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So you call yourself a cat lover? But, do you really think you know everything there is to know about cats? If you said yes, you’re about to get a mega surprise. Don’t worry! I did, too. Considering I have had 5 cats at home, (crazy cat lady, I know) I also thought I knew a lot about cats until I came across these astounding facts.
Cats like to keep it to themselves and are very private individuals, this information is not new to us. There is so much mystery to them and they are full of depth. And these facts confirm that cats are more than just those pets who eat your food, take up your bed space and ruin your furniture.
Test your knowledge about cats by reading these mind blowing facts below!
1. Cats are heavy sleepers! They sleep 12-16 hours a day on average. This estimates around to 7% of their lives.
2. A group of cats is called ‘clowder’.
3. Cats have backward facing spines that are very essential features called papillae. It allows them to brush and clean their hair, pull off meat from the bones or have a proper grip.
4. Apart from being clean freaks and grooming for relaxing purposes, cats also keep themselves groomed to keep their body temperature balanced during extreme weather such as summers.
5. Cats have extremely strong hearing senses. It is five times greater than an average human’s hearing.
6. They cannot taste sweetness because they do not have taste buds for tasting sweet flavors.
7. They purr to calm themselves during labor! Labor can be extremely stressful for cats, so they find ways to soothe themselves.
8. You know that thing we call hairball? There is an actual term for it and that’s ‘bezoar’
9. A cat’s nose print is as unique as our fingerprints. If you are ever able to put their nose under a microscope, you will notice how intricate the patterns are and that they are not duplicate to any other nose prints.
10. Cats drink water at the rate of 4 laps every second.
11. Cats clean themselves and intend to remove all traces from their body of killing any animal. They do this grooming especially after the hunt. Pay close attention and observe your cat after they have hunt down a mouse or cat.
12. A considerable percentage of cats cannot actually smell catnip. Catnip serves as a sedative to cats and pushes them to lose their sense of stability for a while. And around 30-50% of cats do not possess the gene that helps them smell and sense catnip.
13. One year in cat’s life equates to 15 human years.
14. Ear furnishings refer to fur that grows from the within a cat’s ear while ear tufts refer to the hair on the tip of the ear.
15. Contrary to our belief, the meowing language of cats is only reserved for communicating with humans. Kittens may meow at their mothers but growing and adult cats do not communicate with other fellow cats through meowing.
16. The average weight of domestic cats is 8-10 pounds. That’s the estimate of what house cats usually weigh.
17. A cat’s night vision ability allows them to see properly with only minimal light e.g. one sixth of the light required by humans to focus on objects in dark
18. A group of kittens is called “kindle”. New information, right?
19. A common gene is shared by all the cats called ‘tabby gene’
20. Long sleeping hours are essential for cats because only through that, their growth hormone develops and is matured.
21. Most cats are lactose intolerant due to absence of enzyme that breaks down milk.
22. Cats prefer food at room temperature over too cold or too hot.
23. The fraction of male birth in calico cats is 1 out of 3000.
24. Maine cats are very diverse in the colors they come in; 75 different colors. They can also grow up to 40 inches.
25. Cats do not sweat like humans. The only body parts through which they sweat are their paw pads.
26. Cats can rotate their ears at 180 degrees. You might have noticed that if you have a cat!
27. Now this may sound funny, but a female cat is called Queen or Molley; while a male cat is called Tom
28. Ever wondered why your cat starts running, flashing across the room and basically going crazy at past midnight? It is because that is their prime time. Dawn and dusk are their most active hours.
29. A cat can voice 100 distinct sounds.
30. Cats can easily drink sea water without risk because their kidneys can filter out the salt.
31. Cats have five toes on their front paws and four on their back paws.
32. Thought only humans have freckles? Well, you are mistaken. Ginger cats can have freckles too.
33. A cat can taste the air’s scent through their vomeronasal organ. It is called the flehmen response.
34. It is usual for males to be left-pawed while females are right-pawed.
35. Cats can jump up to six times their body length.
36. Ever wondered if your cat’s whiskers are just like other regular hair strands? In reality, they are grown in different way and embedded deeper than their body hair strands.
37. A cat’s heart beats 110 to 140 times per minute, two times more than humans
38. Owners used to shave off their eyebrows after the passing away of their much-loved cat. This goes back to ancient Egyptian times.
39. We may think that cats like dominating a situation but that is not true. They are actually least confrontational and only concerned with marking territories in regards to their fights
40. Unlike humans, cats cannot move their jaw side to side but only up and down.
41. Cats find comfort, safety and security in cozying up into tiny spaces.
42. The frequency of a house cat’s purr is between 25 to 150 hertz, that’s the exact frequency at which their bones and muscles develop.
43. It is impossible for humans to be allergic to cats. Their allergy is towards cat dander: a hormone produced in their saliva that sticks to their fur when the lick themselves.
44. Cats find human head as the warmest spot on their body to sleep on.
45. Sphynx cat’s body temperature is higher than that of a domestic cat, despite not having a coat and fur.
46. A cat tends to retain their head level when hunting a prey.
47. A domestic cat can run up to 30 miles per hour.
48. The most kittens born in single birth were 19.
49. A cat cannot get off a tree facing the ground due to their nails having a single direction of growth. The nails are more likely to be pulled out if the cats climb down a tree head first.
50. A Manx cats tail depends on the genetic mutation. A Manx kitten can be born with or without tail.
51. Russian cats are born with yellow eyes.
52. Other than for sharpening their nails and marking territory, cats scratch to stretch their bodies and feet.
53. The number of bones a cat has depends on how long its tail is and its number of toes.
54. Except for cheetahs, all cats have retractable claws.
55. A cat’s retina has the ability to see even in low lit locations.
56. A cat’s walk is similar to that of camels and giraffes. They all walk with both their right feet and then left feet forward.
57. Just like all other infants, kittens tend to sleep a lot in their first days. After birth, their eyes remain closed for 7 to 10 days.
58. A fancier and lesser known term for cat lovers is ‘ailurophile’.
59. Cat’s vision is best and sharpest when the subject is within 2 to 3 feet of its face.
60. We kept the most shocking fact for last. Cats have a third eyelid called nictitating membrane.. You can spot the third one in your cat’s eyes. It is the the pinkish and whitish tissue at the bottom inner corner of the eye.
