More than once you have surely read something similar to the fact that there are still traces of the blood of big cats in the veins of the domestic cat, right? Well, although it seems incredible (in the most literal sense of the word) this is completely true. And is that the similarities between cats and tigers are much more than we could imagine at first.
Both of them belong to the -magnificent- family Felidae, that of the felines, and this is not a mere coincidence. So if you are curious to know how these two animals are alike, don't take your eyes off the monitor .
Anatomy
Both cats and tigers have a very similar body. In fact, except for the size (our friends weigh a maximum of 10kg - minus the Savannah, which can reach 20kg-, but the big cat reaches 360kg), the rest of its parts are identical.
They are very agile, have very good night vision, and also have retractable claws, which means that they can hide or expose them at will.
Diet
They are both hunters, why? Because they need to eat meat. Their diet is carnivorous, but today cats are fed precooked foods which contain a high content of cereals. The stomach of these furry animals is not prepared to digest them, so it is not surprising that they often have problems with food allergies.
For this reason, the most recommended diet is Barf, which is nothing more than a raw meat-based diet. But if we cannot afford it, we can choose to offer them feed that is as natural as possible, such as Applaws, Orijen, Acana, Taste of the Wild, etc.
Routine
Humans, diurnal animals by nature, do not usually like much when cats wake us up at dawn, and less at dawn. But ... although we can do several things so that they sleep peacefully until the Sun is high (click here), being nocturnal it will not always be easy to make them change their mind.
And is that the felines, be they tigers, cats, lions, or any other, they tend to hunt between dusk and dawnas this is when their potential prey are sleeping. Of course, the rest of the time is spent taking small (or long, depending on how lazy they are 😉) naps.
Colours
The color of its coat draws our attention, but in reality its function is another: that of keeping the animal as close to the environment as possible. In other words: the color they have helps them go unnoticed, which in turn allows them to get very close to their prey without them noticing.
DNA
Genetics ... long ago, but no matter how similar cats and tigers are, they do not share their DNA 100%, but 95%. This means that what makes the furry that we have at home and that we adore so much only represents 5% of the total of what it means to be a feline. Isn't it interesting?
So nothing, if we want to learn more about wild cats, what better than to see our beloved cat perform.