If you've been around the internet, you've likely seen videos where cats seem to react in fear when seeing a cucumber. If not, here's a compilation video of cats vs cucumbers videos so you can see what I mean. So, what's the deal, are cats afraid of cucumbers? Let's look more into the world of cats and cucumbers! There is a theory that when you see cucumbers scaring cats it's because the cat mistakes the cucumber for a snake. This New York Post article suggests that cats have such an extreme reaction to seeing a cucumber for just this reason, but Dr. Pamela Perry at the college of veterinary medicine at Cornell University disagrees. The argument is that cat's don't...
People sometimes think of cats and cruel or heartless because they might catch a mouse or bird, and let it go, only to pounce on it again - maybe several times. So this week I wanted to look into why cats play with their prey? Are cats evil, or is there something more to it? First off, catster.com says that wild cats rarely play with their prey, and that wearing down their prey can waste time that could allow another animal to take away the kill or give the prey animal a chance to get away. They also say that most cat species actually have a pretty low success rate at hunting. This makes them opportunistic hunters. They will go...
A little while ago I was looking into why cats sleep so much and I learned that, like humans, cats go through REM sleep. REM sleep is when we as humans have dreams, so it is thought to be likely that cats also dream during REM sleep. But, what do cats dream about? Do cats have bad dreams? Without being able to ask a cat about their sleep, we can't know for sure if cats have dreams, but Cats.com mentions a study done on rats that looked at their brainwaves while they were asleep and while awake. It found that the rats have similar brain activity when they asleep than they did while going through a maze, which suggests that...
This week, I wondered - do cats like music? If so, what music do cats like? Is there a music for calming cats? According to DailyPaws.com, we can't actually determine whether cats like music, but there have been studies done that show that classical music can lower cats stress, while other music, like heavy metal, actually raises it. Catster.com points out that cats have very sensitive hearing and so music that sounds good to us might be overwhelming to them. David Teie, a cellist for the the National Symphony Orchestra, had a theory that different species will like different sounds based on their own brain development and vocalizations. He set out to create species specific music using elements of that...
If your cat sits on your head when you are trying to sleep, or decides to sing the song of their people at 4 AM, you might think cats are nocturnal, but according to cattitudedaily.com, cats are crepuscular, not nocturnal! So, what is the meaning of crepuscular? According to A-Zanimals.com, a crepuscular animal is most active during periods of low light, like dawn and dusk. Their peak activity is in the time in between day and night, in the early morning and early evening. They tend to rest during the day and during the night. Besides cats, other crepuscular animals include deer, rabbits, coyotes, foxes and even fireflies. Why are cats crepuscular? A-Zanimals.com says that in general crepuscular animals have adapted...
