CAT FACTS

Did You Know?...

...Spaying or neutering a cat extends it's life span by two or three years.

...According to one legend, the "M" marking on the forehead of the Tabby Cat was created by the prophet Mohammed as he rested his hand lightly on the brow of his favorite cat, a Tabby.

...A "moggy" is a domestic cat of non-pedigree origins.

...In addition to using their noses, cats can smell with the Jacobson's organ which is located in the upper surface of the mouth.

...The odd-eyed white cat is an Ankara Kedi.

...A large majority of white cats with blue eyes are deaf. White cats with only one blue eye are deaf only in the ear closest to the blue eye.

...Cats can have freckles. They can appear anywhere on a cat's skin and even in its mouth.

...A cat will never break a sweat because it has no sweat glands.

...In ancient Egypt, the entire family would shave their eyebrows off as a sign of mourning when the family cat died.

...Those dark lines connecting to a cat's eyes are called mascara lines.

...The red tabby cat is a Sarman.

...A cat's normal body temperature ranges between 100.5 and 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

...In ancient Egypt, cats were mummified; and embalmed mice were placed with them in their tombs.

...Cats can donate blood to other cats.

...Cats have a third eyelid, called a haw, that is rarely visible. If it can be seen, it could be an indication of ill health.

...The first Ocicat was born in 1964.

...Morris, the 9-Lives cat, was discovered at an animal shelter in New England.

...Cats can't taste sweets even though some seem to love them.

...A cat sees about six times better than a human at night because of the tapetum lucidum which is a layer of extra reflecting cells that absorb light. It's also why the cat's eyes seem to glow in the dark.

...The silver tabby cat is a Teku.

...The Havana Brown was named after the color of rich Havana tobacco.

...Cats use more than 500 muscles to leap, jump, and sprint.

...Ailurophobia is the fear of cats. Julius Caesar, Henry II, Charles XI, and Napoleon all suffered from this and would nearly faint in the presence of a cat.

...Cat urine glows under a black light.

...Cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.

...A cat in a hurry can sprint at about thirty-one miles per hour.

...The Persian cat has the longest and thickest fur of all domestic cats. The topcoat may be up to 5 inches long.

...Cats can learn tricks. They just sometimes choose not to.

...It is a common belief that cats are color blind; but recent studies have shown that cats can see blue, green, and red.

...A cat can be either right-pawed or left-pawed.

...The heaviest cat ever recorded weighed 46 lbs.

...Black cat superstitions originated in America. In Asia and England, a black cat is considered lucky.

...Tylenol and chocolate are both poisonous to cats.

...When a domestic cat goes after mice, about one pounce in three results in a catch.

...The cat is the only animal that walks on its claws, not the pads of its feet.

...The cat steps with both left legs, then both right legs when walking or running. The only other animals that do this are the giraffe and the camel.

...Cats are sometimes born with extra toes. They are known as polydactyl cats.

...A cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why the cat cannot seem to find tidbits on the floor.

...A cat can jump as much as seven times its height.

...Cats lack a true collarbone and can generally squeeze their bodies through any space they can get their heads through.

...Many cats are unable to properly digest cow's milk. Milk and milk products give them diarrhea.

...Cats bury their feces to cover their trails from predators.

...A female cat can begin mating when she is between 5 and 9 months old.

...A male cat can begin mating when he is between 7 and 10 months old.

...A group of kittens is called a kindle.

...If left to her own devices, a female cat may have three to seven kittens every four months. This is why population control using spaying and neutering is so important.

...Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.

...Most cats have five toes on each front paw, but only four toes on each back paw.

...You can tell a cat's mood by looking into its eyes. A frightened or excited cat will have large, round pupils. An angry cat will have narrow pupils. The pupil size is related as much to the cat's emotions as to the degree of light.

...Ear furnishings are the hairs that grow inside a cat's ears.

...Adult cats with no health problems are in deep sleep 15% of their lives. They are in light sleep 50% of the time.

...Cats have true fur, meaning that they have both an undercoat and an outer coat.

...Newborn kittens have closed ear canals that don't begin to open for nine days.

...Cats with white fur and skin on their ears are very prone to sunburn.

...The way you treat a kitten in the early stages of its life will effect its personality traits in its adult life.

...Cats must have some fat in their diet because they can't produce it on their own.

...Cats have AB blood groups just like people.

...People who are allergic to cats are actually allergic to cat saliva or cat dander. If the cat is bathed regularly, allergic people have better tolerance to it.

...The ancestor of all domestic cats is the African Wild Cat, which still exists today.

...Cats have a homing ability that uses it's biological clock, the angle of the sun, and the Earth's magnetic field.

...One litter box per cat, plus an extra box, is the best formula for a multicat household.

...Never pick a kitten up by the neck. Only a mother cat may do this safely.

...Cats love to hear the sound of their own name and your voice, so talk to them often.

...The only cat in the world that can't retract it's claws is the Cheetah.

...After being handled, cats lick themselves to smooth their fur and get rid of the "human" smell. Licking is also thought to produce a calming effect.

...A cat's jaws cannot move sideways.

...Cats have carpal pads on their front paws that help to prevent them from sliding on a slippery surface when jumping.

...Cats have 13 ribs.

...A cat has 230 bones in its body. A human only has 206 bones.

...Many of a cat's bones are found in its tail.

...A cat's tail held high means happiness. A twitching tail is a warning sign, and a tail tucked in close to the body is a sure sign of insecurity.

...A cat's tail plays a vital part in the cat's balance and in the "righting reflex" that allows it to land on its feet after falling from a height.

...Nostradamus the French Astrologer, 1503-1566, had a cat named Grimalkin.

...A group of adult cats is called a clowder.

...Cats can get bored. They show their boredom by excessive licking, chewing, or biting.

...All cats are born with blue eyes.

...A cat's tongue is scratchy because it's lined with papillae--tiny elevated backwards hooks that help to hold prey in place.

...The different types of tabby patterns that are seen in domestic cats also occur in wild cats.

...An adult cat has thirty teeth and around twelve whiskers.

...A cat's whiskers, called vibrissae, grow on the cat's face and on the back of its forelegs. The whiskers are thought to be a kind of sensor to help a cat gauge the space it wants to go through.

...The average life span of a cat is twelve years.

...A cat named Granpa lived to be 34 years, 2 months and 4 hours old before dying on April 1, 1998. In mid-August 1998, the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that Granpa was the world's longest living cat. The previous record was 34 years and 1 day and had been set in 1957 by Ma, a female tabby from Devon, England. Ma died in 1957.

...A cat's sense of taste is keener than a dog's sense of taste.

...Cats can get "age spots". These are black spots on the skin that are often seen around the lips, eyes, and nose; and usually start when the cat is three to five years of age.

...Feral cats are domestic cats that have reverted to living wild.

...The average canned or dry cat meal is the nutritional equivalent of eating five mice.

...Cats scratch to shed the sheaths of their old claws.

...A fifteen year old cat has probably spent ten years of its life sleeping.

...According to one Christian folk story, the Madonna rewarded the cat for purring baby Jesus to sleep by allowing all Tabbies to wear a letter "M" on their foreheads from then on.

...A "moggy" is a domestic cat of non-pedigree origins. (Thank you, Steph.)