Respiration

The cats respiratory system includes a mouth and nose, trachea, lungs, and smaller airways (bronchi and bronchioles. The respiratory system for is responsible for taking in oxygen and eliminating carbon dioxide. The respiratory system plays a huge role in regulation of temperature because they do not sweat through their skin.

Circulation

Blood is pumped from the heart to the rest of the body and blood is also pumped to the heart. Their blood contains nutrient and oxygen to provide energy. Their heart contains arteries, capillaries, and veins. Blood vessels leave the heart and form a conduit system throughout the body that carries blood to all organs, tissues and cells. Cats have a pericardium which is a double waled sac that contains the heart. They also have a closed circulatory system, like all mammals.

FUN FACT! For every beat our human heart takes, a typical cat's heart beats three times.

Digestion

The digestive system of a cat includes mouth, teeth, salivary glands, esophagus, stomach, intestines, pancreas, liver and gall bladder. The digestive system absorbs and digests food and eliminates solid waste from the body. The digestive system is complex and many domestic cats develop digestive issues such as gastro disorders, hairballs, and inflammatory bowel disease. These affect them negatively, so many owners will feed them special cat foods to regulate their digestion. Cats have sharp teeth to catch prey, they do not eat high carbs, the food then moves from the mouth to the intestines then out to the anus to be excreted.

Nutrition

Domestic cats eat a high protein, high-moisture, meat/organ-based diet. Cats are meat eaters. They are obligate carnivores. They rely on meat to give them energy and usually rely on small prey such as rodents, mice, squirrels, reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects, and small fish. Domestic cats eat Purina cat food and cats surf and turf.

Food Getting

They wolf down their food, pick at their food, and prefer only wet or dry food. Outdoor cats catch their food. Cats use three senses to decide whether or not they will eat something. Cats use their smell, texture senses on their sandpaper tongue, and feeling good after eating to determine if the food is right for them. they catch their prey with their sharp teeth, that grasp onto the small animal until consumption.

Support

The domestic cats skeleton is composed into three skeletal subunits. There is the appendicular skeleton, which is the bones and limbs. The axial skeleton, which is the bones of the skull, spine, ribs, and sternum. Then there is the visceral skeleton, which is the bone that forms part of an organ. Their bones serve as a factory for red blood cells and for several kinds of white blood cells, also fat. Not all cats have the exact same size and shape to their bones. Since people have been breeding domestic cats for thousands of years, bones may vary in their length and thickness depending on the specific breed.

Protection

FUN FACT! Cats do not defend themselves with their teeth. They actually defend themselves with their claws. They exercise their claws by scratching things to toughen and sharpen their claws, this allows a better defense mechanism. They are also incredibly fast and can always land on their feet because of their tails, this allows to escape a predator.

Movement

A cat puffs up its tail to show it is scares and ready to lunge and attack at any moment. When cats walk, they use a pacing gait, meaning they move the two legs on one side of the body before the kegs on the other side. Their tail movement also tells what they are feeling. If a tail is up, they are happy, tail down, the cat feels threatened. Their ear movement can also detect their aggression, when ears are back, they are angry. Their pupils also dilate if they are feeling threatened.

Osmotic Regulation and Excretion

Domestic cats use urine and feces to mark their territory. Cats can tell their waste apart from one anothers due to pheromones in urine and feces. The kidney is the main excretory organ in a mammal, and uses it to filter, reabsorb, and secrete. Osmoregulation is the process of maintaining salt and water balance across membranes within the body. Cats not only regulate the overall osmotic pressure across membranes, but also specific concentrations of important electrolytes. Osmotic pressures have a direct bearing on blood pressure.

Temperature Regulation

A cats normal body temperature can range from 100.5 to 102.5 degrees. When the heat is on inside the home, cats can regulate their body temperature in different ways. Cats are smart, and do not panic if they become overheated. A domestic cat is an endotherm, which means they are warm-blooded and do not rely on the environment to control their internal body temperature. To cool itself down it sweats or pants.

Reproduction

Cats reproduce sexually, meaning they need a mate to mate. FUN FACT! Cats can become pregnant as early as 4 months of age. Cats are prolific breeders, meaning they gve birth to multiple litters across their lifetime. There is about 4 per litter. The pregnancy last about 2 months and can can get pregnant at any age. A single litter of kittens can also gave different fathers. Female cats have an oestrus cycle, when she is most likely to mate, called "in heat". This means they are ready to make babies.

Development

Cats are in a litter for about over two months with their mother. At 0-6 months, kittens are very playful. At 6months-2 years they are referred to as juniors. Inter-cat aggression may develop with sexual maturity. At 3-6 years, they are called Prime. This i when they are the healthiest and at their prime in life. At 7-10 years they are Mature and the play activity begins to decrease and gains weight. At 11-14 years the cat is about 70 in human years and can see health risks. Fifteen and over the cat us at the Geriatric stage of life, their vocalization change, and changes in litter box usage.

Mating Behaviors

Tomcats struts his stuff, acting like he is in charge, it is really the queen who decides to mate. The first stage for females is called proesturs, she will have a huge appetite, make low short meows and seem restless. She will cling to you and rub up against things (esrtus stage). When the tomcat hears the call, he'll prance over. They'll sniff each other and play hard to get. This can last for several hours. She will then let him mount her and the female cat will let out a loud cry and may even swat her partner.