32 Facts About Cats I’ll Bet You Didn’t Know

Flickr ChrisPerriman
Flickr ChrisPerriman

1. Smallest cat.

A tiny little squeaky adult blue Himalayan named Tinker Toy weighed 18 ounces and was less than three inches tall.

2. Oldest cat.

A matronly old Texas cat named Crème Puff died in 2005 only three days after her 38th birthday.

3. Most prolific mama kitty.

Dusty, a Texas tabby, set the world record in 1952 by having her 420th kitten at age 18. Ouch!

4. Most kitties in one litter.

The largest known litter where every cat survived belonged to a South African Persian cat named Bluebell—all 14 kitties in her litter pulled through. The largest total number of surviving kitties in one litter came from another mama cat—15 out of 19 among her brood made it past infancy.

5. Longest cat.

A cat named Stewie was just over four feet long when you measured from the tip of his tail to his nose. That’s one looonnnng cat!

6. The fattest fat cat of ’em all.

An Australian tabby named Himmy tipped the scales at nearly 47 pounds.

7. There are more cats than Buddhists on this planet.

There are currently an estimated 500 million domestic cats in the world right now purring, hissing, stretching, and sleeping. There are about 400 million Buddhists also purring, stretching, and sleeping. Not sure about the hissing, though.

8. Cats only meow at humans.

They do not meow at other cats. They only employ the “meow” sound to psychologically manipulate humans into giving them what they want.

9. A group of adult cats is known as a “clowder.”

Whereas a group of kittens is known as a “kindle.”

10. Cats have psychedelic pee.

Cat urine will glow under a blacklight.

11. Cats can survive 200-foot falls.

A cat named Andy fell 16 stories from an apartment building and survived.

12. Don’t give them milk!

Despite the legend that cats will come from miles around if you place a saucerful of milk outside your door, cats are actually lactose intolerant, and milk will give them gas and diarrhea.

13. Cats were considered godly in ancient Egypt.

Ancient Egyptians worshiped a goddess named Bast. She had a woman’s body and a cat’s head. Egyptians would also mummify their dead cats. Entire families would shave their eyebrows to mourn their recently departed death. And killing a cat in ancient Egypt would earn you the death penalty.

14. Cats were considered demonic in Europe during the Middle Ages.

They were burned alive in town squares during the Festival of Saint John. In the 1200s, Pope Gregory IX declared black cats to be the Devil incarnate, which led to wide-scale slaughtering of cats and—because there were fewer kitties around to keep the rat population in check—may have been a direct cause of the Black Plague.

15. Cats sleep two-thirds of their lives away.

Your average lazy-ass housecat spends around 15-18 hours of every day asleep. This means your average lazy-ass nine-year-old house cat has only spent three years awake.

16. In the little time they’re actually awake, about a third of that is spent cleaning themselves.

Nearly one third of a cat’s waking hours are spent cleaning his or herself. So an average nine-year-old cat spends only two years awake and not cleaning themselves.

17. Boy cats tend to be left-handed, while girl cats are righties.

Some cats are ambidextrous, but most males are left-handed while most females are right-handed.

18. Calicos and tortoiseshells are almost always female; if they’re male, they’re sterile.

It is not only society that discriminates by gender—nature often does, too. For the rare hapless male calico or tortoiseshell, this discrimination prevents them from passing on their genes and watching their grandchildren grow up on Facebook.

19. All kittens are born with blue eyes.

Every kitten is born with blue eyes; they only change color about two weeks after their eyes first open.

20. Most blue-eyed cats with white fur are deaf.

Among cats born with both blue eyes and white fur, a staggering percentage—around 65% to 85%—are also deaf.

21. Only giraffes and camels walk like cats do.

When a cat is walking, its front and back left legs move in tandem, as do its front and back right legs. The only other animals that walk this way are giraffes and camels.

22. Americans spend more every year on cat food than on baby food.

And if that makes you cry, you’re acting like a baby.

23. Abe Lincoln was a cat person.

Abraham Lincoln shared the White House with four of his pet cats.

24. So was Muhammad.

Islam’s prophet was a cat lover; his favorite was a tabby named Muezza. Islamic legend says that tabbies have an “M” on their heads because Muhammad was fond of resting his hand on Muezza’s head.

25. Tabitha?

According to one survey, the most popular names for female cats in America are Tigger, Pumpkin, Missy, Misty, Muffin, Patches, Fluffy…and Tabitha.

26. Purripheral vision.

Cats have an amazing scope of peripheral vision—an estimated 285 degrees’ worth of panoramic view are available to them at any given time. However, they are completely unable to see what’s right under their nose.

27. Cats are brainier than dogs.

Cats’ brains contain nearly twice as many neurons than dog brains. Cats’ brains are also more biologically closer to human brains than to dog brains. Take that, you doggie dummies!

28. Disneyland unleashes a squad of feral cats every night.

Since 1955, California’s Disneyland has set loose about 200 feral cats every night to keep the premises free of rats and mice.

29. There is an official name for cat-lovers.

Well, besides “cat-lovers,” that is. If you love cats, you’re an ailurophile.

30. Indoor cats live about three to five times longer than outdoor cats.

On average, outdoor cats live about three to five years, while indoor cats yawn, stretch, lick themselves, and last 15 years.

31. Four million cats are eaten yearly.

An estimated four million cats are eaten every year in Asia.

32. There are just as many “crazy cat men” as there are crazy cat ladies.

A 2007 poll revealed that men are equally as likely to own cats as are women. Thought Catalog Logo Mark


Sources:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

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