CATS DEN

~My Feline Den~

Purrrrrfect~

very

The cat I decided to choose as the rare cat, is called the Black-Footed Cat ... For which you can find out more about by clicking it's name ... *Smiles*

The Ragdoll
The Somali
The Tonkinese
The Turkish Van

You can learn more about each of them by clicking on their names ... *Smiles* I have read the profiles for each of them and found them all to be suitable house cats and all with VERY distinct, yet whimsical personalities ... I hope that you decide to click on their links, to go directly to their profiles, I'm sure you'll find them very "interesting" ...*Smiles* I never even knew that any of them existed until tonight and NOW I just have to have them all *well, one of each* ... But, unfortunately, I am not allowed to have a cat, because of the lady that I take care of is allergic to cats ... I don't even think she'd go for one of those that are "hypo-allergenic" ... Besides, I don't have any "funds" for a cat, espeically a pure breed ...

Now, that cat I chose for the spot light of "rareity" is not a house cat, but a cat that can only be found in South Africa *well certtain parts of that region* ...
Read on, in the textera box to learn about this fascinating cat and it's characteristics ... *Smiles* You will find more links to other related cat pages and also to some pages for cat activist and cat fanciers below ... *Smiles*

The Black-Footed Cat:
The Black-Footed Cat gets it's name from it's paws ... Their paws on the bottom are black, which protect it's paws from the hot desert sands that it walks on a day to day basis ... They can be found parts of the interior of South Africa, such as Botswana and also have been seen in the Kalahari Desert ...
The average size of this cat is small, it's one of the smallest cats in the wild (the smallest of all felines) ... The length is 14"-16" from head to the end of it's body and the tail is 6"-7" in length and they generally weigh around 2-4 pounds ... The coloration is like that of a brown tabby, with dark/black stripes and light (tawny) colored on their undersides ...Their black spots are on their body and black stripes adorn their front legs,cheeks, and tail ... Their short ringed tails are tipped with black, their ears are reddish in color, and their heads are broad ...  They mostly eat mice and other small rodents and occasionaly small reptiles, which they unearth with their strong forearms ... They are also known for eating beetles and spiders too ...
The Black-footed cat sleeps during the day and scanvenges for food during the night ... They are known to sleep in burrows left by hares and also termite mounds ... They have been nic-named "ant hill tiger" because of sleeping in the insect mounds ... *Kinda cute,huh ?* 
The females gestation period is a little over two months, in which their offspring is only about one-two kittens ... They are born with their eyes closed and weigh 60-80 grams at birth ... Their eyes open 6-8 days after birth ... *Smiles*  The young black-footed cats mature rapidly and are strong hunters even during the  first few weeks spent with their mother ...  
The Black-footed cat is on the endangered species list ... The Living Desert in Ca. houses some, which are a part of their SSP (Species Survival Plan) ...Which is an international program to help maintain a managed captive population, from which they can draw upon to "restock" their natural land, should they ever become extinct *lets hope and pray that they don't* ... *Sighs*

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This is my second award I received. I got it on 8~22~97. Click on the pretty kitties face to go to Beware of cat! and see some totally cool graphics and sign you or a friend up for an award.

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