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
The technical term for a cat’s hairball is a “bezoar”.
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
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.
Approximately 24 cat skins can make a coat.
The first cat in space was a French cat named Felicette (a.k.a. “Astrocat”) In 1963, France blasted the cat into outer space. Electrodes implanted in her brains sent neurological signals back to Earth. She survived the trip.
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.
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 was placed in the family tomb or in a pet cemetery with tiny mummies of mice.
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.
Many Egyptians worshiped the goddess Bast, who had a woman’s body and a cat’s head
The most popular pedigreed cat is the Persian cat, followed by the Main Coon cat and the Siamese 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.
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.
A cat usually has about 12 whiskers on each side of its face.
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 cat’s jaw can’t move sideways, so a cat can’t chew large chunks of food.
A cat’s back is extremely flexible because it has up to 53 loosely fitting vertebrae. Humans only have 34.
Two members of the cat family are distinct from all others: the clouded leopard and the cheetah. The clouded leopard does not roar like other big cats, nor does it groom or rest like small cats. The cheetah is unique because it is a running cat; all others are leaping cats. They are leaping cats because they slowly stalk their prey and then leap on it.
Most cats had short hair until about 100 years ago, when it became fashionable to own cats and experiment with breeding.
Cats have about 130,000 hairs per square inch (20,155 hairs per square centimeter).
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 common houseplants. Feeding cats dog food or canned tuna that’s for human consumption can cause malnutrition.
A cat’s heart beats nearly twice as fast as a human heart, at 110 to 140 beats a minute.
In just seven years, a single pair of cats and their offspring could produce a staggering total of 420,000 kittens.
Cats spend nearly 1/3 of their waking hours cleaning themselves.
A cat called Dusty has the known record for the most kittens. She had more than 420 kittens in her lifetime.
A female cat is called a queen or a molly
The most traveled cat is Hamlet, who escaped from his carrier while on a flight. He hid for seven weeks behind a pane. By the time he was discovered, he had traveled nearly 373,000 miles (600,000 km).
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.
A cat has been mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, for 15 years. His name is Stubbs.
A cat’s purr may be a form of self-healing, as it can be a sign of nervousness as well as contentment.
The world’s richest cat is worth $13 million after his human passed away and left her fortune to him.
Abraham Lincoln kept four cats in the White House.
A house cat is faster than Usain Bolt.
Cats use their whiskers to detect if they can fit through a space.
Cats can move their ears 180 degrees.
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