and did you know

Cat Facts — Did you Know?

There are more polydactyl cats (cats with extra toes on their front paws) on the East Coast than in any other region of the United States. That's because sailors believed polydactyls were better mousers, because they could better grip their prey. They looked for polydactyl cats to take on board the ships that crossed from Europe to the Americas, and these cats then reproduced in seaports and other coastal areas.
The cat population in the United States is more than 75 million.
Almost half of all cats receive Christmas gifts.
Cats can make more than 100 different vocal sounds. Dogs can make about 10.
Cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, which is the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.
The first animated cat was Krazy Kat, a cartoon strip drawn by George Herriman that made the transition from paper to film in 1916.
Cats have twice as many smell-sensitive cells in their noses as we do, which means they can smell things we are not even aware of.
The cat receives much respect in Islam, because of tales that the Prophet Mohammed was a cat lover. One story says a cat saved Mohammed from being bitten by a deadly snake. In another, when Mohammed’s cat Muezza fell asleep on his sleeve, the Prophet cut off his sleeve rather than disturb his cat.
A Spanish stamp commemorating Charles Lindbergh's record-breaking flight from New York to Paris showed his cat Patsy watching as his plane took off. Pasty often accompanied Lindbergh on his flights, but did not go on the 1930 flight that made him famous.
Domestic cats have demonstrated excellent homing instincts by traveling hundreds of miles to find their familiar territory following a house move by their owners.
All the big cats, including lions and tigers, react to catnip just the way our little cats do. In fact, some zoos give their big cats catnip as part of a general program of environmental enrichment.
The cat's canine teeth (the long fangs) sit in beds of sensitive tissue. A cat adjusts his grip on his prey until he feels a tiny depression in its neck, just behind the skull. The canine teeth are designed to fit perfectly into this depression, so the cat can sever his prey’s spine with one quick bite.
Cats can judge within three inches the location of a sound being made one yard away. This is an essential skill for a predator who needs to catch a mouse hiding in tall grass.
A cat's heart beats about twice as fast as your heart—about 110 to 140 times a minute in the average cat.
Cats seem to have an instinctive ability to find their way home; tests have shown that they use the earth’s magnetic fields to navigate.
Our beloved housecats are descended from the African wildcat, a small brown tabby that today is an endangered species.
Pouncing is powered by a cat's thighs. These muscles are so powerful that if you had a cat's thigh muscles, your thighs would be as big as your waist and you could jump from the ground to the top of a house!
The orange gene that results in the tortoiseshell coat pattern is linked to the gene that determines a cat's sex. This means nearly all tortoiseshell cats are female, and the rare male tortie is usually sterile.
In the midst of building the Grand Coulee Dam in the state of Washington, engineers were stymied by the problem of threading a cable through a pipeline until an anonymous cat saved the day. Harnessed to the cable, this unknown hero crawled through the pipeline maze to successfully finish the job.
If your cat is in the habit of rolling over and exposing his stomach, you can be sure he feels perfectly safe with you. It's also a way of demonstrating his pleasure in your company.
The Turkish Van, a very old rare breed that originated in Turkey, is quite different from other breeds because of its unusual love of water. Known as "the swimming cat," the Van is strong, quick and agile. He makes a devoted and loyal companion--on land or at sea.
Cats rank high up on the intelligence scale, and one of their greatest assets is memory. Studies at the University of Michigan and the American Museum of Natural History show that cats can remember problem-solving strategies for as long as 16 hours.
In the language of the ancient Egyptians, the word for cat was miou. The name has been somewhat revived in the modern breed the Egyptian Mau. The Egyptian Mau traces her past to the religion and mythology of the ancients, but this spotted feline with mascara-lined eyes is no mere relic. A fiercely loyal companion, the Mau shows her happiness by wagging her tail like a dog and "singing a gentle melody that expresses her joyful spirit.
It has been scientifically proven that stroking a cat can lower one's blood pressure.
Cat families usually play best in even numbers. Cats and kittens should be acquired in pairs whenever possible.
Tylenol and chocolate are both poisonous to cats.
Cats scratch to shed the sheaths of their old claws.
Orange and lemon rinds are offensive to cats. A light rubbing of orange peel on furniture will discourage your cat from using it as a scratching post.
Cats also hate the smell of vinegar. If you have a "stray"cat that is marking its territory on your house, try pouring distilled vinegar over the place where it has been sprayed and then rinse with the hose.
Because of rigorous show standards, it's possible that some purebred cats will become extinct over time because of relentless inbreeding. The feline gene pool for some breeds — the shared genetic knowledge inherent in cells and DNA — is small. Strict standards for certain breeds prohibit diluting that gene pool with related cat species. The upshoot is that inbreeding can produce cats with undesirable, even fatally flawed genetic characteristics. The healthiest, toughest, most resilient domestic cat is the common interbred house cat.
The standing of cats in human history runs the gamut from the worship of cats by the Egyptians to the execution of people who housed cats in the Middle Ages - a particularly rough period when cats were associated with evil. It took a major disaster, The Black Plague, to redeem cats in the eyes of humans. They were heros - they killed off the rats infested with plague-carrying fleas.
Many common household plants are poisonous to cats. Most cats, especially kittens, will nibble on anything green, which is why you should consider planting an oat garden for your cat's fresh salad. Here is a partial list of plants (there are about 150 different plants in total) that you should not have in your house if you have cats: mistletoe, cherry or common laurel, poinsettia, true ivies, oleander, rhododendrons and azaleas, elephant ears, tree lovers, dumb canes, false jerusalem cherry, iris, amaryllis, rubber plants, and lilies.
When you find your cat glued to the window intently watching a bird, making a strange chattering noise and clicking his or her jaws oddly, your cat is merely acting on instinct. What your cat is doing is directly related to the killing bite that all cats (both domestic and wild cats) use to dispatch their prey.
At night a cat can gather into the extra-large corneas and lenses of its eyes more than six times the amount of light than humans can. Seeing far better than humans do at night time and tending to focus best at a distance of eight to twenty feet makes cats excellent night time hunters.
The phenomenon of cats finding their owners in a place where they have never been before is scientifically known as Psi-trailing. Many well-documented stories tell of cats that have walked hundreds, even thousands of miles to find their owners.
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.
A cat's sense of smell is 14 times stronger than a human's.
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 are attracted to automobile antifreeze because of its sweet taste (so keep it well out of reach).
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.
Cats have 32 muscles in their ears.
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.
The Persian is the most popular breed of cat, followed by the Siamese and the Maine Coon Cat.
The Ragdoll and the Maine Coon are the biggest breeds. Both can weigh 20 pounds or more. The heaviest cat ever recorded weighed 46 lbs.
Black cat superstitions originated in America. In Asia and England, a black cat is considered lucky.
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. This is called polydactyl.
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.
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.
Perhaps the oldest known female cat was Ma, from Devon, who was 34 when she 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.
Ferals are domestic cats that have reverted to living wild.
The average canned or dry cat meal is the nutritional equivalent of eating five mice.
All cats are born with blue eyes.
A fifteen year old cat has probably spent ten years of its life sleeping.
A cat will spend nearly 30% of its life grooming itself.
Cats can compress or elongate their spine, making them smaller to sleep in snuggly places or longer to leap across wide open spaces.

 

wow that took me ages to read it all so much intrestung stuff i didnt know they say u learn sumthing new everyday iv just learnt for aout a month!!lol :lol:

 

This is very good to know. Too bad vinegar did'nt smell good...at least to humans. People could then just spray vinegar inside where they don't want cats to scratch or climb. Imagine what that would smell like. LOL. :lol:

 

I guess this is how Milo kills his poor defenselyprey. :roll:

 

I never knew what those spots were around Copper's mouth! Cool!

And now I'm off to put vinegar around my flower beds...

 

:lol: I was wondering if youd seen that. Let us know if it works.

 

canines extremely long and dangerous

I can attest to these, Tigger Li my 6 years old male Manx tom has canines so long that they literally hang out of his mouth sometimes causing him to double up his efforts to close his mouth. Each of his male offspring have carried the trait. It comes in handy when Ti Li wrestles with the Min Pins. He looks like a lioness bringing down prey. He granbs the pins hindquartes with his claws than bites down on their backs pulling them down. Luckily this is all in play but if you did not know any better, well you can imagine. Tigger will though actually attack with full biting anyone (people) that harm his females. I have been on the end of 4 such attacks and he has litteraly bit clean thru my jeans and left punture marks. Now when I have to clean up one of the girls I watch for him so I know where he is. He will even attack the Pins by growling and biting them like a dog if he thinks that they may be hurting one of the girls. Luckily that does not happen very often but as far as Manx toms go, pound for pound I don't think a large breed dog would have a chance with him. lol

 

i think i spoiled maxie :shock: i think HE thinks he's a person....

he communicates more than any cat ive ever known...always chattering, closing doors around the house. he now will walk on his hind legs and push the door shut with his front paws... :roll:

 

aaaaaaawwwww bless!! yeah ollie does that to open the doors i got a funny pic on my mib it got deleted it was ollie sittin up on the sofa he looked like a person!!

 

:0017: :m39: