All lovers of animals note the cleanliness of cats. These animals wash themselves completely tongue several times a day. The cat washes after meals, after sleep, she does it with amazing regularity.
Cleanliness differ-even kittens. First, they lick the mother cat, then they quickly learn to wash themselves. Dogs sometimes cleaned himself with the language, take away dirt from the wool with their teeth, but they don’t do it so often, do not relate to matters of personal hygiene with the same care as do cats.
Hygiene and hunt cats and dogs
Dogs hunt in packs
In order to understand the details of this question, it is necessary to pay attention to the way of life of both creatures. Cats and dogs are predators, however, hunting strategy, they are different. Dogs are all canids, this family of wolves. Like wolves, they prefer to stay in a pack, and they hunt too gregarious, herding prey. They do not need to hide, to hide their scent as they do not lie in ambush, chasing prey in the open.
Cats also hunt alone. The exception to this plan are the only lions that live and hunt in prides. A cat is a solitary hunter that is stalking its prey in ambush, and therefore forced to operate covertly. She needs to hide its own smell to the prey didn’t feel her presence until the last moment.
Interesting fact: lions are the exception in the cat family, they are different from other large and small cats for a number of characteristics. They do not know how to draw claws, live in families that actively pursue prey. They also do not wash as often and not as carefully as domestic cats.
Communication and communication via smell
Cats hunt out of an ambush
The cat does not need to maintain close communication with other representatives of their species. When required, they successfully cope with all the tasks of communication by voice and gestures, because they don’t have to share too much information. As for the dogs – here is a bit more complicated. Schooling life requires close communication with colleagues, transmission of masses of information about themselves, ability to obtain as much information about the mood, the state of surrounding individuals.
This need is most important during the hunt when you need to coordinate actions of the whole group. The odors in canids play an important role in communication, they complement the information that is possible to obtain in other ways – through sight, hearing.
The smell of dog discern the emotions of others members of the pack – fear, aggression. Each dog has their own individual “perfume”, the flock knows about the location of individual elephants by the smell. They do not need to peredayutsya, to find each other, which facilitates collaborative action at pack hunting. The dog gets the smell, because it does not get rid of his constant licking of the coat. She only cleans itself as needed. They have no inherent instinctual actions associated with the constant maintenance of cleanliness.
However dogs are great at masking odors to confuse potential prey. Not only hunting, but also domestic dogs willing to wallow in filth, grass or earth to hide their scent and get the aroma that prevails in the area. So did many other animals, not just predators. Roll on the ground to mask their own smell also, many rodents. It is also an instinctive action born with.
Cleanliness and animal health
Sparrows dust bath
Every animal has the innate skills maintain cleanliness of your body. Many birds take dust baths, getting rid of insects, in winter, most warm-blooded creatures lying in the snow to clean their fur or feathers. Every animal strives to maintain its coat clean because it depends on its survival. Dirty hair is not only unmasks the smell, but poorly protected from the cold or heat. If the animal ceases to perform instinctively laid steps to maintain itself in order, it is evidence of the serious trouble. Most likely, this creature is sick.
Conversely, well-groomed, glossy coat symbolizes wealth, health of the animal. This applies to cats, dogs, and other species.
Thus, the cat constantly licking itself to mask their scent, which is a serious impediment when hunting from ambush. Dogs do not hunt from ambush, they do not need to hide their scent so seriously. And even dogs need a personal scent, it provides additional opportunities inside of the pack, while cats interact with their own kind not so tight, the smell of this they don’t need. Self-care is instinctively inherent action, the animal must learn to do it. Every kitty knows what he needs to wash. The puppy is more inclined to roll in the grass or snow, masking their scent.
