25 Interesting Facts About Cats You May Not Have Known
Apart from fish, cats are the most common household pet in the United States today. In the United States, nearly 94 million cats are proud owners of people, and we wouldn't have it any other way! Many of us pet lovers are fascinated with all things feline, so we've done the legwork for you and assembled a list of perfect cat facts for you to share with other feline fans.
Here's a list of 25 fascinating things about cats that you probably didn't know.
1. Cats, unlike humans, are unable to taste sweetness, which explains why they are not attracted to it.
2. Ginger tabby cats may even have freckles on their lips and eyelids!
3. A cat's purring has the potential to cure itself on occasion. The frequency of a domestic cat's purr is between 25 and 150 Hertz, which is also the frequency at which muscles and bones expand and repair themselves.
4. Cats only use their meows to communicate with humans and not with one another. They just meow to interact with other felines when they're kittens, to warn their mother.
5. Despite the common image of cats happily drinking milk from saucers, studies show that cats are lactose intolerant and should avoid it completely.
6. Curiously, according to the Guinness Book, the longest living cat on record is the late Creme Puff of Austin, Texas, who lived to the ripe old age of 38 years and 3 days!
7. There are 44 cat breeds recognised by the Cat Fanciers Association (CFA).
8. The cerebral cortex of a cat has about twice the number of neurons as that of a dog. Dogs have around 160 million neurons, while cats have 300 million. Cats rule, though dogs drool!
9. A genetic defect causes polydactyl cats (cats with 1-2 extra toes on their paws) to have this. Since writer Ernest Hemingway reportedly owned hundreds of them at his home in Key West, Florida, these cats are also known as "Hemingway cats."
10. Sir Isaac Newton is credited with inventing the pet door, which many cats still use to move outside.
11. A cat can leap 8 feet in a single bound, which is nearly six times its body length!
12. A cat's strongest sense is scent, and they rely on it to distinguish people and objects; a cat's sense of smell is 14 times stronger than a human's.
13. Cats sweat just from their paws and not anywhere else on their bodies.
14. Unlike humans, cats can only move their jaw up and down, not side to side.
15. A clowder is a set of cats.
16. A female cat is known as a molly or a queen, while a male cat is known as a tom.
17. A cat's ears can spin 180 degrees thanks to the 32 muscles that power them.
18. Your cat spends 70% of its life sleeping.
19. The nose of a cat is as individual as a human's fingerprint.
20. Cats have three eyelids.
21. Your cat's heart beats at a rate of 110-140 beats per minute, almost twice that of yours.
22. When a person's house cat died in Ancient Egypt, the owner would shave their brows to express their sorrow.
23. Owning a cat has been shown to be beneficial to one's health.
24. Cats tend to avoid conflict wherever possible. They will battle to stake their ground rather than to assert superiority. To avoid a potential altercation, cats will go to great lengths to avoid each other.
Finally, unlike humans, cats are usually left-handed. According to studies, their primary paw is typically their left.
Related: 14 Fun Facts about Cats
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