“When this animal is threatened by a Dog it arches its back in a surprising manner, erects its hair, opens its mouth, and spits.” This well-known attitude “is expressive of terror combined with anger. Anger alone is not often seen, but may be observed when two Cats are fighting together; and I have seen it well exhibited by a savage Cat whilst plagued by a boy. The attitude is almost exactly the same as that of a Tiger disturbed, and growling over its food, which every one must have beheld in menageries. The animal assumes a crouching position, with the body extended; and the whole tail, or the tip alone, is lashed or curled from side to side. The hair is not in the least erect. Thus far, the attitude and movements are nearly the same as when the animal is prepared to spring on its prey, and when, no doubt, it feels savage. But when preparing to fight, there is this difference, that the ears are closely pressed backwards; the mouth is partially opened, showing the teeth; the fore-feet are occasionally struck out with protruded claws, and the animal occasionally utters a fierce growl. Let us now look at a Cat in a directly opposite frame of mind, whilst feeling affectionate and caressing her master, and mark how opposite is her attitude in every respect. She now stands upright with her back slightly arched, which makes the hair appear rather rough, but it does not bristle. Her tail, instead of being extended and lashed from side to side, is held quite stiff and perpendicularly upwards; her ears are erect and pointed; her mouth is closed, and she rubs against her master with a purr instead of a growl. Let it further be observed how widely different is the whole bearing of an affectionate Cat from that of a Dog, when, with his body crouching and flexuous, his tail lowered and Wagging, and ears depressed, he caresses his master.
“We can understand why the attitude assumed by a Cat when preparing to fight with another Cat, or in any way greatly irritated, is so widely different from that of a Dog approaching another with hostile intentions; for the Cat uses her fore-feet for striking, and this renders a crouching position convenient or necessary. She is also much more accustomed than a Dog to lie concealed and suddenly spring on her prey. No cause can be assigned with certainty for the tail being lashed or curled from side to side. This habit is common to many other animals, for instance, to the Puma, when prepared to spring; but it is not common to Dogs or to Foxes.”
Under ordinary circumstances, when neither attacking a foe nor caressing a friend, the Cat is the very image of lazy content. As she sits by the fire, softly purring, and occasionally licking her paws and rubbing them over her face, she seems an embodiment of repose, an incarnation of otium cum dignitate, a standing discourse on the advisability of
“Holding it ever the wisest thing
To drive dull care away.”
DOMESTIC CAT.
But notwithstanding its usual indolence, the Cat, like all its congeners, is capable of very violent action upon occasions. This is more especially the case with kittens, who are, perhaps, the most delightful of all young animals: the most elegant, the most active, the most restless, the most overboiling with life and spirits. Who has not watched a kitten play? No matter what its toy may be; it is content with anything movable—a ball, a piece of string, a lady’s dress, the fallen leaves in the garden—anything and everything she will play with, and as she plays, “grace is in all her steps,” every movement of her head, every pat of her velvet paw, every whisk of her little tail, is elegance itself. Even in the old Cat this wonderful power of executing the most rapid movements with almost the quickness of thought is rather in abeyance than actually absent; she can still run, leap to many times her own height, climb a tree or a vertical wall by means of her sharp claws, and perform other marvellous gymnastic feats impossible to anything else but a Squirrel or a Monkey.
