 |  |   | |  The cat (also called domestic cat, or house cat) is a small feline carnivorous mammal that has been domesticated for several millennia. Its scientific name is Felis silvestris catus or Felis silvestris domesticus.
A male cat is usually called a tom cat, a female cat is called a queen. A young cat is called a kitten (as are baby rats, rabbits, hedgehogs and squirrels). A cat whose ancestry is officially registered is called a purebred cat, a pedigreed cat or a show cat. The owners and breeders of show cats compete to see who can breed the cat with the closest resemblance to the "ideal" definition of the breed (see selective breeding). Less than one percent of the total feline population are purebred cats?the remaining 99% have mixed ancestry and are generally known in the UK as moggies, or more properly domestic longhairs and domestic shorthairs.
Cats (including domesticated cats) have a scent organ in the roof of their mouths called the vomeronasal, or Jacobson's organ. When a cat wrinkles its muzzle, raises its chin, and lets its tongue hang a bit, it is opening the passage to the vomeronasal. This is called the Flehmen response.
Cats have excellent nocturnal and diurnal vision; an organ called the tapetum lucidum is responsible for their strong low-light vision, as well as for the varied colours of cats' eyes in flash photographs. As with most carnivores their eyes are both forward facing affording depth perception at the expense of field of view. Cats are weakly trichromatic.
Cats have a third eyelid, which is a thin cover that appears when you open the cat's eyelid. This is called the nictitating membrane. If a cat is sick, this membrane will partially close. This is a sign that the cat needs immediate veterinary attention. Sometimes, however, if your cat is very sleepy and happy, they will show this membrane.
The sound a cat makes is written "meow" in American English, "miaow" in British English and various other ways in other languages. Cats can also produce a purring noise that is immensely pleasurable to many humans. Some cats growl or hiss when they see other cats on their territory.
Virtually all cats have straight upward ears. Unlike dogs, flap-eared breeds are very rare. Scottish Folds is one such exceptional genetic mutation.
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