, scratching furniture, and when a cat brings dead prey into the house. It is because of these kinds of behaviours that put a strain on the socialization between cats and people.
Emotion in animals
Some vocalizations of domestic cats, such as purring, are well known to be produced in situations of positive valence, such as mother kitten interactions, contacts with familiar partner, or during tactile stimulation with inanimate objects as when rolling and rubbing. Therefore, purring can be generally considered as an indicator of "pleasure" in cats.
Cat behavior
Cats rely strongly on body language to communicate. A cat may rub against an object, lick a person, and purr. Much of a cat's body language is through its tail, ears, head position, and back posture. Cats flick their tails in an oscillating, snake-like motion, or abruptly from side to side, often just before pouncing on an object or animal in what looks like "play" hunting behavior. If spoken to, a cat may flutter its tail in response, which may be the only indication of the interaction, though movement of its ears or head toward the source of the sound may be a better indication of the cat's awareness that a sound was made in their direction. 
When cats greet another cat in their vicinity, they can do a slow, languid, long blink to communicate affection if they trust the person or animal they are in contact with. It is a sign of trust. A way to communicate love and trust to your cat from a human perspective is to say their name, and get their attention, and then look them the eyes and slowly blink at them to emulate trust and love, and they may return the gesture.
Cat communication
Cats often use their tails to communicate. A cat holding its tail vertically generally indicates positive emotions such as happiness or confidence; the vertical tail is often used as a friendly greeting toward human beings or other cats (usually close relatives). A half-raised tail can indicate less pleasure, and unhappiness is indicated with a tail held low. In addition, a cat's tail may swing from side to side. If this motion is slow and "lazy", it generally indicates that the cat is in a relaxed state. Cats will twitch the tip of their tail when hunting or when otherwise alert or playful. Abrupt, full-tail twitching indicates a state of indecision. A stalking domestic cat will typically hold its tail low to the ground while in a crouch, and twitch it quickly from side to side. This tail behavior is also seen when a cat has become "irritated" and is nearing the point of lashing out, typically by biting or swatting with claws extended. A cat may also twitch its tail when playing.
Cat behavior
Dominance can be seen among cats in multi-cat households. It can be seen when other cats submit to the "dominant" cat. Behaviours such as walking around the dominant cat, waiting for the dominant cat to walk past, avoiding eye contact, and retreating when the dominant cat approaches. Dominant cats present a specific body posture as well. The cat displays ears straight up, the base of its tail will be arched, and it looks directly at subordinate cats. These dominant cats are usually not aggressive, but if a subordinate cat blocks food they will become aggressive. When this aggressive behaviour occurs it could also lead to the dominant cat preventing subordinate cats from eating and using the litter box. This can cause the subordinate cat to defecate somewhere else and create problems with human interaction.
Kneading (cats)
Cats knead soft objects such as teddy bears. Cats may adopt a blanket and use it like a security blanket. This will include lots of kneading, purring and suckling of the blanket. In some cases, cats have been observed to exhibit sexual movements, not unlike a dog "humping" a human leg, accompanying the kneading and suckling. Kittens who are taken away from their mothers before they are fully weaned may also develop a habit of kneading a human whom they have adopted as a maternal figure, and may also attempt suckling their ear, eye, nose, toe, hair, shirt, socks or fingers. Cats mainly do so as kittens, but sometimes the behavior continues into adult life.
Manx cat
Manx (and other tail-suppressed breeds) do not exhibit problems with balance, Balance is controlled primarily by the inner ear. In cats, dogs and other large-bodied mammals, balance involves but is not dependent upon the tail (contrast rats, for whom the tail is a quite significant portion of their body mass).
Anal gland
As with dogs, a cat's anal glands can spontaneously empty, especially under times of stress, and create a very sudden unpleasant change in the odor of the cat. A cat's glands may become impacted, causing the cat to defecate outside the litter box, almost anywhere in the house. A veterinarian can empty the clogged glands, and defecating outside the litter box will stop immediately in most cases. Often this problem is incorrectly interpreted as behavioral, when it is entirely a problem of clogged or blocked anal glands or difficulty defecating.