Cat wash

Cat cleaning her fur

As a quick wash is referred to colloquially typically with little water is used a quick, not very thorough body care. The origin of this saying is related to the fact that house cats are usually quite shy of water. This is due to the fact that the wild cat species, the black cat ( Felis silvestris lybica ), which is considered to be the ancestor of domestic cats, comes from arid regions of North Africa and is not used to water.

However, the current usage of the phrase in domestic cats is not reflected in the time spent on grooming. House cats spend a comparatively large amount of time cleaning their fur, on average two to three hours a day. The cat cleans its fur with the tongue and saliva, whereby the small knobs on the tongue have a supportive effect. To clean the face, the cat uses the front paws, which are licked beforehand.

Web links

Commons : Cat Wash  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: cat wash  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nicola Lesley Jores: On the cultural history of the house cat with special consideration of its diseases. Pages 13–20, dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin, 2004, ISBN 3-89820-764-1 .
2. ↑ www.heim-und-haustiere.de: The grooming of cats .