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20 Weird and Interesting Facts About Cats
My sweetiepie, 'Stray'
If you own a cat (or more), you already know that it can be difficult to understand everything your feline companion does. These strange behaviors can consist of them suddenly fixating on nothing in particular (at least that you can see), leaping out of nowhere to 'attack' your feet, or simply the different vocalizations that they make.
As if cats seemed mysterious enough, here are more facts that you may not have known about these interesting creatures.
Cat Facts
- Male cats tend to be left-pawed, while females are often right-pawed. Similarly in humans, the large majority of people who are left-handed also tend to be male.
- Cats can make approximately 100 different sounds, while dogs can only make about 10!
- Cats cannot see directly under their noses.
- Cats have 32 muscles in each ear, while humans only have six.
- Many white cats with two blue eyes are deaf, while a white cat with one blue eye is only deaf in the ear that is on the same side as the eye (Not all cats with one or two blue eyes are deaf, though).
- Cats need only about 1/6 of the light that people need to see.
- Recent studies have shown that cats are able to see greens, reds, and blues.
- Just like with human fingerprints, each cat's nose pad has a unique pattern.
- A cat can jump up to five times its height in a single leap.
- While a male cat is called a 'tom', a female is called a 'queen' or a 'molly'.
- Cats are unable to move their jaws sideways, so they cannot chew large chunks of food.
- Calico cats are almost always female.
- Unlike humans and dogs, cats do not have a 'sweet tooth'. Cats only have 473 taste buds, while people have 9,000.
- Cats can only sweat through their paws, unlike people who have sweat glands all throughout their bodies.
- The oldest cat to ever give birth was named Kitty, who gave birth to two kittens at the ripe old age of 30!
- A group of adult cats is called a 'clowder', while a group of kittens is called a 'kindle'.
- Cats use their whiskers to determine whether a space is large enough to fit through.
- The cat who holds the record for surviving the longest fall is Andy, who fell from the 16th floor of an apartment building (about 200 feet from the ground).
- The average lifespan of an indoor cat is around 15 years, while the average for an outdoor cat is only 3 to 5 years.
- Sticking to their picky nature, the majority of cats prefer their food at room temperature and will refuse food that is too cold or warm.
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Comments
Wow cats really are as weird(and lovable) as they seem!
i love this article
wow this is some good cat food as some people say!
Interesting article. I love cats and I thought I knew everything about them there is to know. Guess I was wrong! :)
Some interesting facts there!
Wow, this is really a chockfull of feline information. I wonder how pure Calico cats are bred further when there's no male Calico around. Purrfect hub! Voted up and useful, awesome and interesting. :)
I love the two cats I have and enjoyed this article, very interesting indeed. Voting this up, interesting, and awesome :)
Very interesting I'm a cat lover and knew quite a few of those but I now know some new facts :)
I just voted Up and Awesome for this hub. I live with a she-cat called Tiggy and we have been together 8 years. I am used to her ways and I think she is used to mine! lol
- Author
Thanks for commenting and voting, Gypsy, jcevans, and Chuck! And yes, cats are MUCH pickier than dogs are, Chuck. My dog will gobble up anything I give her, while my cats are much more particular about what they will eat.
For the last month I have had a stray cat visit me every night for food. It stays up all night. I guess it finds some food like mice but it really loves getting food from me. Dogs like everything but cats are very particular. My stray cat does not like yogurt or raw eggs like many cats do like. If I make scrambled eggs then the cat likes it. I lived most of my life in Philadelphia and have only been in Arizona for 1 year. Voted up, sideways and awesome.
I love cats and enjoyed learning these little known facts. This hub will help me understand our cat better. Voted up and interesting!
Voted up and interesting. Love cats and this was fascinating. Thanks for sharing and passing this on.
- Author
Thanks for commenting and sharing iamaudraleigh. Glad you liked it!
You know a lot about cats! I have had them and amaround my boyfriend's family's often! I had no idea they sweat between their paws...wow!!! Love this! Voted up and shared!
- Author
Thanks for commenting everyone! I'm glad you found this interesting. :-)
There are lots of interesting facts in this hub, many of which I didn't know, jennzie! Thanks for sharing the information.
What a great collection of interesting and useful facts ! Thank you for sharing this information !
Awesome hub! I've learned quite a lot about cats from it, but I'll save it for future reference because I tend to forget things after I receive a flood of information from other reads later :) Voted up!
Who knew leftys were most likely to be male, never mind in cats. Interesting hub thanks :)
This is great. I learned a few things from it. Maybe some will prove useful.
A group of kitten is a 'kindle' you say - I won't look at the e-reader Kindle the same way again! What interesting facts, I don't have a cat but I sure learned a lot.
Dear Jennzie
Thank you for an interesting article - I agree cats are a law unto themselves and none more so than my three totally mad Siamese.
They chat away to me and then look very offended when I obviously don't understand. Still I wouldn't be without them.
Kind regards Peter
Interesting cat facts. My cat is bonkers. That's a description, but it should be his name. I don't know what the heck he's thinking half the time.
Very interesting, jennzie. I have 3 cats. A male Flame Point Himilayan and 2 female Seal Point Himilayan mixes. All have gorgeous blue eyes! I was unaware of many of your tidbits, however. Such as right paw vs left, blue-eyed white cats being deaf and calicos generally being female.
I love cats, they're great people!
i am very fond of cats.
- Author
Thanks for commenting natures47friend and creepyhead. Glad you liked it. :-)
very useful information. makes me more interested in cats.
Thank you for writing this hub. Its great to see reminders like this and lovely photos. Voted up.
- Author
Mhatter- Thanks for commenting- glad you enjoyed it.
KevinTimothy- Thanks for sharing and following! I love dogs as well- I think I just find cats a bit more intriguing.
Hey, this article is so cool it's worth the share. I'm more partial to dogs but I've owned a handful of cats. Great title and I've follow you to look forward for more.
Thank you for this. One would think I'd know at least 1 of these. good job.
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