Cat - a "self cleaning" animal

So why cats clean themselves so often? They really love to keep their bodies clean. Cleaning is instinctive behavior, and cats have been washing themselves with their tongues for as long as they've been around. After they eat, before they sleep, after you touch them ...
Well there are reasons for them to clean themselves.
After they eat, they want to remove all scent of food from their bodies. In the wild, cats are small enough to become a meal for a larger animal. They want to remove all traces of food so that a larger predator doesn’t sniff them out and mistake kitty for a tasty treat. They also decrease their chances of being infested with parasites by cleaning their fur after a meal.
Before they sleep, they think they are safer from larger predators if they remove any scent of what they ate, where they’ve been, who they met up with, etc.

After you pet them, well, figure this out!

There are more benefits from this grooming process:

• It keeps a cat's fur clean and smooth.
• It removes dead hair and skin, tones up the muscles and stimulates blood circulation.
• It cools a cat off in hot weather.
• It helps a cat's fur stay waterproof.
• It fluffs up a cat's fur which keeps cats warm in the cold weather.
• If a cat hurts himself, licking the cut or scratch cleans it and helps it feel better.