Cat Facts

Cats have AB blood groups just like people.

A form of AIDS exists in cats.

If you take kitten away from its mother before it is 8 weeks old, she may not have enough time to train it properly to use a litter box.

A healthy kitten has clear, bright eyes and clean ears.

A happy cat carries its tail upright, while a nervous one holds it down low. When a cat fluffs out its tail, it is to appear larger and scare off whatever is frightening it.

If your cat hides and then runs out and pounces on you, she is acting out her instinctive hunting ritual.

Cats act reserved because their ancestors hunted and lived alone. They did not live in packs and therefore depend less on others.

Cats' eyes don't glow in the dark; they only reflect light.

In relation to body size, a cat's eyes are bigger than most mammals.

Siamese coat color and crossed eyes may be caused by the same gene.

The color of the points in Siamese cats is heat related. Cool areas are darker.

Siamese kittens are born white because of the heat inside the mother's uterus before birth. This heat keeps the kittens' hair from darkening on the points.

Though rare, cats can contract canine heart worms.

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

Studies now show that the allergen in cats is related to their scent glands. Cats have scent glands on their faces and at the base of their tails. Entire male cats generate the most scent. If this secretion from the scent glands is the allergen, allergic people should tolerate spayed female cats the best.

Cats lick people as a sign of affection.

From "The Encyclopedia Britannica". All cats are members of the family Felidea. Interestingly enough, the cat family split from the other mammals at least 40,000,000 years ago, making them one of the oldest mammalian families. All cats share certain characteristics that are unique to the cat family. Cats are pure carnivores. They need a high level of protein in their diets - around 30% - and lack the digestive equipment to do well on a diet of grains, fruits or vegetables. In fact, if you were to design a creature to live from hunting mammals you would have trouble doing better than the design of the cat. If you know cats at all, you know that they have powerful jaws, long, sharp teeth, and claws that draw back into their paws when not in use. Cats hear extremely well. Their eyes are adapted for vision in dim light for hunting just before dawn and just after dusk, the prime hunting periods.

Don't be alarmed when your cats bring you gifts of birds, mice or other wild critters. This is a natural part of their gift ritual, and they do it to please you.

Cats purr to communicate.

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

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

Contrary to popular belief, the cat is a social animal. A pet cat will respond and answer to speech , and seems to enjoy human companionship.

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

Kittens are born with both eyes and ears closed. When the eyes open, they are always blue at first. They change color over a period of months to the final eye color.

When well treated, a cat can live twenty or more years.

Cats live 14 to 20 years, some 30.

Cats beat dogs for the #1 spot as the most popular pet in the United States.

Dogs and cats are color-blind.

The chlorine in fresh tap water irritates sensitive parts of the cat's nose. Let tap water sit for 24 hours before giving it to a cat.

The average cat food meal is the equivalent to about five mice.

The catgut formerly used as strings in tennis rackets and musical instruments does not come from cats. Catgut actually comes from sheep, hogs, and horses.

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. White cats with orange eyes do not have this disability.

Neutering a cat extends its life span by two or three years.

Pregnant women are advised not to come in contact with cat feces, because it can contain an organism which can affect the unborn child and even cause miscarriage.

Ten human years translate to about 60 cat years.

In Great Britain, black cats are thought to bring good luck.

Besides smelling with their nose, cats can smell with an additional organ called the Jacobson's organ, located in the upper surface of the mouth.

Cats can't taste sweets.

Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day. When cats are asleep, they are still alert to incoming stimuli. If you poke the tail of a sleeping cat, it will respond accordingly.

Aspirin is poisonous to cats.

A smooth, shiny coat is the sign of a healthy cat.

Cat saliva contains a detergent that keeps their fur clean.

Dogs and cats that are not around people before they reach the age of three months seldom turn out to be good pets.

Cats do not think that they are little people. They think that we are big cats. This influences their behavior in many ways.

Cats are subject to gum disease and to dental caries. They should have their teeth cleaned by the vet or the cat dentist once a year.

Cats, especially older cats, do get cancer. Many times this disease can be treated successfully.

Most cats have no eyelashes.

Many cats cannot properly digest cow's milk. Milk and milk products give them diarrhea.

Cats lack a true collarbone. Because of this lack, cats can generally squeeze their bodies through any space they can get their heads through. You may have seen a cat testing the size of an opening by careful measurement with the head.

Cats with white fur and skin on their ears are very prone to sunburn. Frequent sunburns can lead to skin cancer. Many white cats need surgery to remove all or part of a cancerous ear. Preventive measures include sunscreen, or better, keeping the cat indoors.

Cats can get tapeworms from eating fleas. These worms live inside the cat forever, or until they are removed with medication. They reproduce by shedding a link from the end of their long bodies. This link crawls out the cat's anus, and sheds hundreds of eggs. These eggs are injested by flea larvae, and the cycles continues. Humans may get these tapeworms too, but only if they eat infected fleas. Cats with tapeworms should be dewormed by a veterinarian.

Cats can get tapeworms from eating mice. If your cat catches a mouse it is best to take the prize away from it.

There are tiny, parasitic worms that can live in a cat's stomach. These worms cause frequent vomiting.

Many people fear catching a protozoan disease, Toxoplasmosis, from cats. This disease can cause illness in the human, but more seriously, can cause birth defects in the unborn. Toxoplasmosis is a common disease, sometimes spread through the feces of cats. It is caused most often from eating raw or rare beef. Pregnant women and people with a depressed immune system should not touch the cat litter box. Other than that, there is no reason that these people have to avoid cats.

Cats have a full inner-eyelid, or nictitating membrane. This inner-eyelid serves to help protect the eyes from dryness and damage. When the cat is ill, the inner-eyelid will frequently close partially, making it visible to the observer.

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.

A cat is pregnant for about 58-65 days. This is roughly two months.

The two most common problems with cats are aggression, and refusing to use the litter box. Both of these problems are usually caused by social conflict among cats. To have the fewest problems, have only one cat at a time. The more cats you introduce into a house, the more likely you are to have difficulties with the cats.

If you have a cat and want to have another cat, it will be easiest to introduce a female kitten. An elderly cat that is alone, however, should not be bothered with another cat. Let it rest in peace. Bringing a new cat into a household is always very stressful for all the cats concerned.

Unlike humans and dogs, cats do not suffer a lot from loneliness. It is a mistake to project our social feelings onto our cats. Cats are social to a degree, but they are far more concerned with territorial issues than we can even imagine.

Purring: To purr, cats use extra tissue in the larynx (voice box). This tissue vibrates when they purr.

In ancient Egypt, killing a cat was a crime punishable by death.

In ancient Egypt, mummies were made of cats, and embalmed mice were placed with them in their tombs. In one ancient city, over 300,000 cat mummies were found.

In the Middle Ages, during the Festival of Saint John, cats were burned alive in town squares.

The first cat show was in 1871 at the Crystal Palace in London.

Today there are about 100 distinct breeds of the domestic cat.

Genetic mutation created the domestic cat which is tame from birth.

Like birds, cats have a homing ability that uses its biological clock, the angle of the sun, and the Earth's magnetic field. A cat taken far from its home can return to it. But if a cat's owners move far from its home, the cat can't find them.

Hunting is not instinctive for cats. Kittens born to non-hunting mothers may never learn to hunt.

Cats bury their feces to cover their trails from predators.

Mother cats teach their kittens to use the litter box.

Among other tasks, cats can be taught to use a toilet, come, sit, beg, eat with their paws, heel, jump through a hoop, play a piano, play dead, roll over, open a door, hide food in boxes, shake, and fetch.