Feline Facts PetsWeekly

Amazing Feline Facts

There are 30 teeth in a cat's mouth.
With some averaging over 16 hours a day, cats get more sleep than virtually any other animal.
Cats with white coats and blue eyes are often born deaf.
In the animal kingdom, only that of monkeys and chimps surpasses the cat’s IQ.
Cats have a greater chance of survival during a fall that is 20 stories as opposed to 7 stories. The reason is because it takes them about 8 floors to realize what is happening, relax, and correct themselves.
Cats get acne! It is caused from sharing plastic bowls with other cats.
Cats purr at approximately 26 cycles per second, which is nearly the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.

Napoleon Bonaparte was an ailurophobe.

Ailurophobia, Aelurophobia, Elurophobia, Felinophobia, and Gatophobia are various names for the fear of cats.

Avoidance of black cats has religious origins. During the Middle Ages it was believed that witches could turn themselves into black cats. Thus when such a cat was seen, it was considered to be a witch in disguise.

Even though humans are 15 times larger than the average cat, the human skeleton has only 206 bones while the domestic cat has 230 bones.

Cat's can see some colors: green, blue and red.

Nearly all calico cats are female.

Catgut was often used for the strings in tennis rackets and musical instruments. However, it didn't actually come from cats but from sheep, hogs, and horses.

There are 30 muscles in a cat's ear that control the outer ear, as opposed to only six in humans. By rotating 180 degrees, these muscles allow a cat to hear in all directions without actually moving his head.

Stroking a cat can lower a human’s blood pressure.

Cats have a sense of smell that is fourteen times stronger than a human's.

The domestic cat is the only species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. Wild cats hold their tail horizontally, or tucked between their legs while walking.

Catnip can affect lions and tigers as well as house cats. It excites them because it contains a chemical that resembles an excretion of the dominant female's urine.

Arching a tail up high is a probable sign of an impending cat fight.

With more than 230 bones, no collarbone, a pelvis and shoulders that are loosely attached to the spine, and a spinal column that is not connected to bone, cat's bodies are extremely flexible.

The whiskers of a cat are extremely sensitive and capable of registering very small changes in air pressure. This allows them to be used as an alternative sensing device so they can maneuver well in the dark.

Domestic cats and wild cubs alike are born with blue eyes, the color change occurring around the age of 12 weeks.

While cats have five toes on each of their front paws, they only have four toes on each of their back paws. Some cats, however, are polydactyl, or many-toed, and can be born with as many as 7 front toes and even extra back ones.

Cats age ten years in the first six months of life.

Cats are the only domestic animals that walk directly on their claws, not on their paws. This method of walking is called "digitigrade." When cats scratch furniture, it isn't an act of malice. They are actually tearing off the ragged edges of the sheaths of their talons to expose the new sharp ones beneath.

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

Killing a cat in ancient Egypt was a crime punishable by death.

It's unlawful in Sterling, Colorado for a pet cat to run loose without a taillight.

In French Lick Springs, Indiana, there was once a law passed requiring that all black cats wear bells on Friday the 13th.

In Zion, Illinois, it's illegal to give lighted cigars to dogs, cats and other pets.

It's illegal for a cat to fight a dog in Barbar, North Carolina.

In Ventura County, California, it's illegal for cats and dogs to have sex without a permit.

Actor John Barrymore became an eccentric animal collector in his later years. His beloved menagerie consisted of 300 different birds, dozens of Siamese cats, and 19 dogs, of which there were 11 greyhounds, several St. Bernards, and a few Kerry blue terriers. Barrymore also had a monkey, a few opossum, and mouse deer.

Before she landed the role that replaced the departing Farrah Fawcett on TV's hit Charlie's Angels in 1977, Cheryl Ladd provided the voice of one of the Pussycats on the Saturday morning cartoon series, Josie and the Pussycats.

In 1982, Cats opened at the Winter Garden Theatre. On June 19, 1997, it became longest running show in Broadway history.

Measuring a diminutive 5 feet 1 inch, actress Janeane Garofalo sometimes had to stand on a box to be in the same frame with 6-foot co-star Uma Thurman in the film The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996) .

President Calvin Coolidge, thirtieth U.S. president, liked cats and would often walk around the office with his yellow cat draped over his shoulders like a fur piece.

Bill Clinton is allergic to dust, mold, pollen, cats, Christmas trees, and dairy products.

The reason cats respond to catnip is because catnip actually smells like the urine of a dominant female cat. When cats smell this scent, they believe the dominant female is around so they roll around and become docile to impress her!

After cats eat, they always immediately bathe themselves. This is because their instinct tells them to get the food scent off of them so that predators will not smell the food and come after them.

A group of cats is called a clowder.

A cat has no ability to taste sweet things.
A prehistoric horse called Eohippus was approximately the size of a house cat.
Lions and tigers have been known to breed; their offspring are called Tions and Ligers.
Cheetahs are the only kind of cat in the world that cannot retract their claws.
A cat's jaws cannot move sideways.
In Ancient Egypt, when a cat died, people shaved off their eyebrows as a sign of respect.
Slippers, a gray cat with six toes on each paw, was favored by President Theodore Roosevelt and was allowed to appear at diplomatic dinners.
The cat uses its tail like a tightrope walker uses a long pole - as a counterweight to aid balance. Even though the tail is useful for this, it is also used for communication purposes. Cats born without tails do manage, though. There are other methods of balancing.
Kittens are born both blind and deaf, but the vibration of their mother's purring is a physical signal that the kittens can feel - it acts like a homing device, signaling them to nurse.
Kittens can clock an amazing 31-mile per hour at full speed, and can cover about three times their body length per leap.
A curved tail on a cat is usually an indication that the cat is feeling curious.
If a cat's tail is fluffed out and hanging low, it is often a sign the cat is frightened.
You can very often tell a cat is angry if it is twitching its tail from the tip.
A wagging cat tail does not mean the same thing as a wagging dog tail. If a cat is wagging its tail, it often means the cat is in the middle of making a decision about something.