The Cat's Body
From Head to Toe
Hmmm...Why would we need to learn about the cat's body parts, when this site is about
cat talk communication?
Well, for starters, a cat's body will tell us tales…tales told through the tail, the toes, the ears and cats nose!
Since the cat uses its entire body as its “instrument” to communicate, the more we understand the body parts of the cat, the stronger a foundation we’ll have for understanding and recognizing the various things our cat is telling us.
To keep things simple, let’s group the cats body parts like this:
- Cat's Body Parts: Internal: The cat’s temperature, blood, cats heart and respiratory rate.
- Cat's Body Parts: External:
The cat’s cheeks,
cat claws , cat’s mouth, cat’s nose, the cat’s paw,
cat's ears, cat’s tail, cat whiskers, cat's eyes and even the cat’s voice.
- Five Cat Senses: Would include a cat’s eyesight, cat’s sense of smell, the cat’s sense of taste, cat hearing, the cat’s sense of touch…and as a bonus, the mystery of the cat’s sixth sense!
To help illustrate how practical it can be to learn about the cat’s body, here are a couple of examples:
- Tail Talk
- Scent Talk
- What are cat whiskers for?
- Do cat's claws wear down when they walk around?
- Why does my cat sometimes open his mouth and curl his upper lip?
- Are cat’s eyes able to see in total darkness?
- How fast does a cat’s heart beat?
- I feed my cat dry food. Should I keep some canned cat food on hand?
In conversation with my cousin-in-law one day, we somehow started talking about how each of our respective cats offered “greetings”.
I told her how our youngest cat, Tumbles, would walk into the room with her tail slightly quivering and held high.
By her use of this basic cat body part, I knew she was in a positive mood and was telling me “hello”… All this information from a cat’s tail.
A few days later I received an e-mail from “cuz” saying she had started watching her own cats’
"cat tail behavior".Now that she understood to watch for “tail talk”, she realized that she had one happy cat who said “hi” with the quiver of her tail…and another cat that seemed more like unsweetened lemonade…a sour-pus!
Years ago I had a cat that would always stop at the same place along the flowerbed and sniff, and then rub the side of his face on the tip of what was left from a Mimosa sapling that never grew.
My husband and I originally thought Mr. B was just doing it to scratch his face…or maybe to procrastinate coming in the house while we stood waiting with the door open!Well, the first time I read about the scent glands located along the cat’s cheek and how they are used in cat marking of objects, I began to understand his behavior.
I also began to understand, and respect, the incredible depth of information the felines body could send through this type of scent marking.Wish I understood what was communicated to other animals…especially to other cats.
So it ends up that Mr. B wasn’t trying to keep us waiting…okay, so maybe he was, but primarily, he was checking for scent messages and leaving his reply!
(Check back soon
for links to the answers!)
Since all work and no play makes for a cranky kitty (and owner), once you understand your cat's body parts, you’ll both be ready for some fun.
I’ll tell you (and show you) how to put all that you've learned into practical use when playing with your cat!
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