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Marty Becker - Why Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet?: 101 of the Most Perplexing Questions Answered About Feline Unfathomables, Medical Mysteries and Befuddling Behaviors

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Why Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet?: 101 of the Most Perplexing Questions Answered About Feline Unfathomables, Medical Mysteries and Befuddling Behaviors
Author:
Marty Becker / DVM / Gina Spadafori
Publisher:
Health Communications, Inc.
Genre:
Books / Home and family
Year:
2010
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4 / 5
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Is My Cat Crazy?

If only it were that simple! But the fact is that your cat is very sensible indeed--about cat things. She knows how to scratch upright surfaces, cough up hairballs, send messages with her pee, and party all night. To the feline mind, these are the stuff of everyday life--as important as sleeping all day and grooming for several hours using nothing but your tongue.

Your clever kitty knows you very well (after all, she sits and stares at you when youre in the bathroom). But how well do you know her? Find out why cats knead against us, the best way to hold a cat, how cats can jump onto your kitchen counters without even a running start, why they chew on your sweaters.

Award-winning pet experts Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori explain the ins and outs of the feline psyche. Because the better you understand cats, the easier it is to love the kitty on your couch. Can you teach an old cat new tricks? You bet! Expecting a baby? Its perfectly okay to keep your cat. What about kittens? Youll find everything you always wanted to know about feline sex but were afraid to ask.

Your cats not crazy, but she can be mysterious. Did you know cats can tell time? They talk with their tails and walk on their toes. And there are even rumors that some cats are descendents of space aliens. Its no wonder the ancient Egyptians were not the only ones who worshipped them.

Youll also find the answers to questions that tend to tickle your curiosity: Why do cats eyes glow in the dark? Whats in catnip that makes kitties so silly? Can curiosity really kill a cat?

Youve got questions? This books got answers. Do cats always land on their feet? Find out!

Marty Becker: author's other books

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Table of Contents Cataloging-in-Publication Information is available - photo 1

Table of Contents

Cataloging-in-Publication Information is available through the Library of - photo 2

Cataloging-in-Publication Information is available
through the Library of Congress.

FOREWORD

You dont have to know much about cats to know theyre among the best companions you can have. But the more you know, the more youll enjoy their company. (You can forget ever fathoming cats completely. You have a better shot at understanding the tax laws.)

I know this firsthand, because Ive been living with an idiosyncratic cat for nearly thirty years. A flabby, crabby, lazy, lasagna-loving cat.

That cat, of course, is Garfield.

So many years with such a famous feline hasnt lessened my curiosity to find out more about all cats. And I know that all cat lovers find their pets mysterious (and often mischievous), and have questions both serious and not so serious to which theyd like some answers.

You can start anywhere when it comes to feline mysteries. For instance, Do cats always land on their feet?

I wont spoil things by telling you the answer; turn a few pages for that. But I love that this most common of cat conundrums is the title of this delightful new book from a dream team: Americas favorite veterinarian and his writing partner, who is also an award-winning pet-care journalist. Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori love animals, and they also love sharing the answers to all those questions we cat lovers wonder about. The result is a book thats both educational and extremely entertaining.

You can even find out if lasagna is good for cats. I can tell you this: Garfield wholly approves of the answer!

JIM DAVIS, creator of Garfield
www.garfield.com

INTRODUCTION

How well do you know your cat? ow well do you know your cat?

If youre like many cat lovers, the honest answer is not very well. In some ways, that air of mystery is part of this popular pets appeal. You can love your cat, admire the furball as she sits like a perfect Victorian postcard on your windowsill, play with your cat and have long, heartfelt discussions with your catduring which your cat will never disagreebut you can never really know what your cat is thinking.

Or can you?

While we humans pride ourselves on our ability to communicate verbally, our cats can read our every move. They are experts when it comes to deciphering body language and the tone of our voices. And they pay attention, because they want to know us better. The key to a closer and more enjoyable relationship with any animal is to return the favor: to understand them better and know more about what makes them tick.

Cats are not people, but we often treat them as if they are. When they act like catsscratching furniture, marking their territory, hacking up a hairballwe sometimes are surprised. But we shouldnt be. Much of the feline behavior that seems strange to us two-leggers makes perfect sense if youre a cat. And if we humans could do some of the things cats dosuch as see in near total darkness, give a race horse a run for its money, right ourselves in midair for a perfect four-point landing or lick every square inch of our bodieswed be superheroes.

So, do cats really always land on their feet? Is it true that not all of them love catnip... or milk? Were cats really once thought of as gods? The answers may surprise you, and we guarantee youll find them interesting. Take a crash course in Feline 101, and youll not only understand your cat better, youll know her at a richer, deeper levelwhich means youll be able to love her even more.

Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori

Do cats always land on their feet?

ALWAYS But theyll sure try Cats are the perfect small predator just as - photo 4

ALWAYS. But theyll sure try. Cats are the perfect small predator, just as comfortable stalking a squirrel from tree to tree as they are chasing a wiggly piece of ribbon across the carpet. Theyve evolved with some nifty high-rise survival skills, including the ability to grab onto a branch with retractable crampons if they lose their footing. And if that doesnt work, they have that awe-inspiring ability to right themselves in midair so they can stick a perfect four-point landing.

This nifty feat would put any Olympic gymnast to shame. A falling cat will instinctively try to right himself from head to tail, first rotating his head into the proper position (to spot the ground just like all those crazy acrobats do on the X Games whether theyre on skis, snowboards, bikes or skateboards) and then sequentially spiraling the rest of his body so all his feet are oriented to the ground. As the body gains the right position, the cat will spread his legs in a sort of flying-squirrel fashion and relax his muscles in anticipation of landing. Spreading the impact over four points is considerably better than hitting on one, and a cats cushy joints enable him to absorb a lot more impact than we mere humans can.

A cats ability to rotate in midair isnt a fool-proof strategy for surviving the perils of modern living, however. Veterinarians have long noted and studied whats called high-rise syndromethe tendency cats have of being better able to survive falls from greater heights than lower ones. The most dangerous falls are from between two and six stories. Amazingly enough, a few urban cats have survived falls of up to thirty stories, albeit with severe injuriesbroken legs and jaws, and collapsed lungs.

The difference may well be the cats ability to set himself up for the best possible landing, in the way that all cats having been doing for generations. You see, that rotate and relax maneuver takes time to implement. From the lower floors, its thought a cat hasnt enough time to prepare himself for impact by getting himself in proper landing position. From the highest floors, the falls too great to survive. In between, however, is a margin of survivability for the cat who lands on his feet.

Urban veterinarians say they start seeing cats whove fallen out of windows and off balconies in the spring, when people are anxious to enjoy the nice weather and open their windows. Cats arent stupid, but its really not in their nature to understand the implications of being twenty stories up. They dont think about it, and go about their business as always. Some cats simply lose their footing walking on a narrow balcony railing, while others jump after a moving object such as a bird. Hundreds of cats are killed or injured each year in falls.

Its best not to test a cats ability to land on his feet. The answer is an easy one: Buy screens! That way, the cat cant get out easily and the bugs cant get in.

Which is the most popular pet in America, dogs or cats?

IN THE MID-1980S cats supplanted dogs as everyones best friend and the gap - photo 6

IN THE MID-1980S, cats supplanted dogs as everyones best friend, and the gap has grown steadily wider ever since. The most recent numbers say there are 90.5 million pet cats in the United States and Canada, and 73.9 million pet dogs. (In all fairness to dogs, though, cat lovers tend to have more than one cat. So more households43.5 millionhave dogs, while 37.7 million households have cats.)

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