Then she lays down on her side to wash her belly and after that she rubs her thighs, bends her tail to the front and cleans it. After that she lifts up a hind leg to be able to clean her butt, which she does thoroughly. In the end she does her whole body with her tongue. Once a week she works on the claws of her hind legs and sharpens them with her teeth; when too long or crooked she just bites it off.

Sleep: no other mammal sleeps as much as the cat: till about 20 hours a day. A real deep sleep these lazy-bones have about four hours a day; during their resting periods and naps a part of their sense organs always remains active. The attitude of the cat shows if she sleeps or rests: during their deep sleep, for which they usually go to a hiding place, they fold the legs under the body and usually they roll up in a u-form. If a cat takes a nap the eye lids are not totally closed and the legs are free. If there is a sudden alarm they can stand straight in a second to run or hunt. When they slept a bit longer a cat stretches to loosen all her muscles and to wake up her body. Slowly she rises, makes a high back, stretches her front legs as far as she can, makes the same movement with her behind legs, curls her tail to a double "S" and shakes her body.

Territory: two conditions stipulate the size of a cat's territory, whether this is a wild cat or a domestic cat: the quantity of food (see picture on the right :-) and the competition.

Stray cats mark out a big territory so even in bad times they can find enough food. Well fed Domestic cats live in a flat or house; they don't seem to need or want a big territory. In a house with more then one cat they share the space, but still every cat has its own territory.

Their territory, big or small, is marked with their paws, their sides and their urine. Every day they inspect the chosen borders and mark the borders again with their own fragrance. This happens already during walking: the paws mark off a scent to the floor with every step they do. We, human beings, are not able to smell this fragrance, but other cats can. Wooden landmarks are worked up powerfully with the claws of the forelegs and the secreted scent penetrates the wood.

The cat marks off hard surfaces with cheeks or sides. Both sides of the jaws, the forehead and the sides contain fragrance glands too, which are stimulated through giving heads and through rubbing. Last thing is the urine that is sprinkled to porous material through both male and female cats. This is done to mark their territory and to show their authority.

Obvious is the readiness of the cat, even when she just seems to walk through her territory without a purpose. A walk is suddenly interrupted when one of her sense organs notices something interesting. There is the hunter, the tip of her tail is trembling, her ears and eyes are concentrated on a (for us) invisible goal. In a second she makes her decision: hunt or go on with her stroll. What she decides comes from experience. If in the past she was lucky with a similar sound, she will try again. With a former failure she must be very hungry to take a risk again. Patience and luck are only one aspect of the hunt... The cat is known as a bird hunter. This is not correct, because birds are only 5% of the food (cats in the country). City cats catch more birds, but this doesn't have any influence on the population. The body and behavior of a cat show the obvious: the cat is a bottom hunter, whose prey mainly consists of insects, rodents and small mammals like the mole and the mouse.

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