Cat Facts

Two interesting cat-facts came up recently while we were sharing random ‘did-you-knows’ around the house.

1)      A cat can’t climb head first down a tree because every claw on a cat’s paw points the same way. To get down from a tree, a cat must back down. (That explained every picture or actual cat I’ve seen go up a tree and then look down like a sad puppy with its ears slowly dropping backward.)

2)      Cats don’t like to eat food from the corners of their bowls since it hurts their whiskers. (And that explained why my cats always leave a cat food volcano in their bowls.)

This forced me to find out more. Hence, Google was referred to and the following assortment of facts from an assortment of sites was created. I present to you my random-but-genuine collection of wonderfully fascinating, intriguing, curious and weird cat facts that may explain certain cat behaviour things or something along those lines.

My Random-but-Genuine Collection of Wonderfully Fascinating, Intriguing, Curious and Weird Cat Facts That May Explain Certain Cat Behaviour Things Or Something Along Those Lines:-

A group of cats is called a “clowder”. (So all together they claw the furniture to chowder?)

A cat’s brain is biologically more similar to a human brain than it is to a dog’s. Both humans and cats have identical regions in their brains that are responsible for emotions. (The silent treatments, the long angry stares, the moodswings, the slapping-things-I-hate, etcetera etcetera)

During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Innocent VIII condemned cats as evil and thousands of cats were burned. (They still remember. Hence the manic, out of the blue, psycho scratches.)

Cats are North America’s most popular pets: there are 73 million cats compared to 63 million dogs. Over 30% of households in North America own a cat. (Kittens self-advertise better than puppies with their blue eyes, giant heads and clumsy paws).

A cat rubs against people not only to be affectionate but also to mark out its territory with scent glands around its face. The tail area and paws also carry the cat’s scent. (Of course, there just had to be something to it other than pure love.)

When a family cat died in ancient Egypt, family members would mourn by shaving off their eyebrows. They also held elaborate funerals during which they drank wine and beat their breasts. The cat was embalmed with a sculpted wooden mask and the tiny mummy was placed in the family tomb or in a pet cemetery with tiny mummies of mice. (This was just weird.)

The little tufts of hair in a cat’s ear that help keep out dirt direct sounds into the ear, and insulate the ears are called “ear furnishings.” (They also help to filter out the sound of their owner calling out to them a gazillion times.)

A cat’s back is extremely flexible because it has up to 53 loosely fitting vertebrae. Humans only have 34. (My theory is they evolved from caterpillars.)

Cats spend nearly 1/3 of their waking hours cleaning themselves. (So a three year old cat has spent a year cleaning itself? So funny that is.)

In contrast to dogs, cats have not undergone major changes during their domestication process. (I did not need to internet to know that.)

Cats see so well in the dark because their eyes actually reflect light. Light goes in their eyes, and is reflected back out. This means that their eyes actually work almost like built-in flashlights. (THAT’s what they have those glassy bulb things over their eyes for!) 

Cats cannot taste things that are sweet. (Now this I knew but I’ve never figured why one of my cats loves chocolate and comes running on hearing wrappers and why another loves cham-cham which is a sweet that tastes purely of sugar.)

Cats are one of the very few animals that can stare fixedly into the human eye. (They’ve evolved to make us cower.)

Papillae on a cat’s tongue along with saliva ensure that their super-deep-cleaning doesn’t leave behind any offensive odour. (Another tactic to get us to like them more than dogs.)

Cats are creatures of order and habit and like routine which makes them feel secure. (That’s why they start getting hyper and jumpy all together precisely when we turn off the lights every night!)

While petting a cat, it raises its bum as an invitation for you to sniff its asshole. (Our brains aren't all that similar I suppose.)

That’s all I got for now. Stay tuned while the mystery unfolds in subsequent posts. *dum dum dum*