| A cat's normal pulse is 140-240 beats per minute, with an average of 195. |
| Cats that live together sometimes rub each others heads to show that they have no intention of fighting. Young cats do this more often, especially when they are excited. |
| The term “puss” is the root of the principal word for “cat” in the Romanian term pisica and the root of secondary words in Lithuanian (puz) and Low German puus. Some scholars suggest that “puss” could be imitative of the hissing sound used to get a cat’s a |
| Cats have 32 muscles that control the outer ear (humans have only 6). A cat can independently rotate its ears 180 degrees. |
| A cat has two vocal chords, and can make over 100 sounds. |
| A cat's cerebral cortex contains about twice as many neurons as that of dogs. Cats have 300 million neurons, whereas dogs have about 160 million. See, cats rule, dogs drool! |
| Abraham Lincoln loved cats. He had four of them while he lived in the White House. |
| Cats walk on their toes. |
| Sir Isaac Newton is credited with creating the concept for the pet door that many cats use today to travel outdoors. |
| The largest cat breed is the Ragdoll. Male Ragdolls weigh between 12 and 20 lbs (5.4-9.0 k). Females weigh between 10 and 15 lbs (4.5-6.8 k). |
| Blue-eyed, white cats are often prone to deafness. |
| It is estimated that cats can make over 60 different sounds. |
| The average litter of kittens is between 2 - 6 kittens. |
| The cat's footpads absorb the shocks of the landing when the cat jumps. |
| In the 1750s, Europeans introduced cats into the Americas to control pests. |
| Miacis, the primitive ancestor of cats, was a small, tree-living creature of the late Eocene period, some 45 to 50 million years ago. |
| In just seven years, a single pair of cats and their offspring could produce a staggering total of 420,000 kittens. |
| Cats don’t have sweat glands over their bodies like humans do. Instead, they sweat only through their paws. |
| Cats only sweat through their paws and nowhere else on their body |
| The oldest cat to give birth was Kitty who, at the age of 30, gave birth to two kittens. During her life, she gave birth to 218 kittens. |
| A cat’s brain is biologically more similar to a human brain than it is to a dog’s. Both humans and cats have identical regions in their brains that are responsible for emotions. |
| Cats can jump up to 7 times their tail length. |
| Approximately 24 cat skins can make a coat. |
| Blue-eyed, pure white cats are frequently deaf. |
| The little tufts of hair in a cat’s ear that help keep out dirt direct sounds into the ear, and insulate the ears are called “ear furnishings.” |
| A steady diet of dog food may cause blindness in your cat - it lacks taurine. |
| A cat can sprint at about thirty-one miles per hour. |
| Phoenician cargo ships are thought to have brought the first domesticated cats to Europe in about 900 BC. |
| A cat can’t climb head first down a tree because every claw on a cat’s paw points the same way. To get down from a tree, a cat must back down. |
| A cat named Dusty, aged 1 7, living in Bonham, Texas, USA, gave birth to her 420th kitten on June 23, 1952. |
| Cat families usually play best in even numbers. Cats and kittens should be aquired in pairs whenever possible. |
| Cats and kittens should be acquired in pairs whenever possible as cat families interact best in pairs. |
| Cats take between 20-40 breaths per minute. |
| Cats, especially older cats, do get cancer. Many times this disease can be treated successfully. |
| There is a species of cat smaller than the average housecat. It is native to Africa and it is the Black-footed cat (Felis nigripes). Its top weight is 5.5 pounds. |
| The oldest cat on record was Crème Puff from Austin, Texas, who lived from 1967 to August 6, 2005, three days after her 38th birthday. A cat typically can live up to 20 years, which is equivalent to about 96 human years. |
| The ancestor of all domestic cats is the African Wild Cat which still exists today. |
| Relative to its body size, the clouded leopard has the biggest canines of all animals’ canines. Its dagger-like teeth can be as long as 1.8 inches (4.5 cm). |
| During the Middle Ages, cats were associated with withcraft, and on St. John’s Day, people all over Europe would stuff them into sacks and toss the cats into bonfires. On holy days, people celebrated by tossing cats from church towers. |
| The chlorine in fresh tap water irritates sensitive parts of the cat's nose. Let tap water sit for 24 hours before giving it to a cat. |
| Your cat's heart beats at a rate almost double that of yours, from 110-140 beats per minute. |
| In 1888, more than 300,000 mummified cats were found an Egyptian cemetery. They were stripped of their wrappings and carted off to be used by farmers in England and the U.S. for fertilizer. |
| When a family cat died in ancient Egypt, family members would mourn by shaving off their eyebrows. They also held elaborate funerals during which they drank wine and beat their breasts. The cat was embalmed with a sculpted wooden mask and the tiny mummy wa |
| A group of cats is called a clowder. |
| In contrast to dogs, cats have not undergone major changes during their domestication process. |
| The first formal cat show was held in England in 1871; in America, in 1895. |
| The first official cat show in the UK was organised at Crystal Palace in 1871. |
| The first true cats came into existence about 12 million years ago and were the Proailurus. |
| Foods that should not be given to cats include onions, garlic, green tomatoes, raw potatoes, chocolate, grapes, and raisins. Though milk is not toxic, it can cause an upset stomach and gas. Tylenol and aspirin are extremely toxic to cats, as are many commo |
| A cat has 230 bones in its body. A human has 206. A cat has no collarbone, so it can fit through any opening the size of its head. |
| Of all the species of cats, the domestic cat is the only species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. All species of wild cats hold their tail horizontally or tucked between their legs while walking. |
| Cats' hearing stops at 65 khz (kilohertz); humans' hearing stops at 20 khz. |
| Most cats adore sardines. |
| Researchers are unsure exactly how a cat purrs. Most veterinarians believe that a cat purrs by vibrating vocal folds deep in the throat. To do this, a muscle in the larynx opens and closes the air passage about 25 times per second. |
| A cat's appetite is the barometer of its health. Any cat that does not eat or drink for more than two days should be taken to a vet. |
| Many cats cannot properly digest cow's milk. Milk and milk products give them diarrhea. |
| A cat has more bones than a human being; humans have 206 and the cat has 230 bones. |
| While many cats enjoy milk, it will give some cats diarrhea. |
| Cats have 300 million neurons; dogs have about 160 million |
| A cat's hearing is much more sensitive than humans and dogs. |
| Unlike dogs, cats do not have a sweet tooth. Scientists believe this is due to a mutation in a key taste receptor. |
| The strongest climber among the big cats, a leopard can carry prey twice its weight up a tree. |
| According to Hebrew legend, Noah prayed to God for help protecting all the food he stored on the ark from being eaten by rats. In reply, God made the lion sneeze, and out popped a cat. |
| During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Innocent VIII condemned cats as evil and thousands of cats were burned. Unfortunately, the widespread killing of cats led to an explosion of the rat population, which exacerbated the effects of the Black Dea |
| Cheetahs do not roar, as the other big cats do. Instead, they purr. |
| The largest breed of cat is the Ragdoll with males weighing in at 1 5 to 20 lbs. The heaviest domestic cat on record was a neutered male tabby named Himmy from Queensland, Australia who weighed 46 lbs. 1 5 oz. |
| Cats have 30 teeth (12 incisors, 10 premolars, 4 canines, and 4 molars), while dogs have 42. Kittens have baby teeth, which are replaced by permanent teeth around the age of 7 months. |
| Cats eat grass to aid their digestion and to help them get rid of any fur in their stomachs. |
| Cats have 30 vertebrae (humans have 33 vertebrae during early development; 26 after the sacral and coccygeal regions fuse) |
| A cat’s nose pad is ridged with a unique pattern, just like the fingerprint of a human. |
| Statistics indicate that animal lovers in recent years have shown a preference for cats over dogs! |
| Some Siamese cats appear cross-eyed because the nerves from the left side of the brain go to mostly the right eye and the nerves from the right side of the brain go mostly to the left eye. This causes some double vision, which the cat tries to correct by “ |
| The silks created by weavers in Baghdad were inspired by the beautiful and varied colors and markings of cat coats. These fabrics were called 'tabby' by European traders. |
| A cat's smell is their strongest sense, and they rely on this leading sense to identify people and objects; a feline's sense of smell is 14x better than a human's. |
| 70% of your cat's life is spent asleep. |
| Cats must have fat in their diet because they can't produce it on their own. |
| Most cats give birth to a litter of between one and nine kittens. The largest known litter ever produced was 19 kittens, of which 15 survived. |
| The most expensive cat was an Asian Leopard cat (ALC)-Domestic Shorthair (DSH) hybrid named Zeus. Zeus, who is 90% ALC and 10% DSH, has an asking price of £100,000 ($154,000). |
| A cat's jaw has only up and down motion; it does not have any lateral, side to side motion, like dogs and humans. |
| Retractable claws are a physical phenomenon that sets cats apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. I n the cat family, only cheetahs cannot retract their claws. |
| Cats can judge within 3 inches the precise location of a sound being made 1 yard away. |
| The cat appears to be the only domestic companion animal not mentioned in the Bible. |
| A cat's nose is as unique as a human's fingerprint. |
| Cats can be taught to walk on a leash, but a lot of time and patience is required to teach them. The younger the cat is, the easier it will be for them to learn. |
| Julius Ceasar, Henri II, Charles XI, and Napoleon were all afraid of cats. |
| Cats are extremely sensitive to vibrations. Cats are said to detect earthquake tremors 10 or 15 minutes before humans can. |
| According to a Gallup poll, most American pet owners obtain their cats by adopting strays. |
| A cat's normal temperature varies around 101 degrees Fahrenheit. |
| When a cats rubs up against you, the cat is marking you with it's scent claiming ownership. |
| A cat’s hearing is better than a dog’s. And a cat can hear high-frequency sounds up to two octaves higher than a human. |
| Cats only use their meows to talk to humans, not each other. The only time they meow to communicate with other felines is when they are kittens to signal to their mother. |
| Milk can give some cats diarrhea. |
| A cats field of vision is about 185 degrees. |
| A cat can spend five or more hours a day grooming himself. |
| A cat will tremble or shiver when it is in extreme pain. |
| While it is commonly thought that the ancient Egyptians were the first to domesticate cats, the oldest known pet cat was recently found in a 9,500-year-old grave on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This grave predates early Egyptian art depicting cats b |
| Contrary to popular belief, the cat is a social animal. A pet cat will respond and answer to speech , and seems to enjoy human companionship. |
| Cats respond most readily to names that end in an \ee\" sound.""" |
| Cats control the outer ear using 32 muscles; humans use 6 |
| Female felines are \superfecund |
| Cats lose almost as much fluid in the saliva while grooming themselves as they do through urination. |
| Cats are subject to gum disease and to dental caries. They should have their teeth cleaned by the vet or the cat dentist once a year. |
| A tiger's stripes are like fingerprints |
| Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run. |
| The leopard is the most widespread of all big cats. |
| The claws on the cat’s back paws aren’t as sharp as the claws on the front paws because the claws in the back don’t retract and, consequently, become worn. |
| Mountain lions are strong jumpers, thanks to muscular hind legs that are longer than their front legs. |
| Cat bites are more likely to become infected than dog bites. |
| A cat has approximately 60 to 80 million olfactory cells (a human has between 5 and 20 million). |
| A kitten will typically weigh about 3 ounces at birth. The typical male housecat will weigh between 7 and 9 pounds, slightly less for female housecats. |
| A cat lover is called an Ailurophilia (Greek: cat+lover). |
| When a cat drinks, its tongue - which has tiny barbs on it - scoops the liquid up backwards. |
| Cats do not think that they are little people. They think that we are big cats. This influences their behavior in many ways. |
| In 1987, cats overtook dogs as the number one pet in America (about 50 million cats resided in 24 million homes in 1986). About 37% of American homes today have at least one cat. |
| A cat's brain is more similar to a man's brain than that of a dog. |
| A group of cats is called a “clowder.” |
| All cats need taurine in their diet to avoid blindness. Cats must also have fat in their diet as they are unable to produce it on their own. |
| Isaac Newton invented the cat flap. Newton was experimenting in a pitch-black room. Spithead, one of his cats, kept opening the door and wrecking his experiment. The cat flap kept both Newton and Spithead happy. |
| The life expectancy of cats has nearly doubled over the last fifty years. |
| Among many other diseases, cats can suffer from anorexia, senility, feline AIDS and acne. |
| Like humans, cats tend to favor one paw over another |
| Since cats are so good at hiding illness, even a single instance of a symptom should be taken very seriously. |
| If your cat snores, or rolls over on his back to expose his belly, it means he trusts you. |
| Cats see six times better in the dark and at night than humans. |
| A cat has more bones than a human; humans have 206, and the cat - 230. |
| Heat occurs several times a year and can last anywhere from 3 to 15 days. |
| In ancient Egypt, when a family cat died, all family members would shave their eyebrows as a sign of mourning. |
| The group of words associated with cat (catt, cath, chat, katze) stem from the Latin catus, meaning domestic cat, as opposed to feles, or wild cat. |
| In multi-cat households, cats of the opposite sex usually get along better. |
| A cat cannot see directly under its nose. |
| Cats spend nearly 1/3 of their waking hours cleaning themselves. |
| The life expectancy of cats has nearly doubled since 1930 - from 8 to 16 years. |
| Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day. When cats are asleep, they are still alert to incoming stimuli. If you poke the tail of a sleeping cat, it will respond accordingly. |
| In an average year, cat owners in the United States spend over $2 billion on cat food. |
| Unlike humans, cats are usually lefties. Studies indicate that their left paw is typically their dominant paw. |
| In ancient Egypt, mummies were made of cats, and embalmed mice were placed with them in their tombs. In one ancient city, over 300,000 cat mummies were found. |
| The first cartoon cat was Felix the Cat in 1919. In 1940, Tom and Jerry starred in the first theatrical cartoon “Puss Gets the Boot.” In 1981 Andrew Lloyd Weber created the musical Cats, based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. |
| Cats should not be fed tuna exclusively, as it lacks taurine, an essential nutrient required for good feline health. Make sure you have the proper Pet supplies to keep your cat happy and healthy. |
| In relation to their body size, cats have the largest eyes of any mammal. |
| Cats make about 100 different sounds. Dogs make only about 10. |
| Female cats tend to be right pawed, while male cats are more often left pawed. Interestingly, while 90% of humans are right handed, the remaining 10% of lefties also tend to be male. |
| Cats lived with soldiers in trenches, where they killed mice during World War I. |
| In Holland’s embassy in Moscow, Russia, the staff noticed that the two Siamese cats kept meowing and clawing at the walls of the building. Their owners finally investigated, thinking they would find mice. Instead, they discovered microphones hidden by Russ |
| In Siam, the cat was so revered that one rode in a chariot at the head of a parade celebrating the new king. |
| When a cat chases its prey, it keeps its head level. Dogs and humans bob their heads up and down. |
| Both humans and cats have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion. |
| The most traveled cat is Hamlet, who escaped from his carrier while on a flight. He hid for seven weeks behind a panel on the airplane. By the time he was discovered, he had traveled nearly 373,000 miles (600,000 km). |
| A cat almost never meows at another cat, mostly just humans. Cats typically will spit, purr, and hiss at other cats. |
| The Maine Coon is 4 to 5 times larger than the Singapura, the smallest breed of cat. |
| Tigers are excellent swimmers and do not avoid water. |
| Researchers believe the word “tabby” comes from Attabiyah, a neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq. Tabbies got their name because their striped coats resembled the famous wavy patterns in the silk produced in this city. |
| Approximately 1/3 of cat owners think their pets are able to read their minds. |
| A cat has the power to sometimes heal themselves by purring. A domestic cat's purr has a frequency of between 25 and 150 Hertz, which happens to be the frequency at which muscles and bones best grow and repair themselves. |
| Cats bury their feces to cover their trails from predators. |
| Tabby cats are thought to get their name from Attab, a district in Baghdad, now the capital of Iraq. |
| Cats can predict earthquakes. We humans are not 100% sure how they do it. There are several different theories. |
| The normal body temperature of a cat is between 100.5 ° and 102.5 °F. A cat is sick if its temperature goes below 100 ° or above 103 °F. |
| Cat families usually play best in even numbers. Cats and kittens should be acquired in pairs whenever possible. |
| Cats purr at the same frequency as an idling diesel engine, about 26 cycles per second. |
| The cat appears to be the only domestic companion animal not mentioned in the Bible. |
| A cat can jump 5 times as high as it is tall. |
| The Maine Coone is the only native American long haired breed. |
| The first cat show was organized in 1871 in London. Cat shows later became a worldwide craze. |
| A cat can jump up to five times its own height in a single bound. |
| Cats with long, lean bodies are more likely to be outgoing, and more protective and vocal than those with a stocky build. |
| Kittens remain with their mother till the age of 9 weeks. |
| It has been scientifically proven that owning cats is good for our health and can decrease the occurrence of high blood pressure and other illnesses. |
| Cats' eyes shine in the dark because of the tapetum, a reflective layer in the eye, which acts like a mirror. |
| The technical term for a cat’s hairball is a “bezoar.” |
| The world’s rarest coffee, Kopi Luwak, comes from Indonesia where a wildcat known as the luwak lives. The cat eats coffee berries and the coffee beans inside pass through the stomach. The beans are harvested from the cat’s dung heaps and then cleaned and r |
| Cats respond better to women than to men, probably due to the fact that women's voices have a higher pitch. |
| A tomcat (male cat) can begin mating when he is between 7 and 10 months old. |
| In just 7 years, one un-spayed female cat and one un-neutered male cat and their offspring can result in 420,000 kittens. |
| Cat paws act as tempetature regulators, shock absorbers, hunting and grooming tools, sensors, and more |
| Grown cats have 30 teeth. Kittens have about 26 temporary teeth, which they lose when they are about 6 months old. |
| On average, a cat will sleep for 16 hours a day. |
| In 1987 cats overtook dogs as the number one pet in America. |
| The first commercially cloned pet was a cat named "Little Nicky." He cost his owner $50,000, making him one of the most expensive cats ever. |
| The most popular pedigreed cat is the Persian cat, followed by the Main Coon cat and the Siamese cat. |
| Cats often overract to unexpected stimuli because of their extremely sensitive nervous system. |
| The Ancient Egyptian word for cat was mau, which means "to see". |
| In the original Italian version of Cinderella, the benevolent fairy godmother figure was a cat. |
| The name "jaguar" comes from a Native American word meaning "he who kills with one leap". |
| After humans, mountain lions have the largest range of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere. |
| British cat owners spend roughly 550 million pounds yearly on cat food. |
| The cat's front paw has 5 toes, but the back paws have 4. Some cats are born with as many as 7 front toes and extra back toes (polydactl). |
| The lightest cat on record is a blue point Himalayan called Tinker Toy, who weighed 1 pound, 6 ounces (616 g). Tinker Toy was 2.75 inches (7 cm) tall and 7.5 inches (19 cm) long. |
| Kittens who are taken along on short, trouble-free car trips to town tend to make good passengers when they get older. They get used to the sounds and motions of traveling and make less connection between the car and the visits to the vet. |
| A commemorative tower was built in Scotland for a cat named Towser, who caught nearly 30,000 mice in her lifetime. |
| Cats have "nine lives" thanks to a flexible spine and powerful leg and back muscles |
| A domestic cat can run at speeds of 30 mph. |
| Cats have 3 eyelids. |
| The richest cat is Blackie who was left £15 million by his owner, Ben Rea. |
| A cat will tremble or shiver when it is extreme pain. |
| The tiniest cat on record is Mr. Pebbles, a 2-year-old cat that weighed 3 lbs (1.3 k) and was 6.1 inches (15.5 cm) high. |
| The first cat show was in 1871 at the Crystal Palace in London. |
| Mohammed loved cats and reportedly his favorite cat, Muezza, was a tabby. Legend says that tabby cats have an “M” for Mohammed on top of their heads because Mohammad would often rest his hand on the cat’s head. |
| A female cat can be referred to as a molly or a queen, and a male cat is often labeled as a tom. |
| A cat uses its whiskers for measuring distances. The whiskers of a cat are capable of registering very small changes in air pressure. |
| A cat has the ability to rotate their ears 180 degrees,with the help of 32 muscles that they use to control them. |
| You check your cats pulse on the inside of the back thigh, where the leg joins to the body. Normal for cats: 110-170 beats per minute. |
| A cat’s jaw can’t move sideways, so a cat can’t chew large chunks of food. |
| The Egyptian Mau is probably the oldest breed of cat. In fact, the breed is so ancient that its name is the Egyptian word for “cat.” |
| Unlike humans, cats do not need to blink their eyes on a regular basis to keep their eyes lubricated. |
| There are approximately 60,000 hairs per square inch on the back of a cat and about 120,000 per square inch on its underside. |
| The biggest wildcat today is the Siberian Tiger. It can be more than 12 feet (3.6 m) long (about the size of a small car) and weigh up to 700 pounds (317 kg). |
| Lions are the only cats that live in groups, called prides. Every female within the pride is usually related. |
| Some common houseplants poisonous to cats include: English Ivy, iris, mistletoe, philodendron, and yew. |
| Unlike humans, cats cannot detect sweetness which likely explains why they are not drawn to it at all. |
| Perhaps the most famous comic cat is the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. With the ability to disappear, this mysterious character embodies the magic and sorcery historically associated with cats. |
| The Amur leopard is one of the most endangered animals in the world. |
| A cat called Dusty has the known record for the most kittens. She had more than 420 kittens in her lifetime. |
| Some notable people who disliked cats: Napoleon Bonaparte, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Hitler. |
| A form of AIDS exists in cats. |
| Cats' hearing is much more sensitive than humans and dogs. |
| The average cat can jump 8 feet in a single bound, nearly six times its body length! |
| A cat’s eyesight is both better and worse than humans. It is better because cats can see in much dimmer light and they have a wider peripheral view. It’s worse because they don’t see color as well as humans do. Scientists believe grass appears red to cats. |
| A cat only has the ability to move their jaw up and down, not side to side like a human can. |
| Edward Lear, author of \The Owl and the Pussycat\"", is said to have had his new house in San Remo built to exactly the same specification as his previous residence, so that his much-loved tabby, Foss, would immediately feel at home.""" |
| While many parts of Europe and North America consider the black cat a sign of bad luck, in Britain and Australia, black cats are considered lucky. |
| Ginger tabby cats can have freckles around their mouths and on their eyelids! |
| The Maine Coon cat is America's only natural breed of domestic feline. It is 4 to 5 times larger than the Singapura, the smallest breed of cat. |
| The cheetah is the world's fastest land mammal. It can run at speeds of up to 70 miles an hour (113 kilometers an hour). |
| Jaguars are the only big cats that don't roar. |
| When a domestic cat goes after mice, about 1 pounce in 3 results in a catch. |
| There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, with approximately 40 recognized breeds. |
| Ailurophile is the word cat lovers are officially called. |
| A queen (female cat) can begin mating when she is between 5 and 9 months old. |
| Normal body temperature for a cat is 102 degrees F. |
| The female cat reaches sexual maturity within 6 to 10 months; most veterinarians suggest spaying the female at 5 months, before her first heat period. The male cat usually reaches sexual maturity between 9 and 12 months. |
| The smallest pedigreed cat is a Singapura, which can weigh just 4 lbs (1.8 kg), or about five large cans of cat food. The largest pedigreed cats are Maine Coon cats, which can weigh 25 lbs (11.3 kg), or nearly twice as much as an average cat weighs. |
| A cat’s heart beats nearly twice as fast as a human heart, at 110 to 140 beats a minute. |
| In 1987 cats overtook dogs as the number one pet in America. |
| Fossil records from two million years ago show evidence of jaguars. |
| The ability of a cat to find its way home is called “psi-traveling.” Experts think cats either use the angle of the sunlight to find their way or that cats have magnetized cells in their brains that act as compasses. |
| Tests done by the Behavioral Department of the Musuem of Natural History conclude that while a dog's memory lasts about 5 minutes, a cat's recall can last as long as 16 hours. |
| A female cat will be pregnant for approximately 9 weeks or between 62 and 65 days from conception to delivery. |
| Smuggling a cat out of ancient Egypt was punishable by death. Phoenician traders eventually succeeded in smuggling felines, which they sold to rich people in Athens and other important cities. |
| Spanish-Jewish folklore recounts that Adam’s first wife, Lilith, became a black vampire cat, sucking the blood from sleeping babies. This may be the root of the superstition that a cat will smother a sleeping baby or suck out the child’s breath. |
| Cat's urine glows under a black light. |
| All cats have three sets of long hairs that are sensitive to pressure - whiskers, eyebrows,and the hairs between their paw pads. |
| A cat can travel at a top speed of approximately 31 mph (49 km) over a short distance. |
| Baking chocolate is the most dangerous chocolate to your cat. |
| Cats come back to full alertness from the sleep state faster than any other creature. |
| At 4 weeks, it is important to play with kittens so that they do not develope a fear of people. |
| A happy cat holds her tail high and steady. |
| Many Egyptians worshipped the goddess Bast, who had a woman’s body and a cat’s head. |
| The Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) recognizes 44 breeds of cats. |
| Cats are the world's most popular pets, outnumbering dogs by as many as three to one |
| In Japan, cats are thought to have the power to turn into super spirits when they die. This may be because according to the Buddhist religion, the body of the cat is the temporary resting place of very spiritual people.i |
| A cat's field of vision is about 200 degrees. |
| A cat will tremble or shiver when it is extreme pain. |
| Every year, nearly four million cats are eaten in Asia. |
| Purring does not always indicate that a cat is happy and healthy - some cats will purr loudly when they are terrified or in pain. |
| The way you treat kittens in the early stages of it's life will render it's personality traits later in life. |
| Cats have individual preferences for scratching surfaces and angles. Some are horizontal scratchers while others exercise their claws vertically. |
| The cat's tail is used to maintain balance. |
| All cats have claws, and all except the cheetah sheath them when at rest. |
| In one stride, a cheetah can cover 23 to 26 feet (7 to 8 meters). |
| Cats, just like people, are subject to asthma. Dust, smoke, and other forms of air pullution in your cat's environment can be troublesome sources of irritation. |
| A sexually-active feral tom-cat \owns\" an area of about three square miles and \""sprays\"" to mark his territory with strong smelling urine.""" |
| Cats prefer to remain non-confrontational. They will not fight to show dominance, but rather to stake their territory. Cats will actually go to extremes to avoid one another in order to prevent a possible confrontation. |
| The cat's clavicle, or collarbone, does not connect with other bones but is buried in the muscles of the shoulder region. This lack of a functioning collarbone allows them to fit through any opening the size of their head. |
| The Pilgrims were the first to introduce cats to North America. |
| Unlike other cats, lions have a tuft of hair at the end of their tails. |
| Polydactyl cats (a cat with 1-2 extra toes on their paws) have this as a result of a genetic mutation. These cats are also referred to as 'Hemingway cats' because writer Ernest Hemingway reportedly owned dozens of them at his home in Key West, Florida. |
| A 2007 Gallup poll revealed that both men and women were equally likely to own a cat. |
| Cats hate the water because their fur does not insulate well when it’s wet. The Turkish Van, however, is one cat that likes swimming. Bred in central Asia, its coat has a unique texture that makes it water resistant. |
| There are approximately 100 breeds of cat. |
| Long, muscular hind legs enable snow leopards to leap seven times their own body length in a single bound. |
| Most cats had short hair until about 100 years ago, when it became fashionable to own cats and experiment with breeding. |
| Ancient Egyptian family members shaved their eyebrows in mourning when the family cat died. |
| Cats have the largest eyes of any mammal. |
| Florence Nightingale owned more than 60 cats in her lifetime. |
| In Ancient Egypt, when a person's house cat passed away, the owner would shave their eyebrows to reflect their grief. |
| Like birds, cats have a homing ability that uses its biological clock, the angle of the sun, and the Earth's magnetic field. A cat taken far from its home can return to it. But if a cat's owners move far from its home, the cat can't find them. |
| It may take as long as 2 weeks for a kitten to be able to hear well. Their eyes usually open between 7 and 10 days, but sometimes it happens in as little as 2 days. |
| The cat who holds the record for the longest non-fatal fall is Andy. He fell from the 16th floor of an apartment building (about 200 ft/.06 km) and survived. |
| It has been scientifically proven that stroking a cat can lower one's blood pressure. |
| Cats are now Britain's favourite pet: there are 7.7 million cats as opposed to 6.6 million dogs. |
| A female cat is called a queen or a molly. |
| A cat usually has about 12 whiskers on each side of its face. |
| A cat's whiskers are thought to be a kind of radar, which helps a cat gauge the space it intends to walk through. |
| People who are allergic to cats are actually allergic to cat saliva or to cat dander. If the resident cat is bathed regularly the allergic people tolerate it better. |
| When your cats rubs up against you, she is actually marking you as 'hers' with her scent. If your cat pushes his face against your head, it is a sign of acceptance and affection. |
| Some cats have survived falls of over 65 feet (20 meters), due largely to their “righting reflex.” The eyes and balance organs in the inner ear tell it where it is in space so the cat can land on its feet. Even cats without a tail have this ability. |
| Cats can be right-pawed or left-pawed. |
| A healthy cat has a temperature between 38 and 39 degrees Celcius. |
| Owning a cat is actually proven to be beneficial for your health. |
| Neutering a cat extends its life span by two or three years. |
| A cat sees about 6 times better than a human at night, and needs 1/6 the amount of of light that a human does - it has a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light. |
| A cat rubs against people not only to be affectionate but also to mark out its territory with scent glands around its face. The tail area and paws also carry the cat’s scent. |
| The cat has 500 skeletal muscles (humans have 650). |
| On average, cats spend 2/3 of every day sleeping. That means a nine-year-old cat has been awake for only three years of its life. |
| One reason that kittens sleep so much is because a growth hormone is released only during sleep. |
| The average lifespan of an outdoor-only cat is about 3 to 5 years while an indoor-only cat can live 16 years or much longer. |
| Cats are North America’s most popular pets: there are 73 million cats compared to 63 million dogs. Over 30% of households in North America own a cat. |
| An adult lion's roar can be heard up to five miles (eight kilometers) away. |
| In the 1930s, two Russian biologists discovered that color change in Siamese kittens depend on their body temperature. Siamese cats carry albino genes that work only when the body temperature is above 98° F. If these kittens are left in a very warm room, t |
| The longest living cat on record according to the Guinness Book belongs to the late Creme Puff of Austin, Texas who lived to the ripe old age of 38 years and 3 days! |
