Your Pet Guide

Cats are known for their fastidious cleanliness, spending many hours licking their coats.The cat's tongue has backwards-facing spines about 500 micrometres long, which are called papillae. These are quite rigid as they contain keratin. These spines allow cats to groom themselves by licking their fur, with the rows of papillae acting like a hairbrush.

Some cats, particularly longhaired cats, occasionally regurgitate hairballs of fur that have collected in their stomachs from grooming. These clumps of fur are usually sausage-shaped and about two to three centimeters long. Hairballs can be prevented with remedies that ease elimination of the hair through the gut, as well as regular grooming of the coat with a comb or stiff brush.

In domestic cats, males are more likely to fight than females. In feral cats, the most common reason for cat fighting is when two males are competing to mate with a female: here most fights will be won by the heavier male.

Another possible reason for fighting in domestic cats is when the cats have difficulties in establishing a territory within a small home. Female cats will also fight over territory or to defend their kittens. Spaying females and neutering males will decrease or eliminate this behavior in many cases.

Fighting cats make themselves appear more impressive and threatening by raising their fur and arching their backs, thus increasing their apparent size. Attacks usually comprise powerful slaps to the face and body with the forepaws as well as bites, but serious damage is rare; usually the loser runs away with little more than a few scratches to the face, and perhaps the ears.

Cats will also throw themselves to the ground in a defensive posture to rake their opponent's belly with their powerful hind legs. Normally, serious injuries from fighting will be limited to infections of scratches and bites, though these can occasionally kill cats if untreated.

In addition, bites are probably the main route of transmission of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Sexually active males will usually be in many fights during their lives, and often have decidedly battered faces with obvious scars and cuts to the ears and nose.