THE CAT 13 



The number of the cat's toes and fingers is easy 

 to count. 



The greater number of mammals are more or less 

 thickly covered with hair, as the cat is ; while a few, 

 such as the whales, manatee and dugong are almost 

 hairless. The spaces between the hairs are filled 

 with air, which, being a non-conductor of heat, 

 prevents loss of heat from the body, and thus assists 

 to maintain the temperature of the warm-blooded 

 animals, which is always considerably higher than the 

 air or water in which they live. 



The characteristics we have mentioned the cat 

 shares with all other mammals, but it possesses 

 certain marked features which distinguish it and its 

 relatives. The more you look at your cat and watch 

 its movements, the more you will enjoy the beauty 

 of its form, so admirably adapted to its mode of life 

 in a wild state, and you see how perfectly it is 

 endowed with weapons both for defence and for 

 capturing its prey. 



Cats are flesh-eaters, preferring prey they have 

 themselves hunted to any that is killed for them. 

 The teeth of flesh-eating mammals are recognised at 

 once by their sharp cutting edges, with points on 

 them which hold the food, while the edges working 

 one on the other cut the flesh, as a pair of shears 

 would. 



If you look into pussy's mouth you will find she 

 has six incisor teeth in the upper and lower jaw 

 where you have four, but they are very small and 

 are only used for gnawing flesh oif the bones, in 

 which process she is greatly assisted by her rough 



