Inside your moggy's mind

Cats are the original natural-born killers. Toying with their prey before killing and eating it - even sometimes allowing the little creature to escape before recapturing it - is a trick they learn from mother. At first she brings back a dead "meal" but gradually introduces the idea of a live one, to teach her kittens to perfect the "catch-and-kill" technique for themselves.

Cats are the most successful and least tamed of all the domestic species; in evolutionary terms they differ from big wild cats, with whom they share few characteristics, but both have adapted brilliantly to their surroundings. Domestic cats have flourished in man's company, because wherever he is there is food, whether hay or garbage, which means there are rodents, and where there are rodents there will be cats.

Cats' urine, when sprayed on an object to mark it territorially, has an added je ne sais quoi that gives it extra pungency. On average, uncastrated male cats spray up to 12 times an hour, females a mere three times an hour.

A female cat is promiscuous and will allow more than one male to mate with her, running hither and yon, giving the boys a run around. The fittest and healthiest get there first, though others may follow. Likewise their sperm. So a litter may contain offspring from more than one father, which diversifies the genes and confuses any male with infanticide in mind. Like all species, males compete for females, but size and looks don't necessarily matter, since a third, often smaller, male may sneak in and take advantage of the situation while the other two are fighting.

All this is related in a readable and easy-going style by Stephen Budiansky, a science journalist who has previously written about dogs and horses and has a penchant for military terms. He describes cat's urine spray as the "howitzer of their arsenal", and cats operating independently of each other as commandos, unlike dogs, who prefer the strict hierarchy of the army. Although there are endless results and responses to a wide variety of intelligence tests, it is a cat's characteristically aloof and unpredictable nature that makes it difficult for Budiansky to reach many conclusions about what really makes her tick.

Sonya Fitzpatrick, however, claims she can communicate with cats and read their innermost feelings. This modern Rosie Lee even hosts an animal "chat" show on US primetime TV (it's not just cats, either; she banters with llamas, fish and crocs, too). In her book (Cat Talk, Sidgwick, £9.99) she offers tips on how we can communicate better with our moggies. Practice is vital: "Visualise your cat as you say his name. Feel the emotion of love as you think of your cat. He will receive the feeling from you. Ask your feline if there is anything he would like to tell you. Imagine your feline sending you back a reply. Ask your feline if there is anything you can do for him. Acknowledge whatever you receive." Which might come as something of a disappointment, as the evolutionary explanation for most feline communication, says Budiansky, is equivalent to "Get out of my face".