SENIORNET

Cat Trivia - And you thought you understood your pusycat!

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• A house cat’s genome is 95.6 percent tiger, and they share many behaviours with their jungle ancestors. These behaviours include scent marking by scratching, prey play, prey stalking, pouncing, chinning, and urine marking.

• Cats are believed to be the only mammals who don’t taste sweetness.

• Cats are near-sighted, but their peripheral vision and night vision are much better than that of humans.

• Cats are supposed to have 18 toes (five toes on each front paw; four toes on each back paw).

• Cats can jump up to six times their length.

• Cats’ claws all curve downward, which means that they can’t climb down trees head-first. Instead, they have to back down the trunk.

• Cats’ collarbones don’t connect to their other bones, as these bones are buried in their shoulder muscles.

• Cats have 230 bones, while humans only have 206.

• Cats have an extra organ that allows them to taste scents on the air, which is why your cat stares at you with her mouth open from time to time.

• Cats have whiskers on the backs of their front legs, as well.

• Cats have nearly twice the amount of neurons in their cerebral cortex as dogs.

• Cats have the largest eyes relative to their head size of any mammal.

• Cats make very little noise when they walk around. The thick, soft pads on their paws allow them to sneak up on their prey — or you!

• Cats’ rough tongues can lick a bone clean of any shred of meat.

• Cats use their long tails to balance themselves when they’re jumping or walking along narrow ledges.

• Cats use their whiskers to “feel” the world around them in an effort to determine which small spaces they can fit into. A cat’s whiskers are generally about the same width as its body. (This is why you should never, EVER cut their whiskers.)

• Cats walk like camels and giraffes: They move both of their right feet first, then move both of their left feet. No other animals walk this way.

• Male cats are more likely to be left-pawed, while female cats are more likely to be right-pawed.

• Though cats can notice the fast movements of their prey, it often seems to them that slow-moving objects are actually stagnant.

• Some cats are ambidextrous, but 40 percent are either left- or right-pawed.

• Some cats can swim.

• There are cats who have more than 18 toes. These extra-digit felines are referred to as being “polydactyl.”

• Cats typically sleep for 12 to 16 hours a day.

• Cats are crepuscular, which means that they’re most active at dawn and dusk.

• Cats are fastidious creatures about their “bathroom.” If you have more than one cat, you should have one litter box for each.

• Cats can spend up to a third of their waking hours grooming.

• Cats live longer when they stay indoors.

• Cats’ purring may be a self-soothing behaviour, since they make this noise when they’re ill or distressed, as well as when they’re happy.

• Cats will refuse an unpalatable food to the point of starvation.

• Despite popular belief, many cats are actually lactose intolerant.

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• Female cats have the ability to get pregnant when they are only 4 months old!

• Grapes and raisins, as well as onions, garlic, and chives, are all extremely harmful foods for cats. Grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure — although the reasoning behind that isn’t clear. Meanwhile, onions, garlic, and chives wreak havoc on your cat’s gastrointestinal system and can cause anaemia.

• If you keep your cat active during the day, he will sleep better at night. If you’re not free-feeding your cat, you can also help her get a good night’s sleep by providing her with a substantial evening meal.

• It’s believed that catnip produces an effect similar to LSD or marijuana in cats. The effects of nepetalactone — the chemical in catnip that can makes cats crazy — wears off within 15 minutes, and won’t surface again for a few hours, even if your cat remains in sniffing distance.

• Kittens can be spayed or neutered when they are only eight weeks old. If possible, these procedures should be performed in the first 5 months of your cat’s life.

• Male cats who have been fixed need fewer calories to maintain their weight.

• Spaying and neutering can extend a cat’s life. Neutered males live an average of 62 percent longer than unneutered cats and spayed females live an average of 39 percent longer than unspayed cats.

• Your cat’s grooming process stimulates blood flow to his skin, regulates his body temperature and helps him relax.

• A cat with a question-mark-shaped tail is asking, “Want to play?”

• A slow blink is a “kitty kiss.” This movement shows contentment and trust.

• Cats have a unique “vocabulary” with their owner — each cat has a different set of vocalizations, purrs and behaviours.

• Cats have up to 100 different vocalizations — dogs only have 10.

• Cats find it threatening when you make direct eye contact with them.

• Cats mark you as their territory when they rub their faces and bodies against you, as they have scent glands in those areas.

• Cats may yawn as a way to end a confrontation with another animal. Think of it as their “talk to the hand” gesture.

• Hissing is defensive, not aggressive. It’s an expression of fear, stress or discomfort of a threatened cat communicating ‘stay away’

• If cats are fighting, the cat that’s hissing is the more vulnerable one, says Wilde.

• If your cat approaches you with a straight, almost vibrating tail, this means that she is extremely happy to see you.

• Kneading — which some people refer to as “making biscuits” — is a sign of contentment and happiness. Cats knead their mothers when they are nursing to stimulate the let-down of milk.

• Meowing is a behaviour that cats developed exclusively to communicate with people.

• When a cat flops over and exposes his belly, it’s not always an invitation for a belly rub. A cat does this when he’s relaxed and showing trust.

• When cats hit you with retracted claws, they’re playing, not attacking.

• When dogs wag their tails, they may be expressing happiness. But this isn’t the case for cats! When your cat wags her tail, it’s her way of warning you that you are getting on her last nerve.

• When your cat sticks his butt in your face, he is doing so as a gesture of friendship.

• Whiskers are also good indicators of a cat’s mood. When a cat is scared, he put his whiskers back. But when a cat is in hunting mode, he puts his whiskers forward.

• Your cat drapes its tail over another cat, your dog, or you as a symbol of friendship.

• Cats are very fussy about their water bowls; some prefer to ignore their bowls entirely in favour of drinking from the sink faucet.

• Cats groom other cats — and sometimes people — in a ritual called allogrooming.

• Cats like to sleep on things that smell like their owners, such as their pillows and dirty laundry.

• Cats love to sleep in laundry baskets, too, because they’re basically hiding places with peep holes.

• Cats often attack your ankles when they’re bored.

• Certain cats go crazy for foods you wouldn’t expect, like olives, potato chips, and the hops in beer.

• For some reason, cats really dislike citrus scents.

• If you can’t find your cat, you should look in a box or a bag, as these are some of their favourite hiding spots!

• Male cats who try to get to a female in heat can show very bizarre behaviour — for example, some have been known to slide down chimneys!

• Many cats like to lick their owner’s freshly washed hair.

• Some cats love the smell of chlorine.

• Thieving behaviour is not uncommon among cats. They will often grab objects like stuffed animals, feather dusters, and other things that remind them of prey.

• A green cat was born in Denmark in 1995. Some people believe that high levels of copper in the water pipes nearby may have given his fur a Verdigris effect.

• It turns out that Abraham Lincoln was a crazy cat president! He had four cats that lived in the White House with him.

• Maria Assunta left her cat, Tomasso, her entire $13 million fortune when she died in 2011.

• President Bill Clinton’s cat, Socks, was a media darling during the Clinton administration and was said to receive more letters than the President himself.

• Stubbs, a 17-year-old orange tabby, is mayor of the historic district of Talkeetna, Alaska.

• A cat’s learning style is about the same as a 2- to 3-year-old child.

• A cat’s purr vibrates at a frequency of 25 to 150 hertz, which is the same frequency at which muscles and bones repair themselves.

• A group of kittens is called a “kindle.”

• A house cat could beat superstar runner Usain Bolt in the 200-meter dash.

• About half of the cats in the world respond to the scent of catnip.

• Cat breeders are called “catteries.”

• Cats can be toilet-trained.

• Cats can drink sea water in order to survive. (In case you’re wondering, we can’t.)

• Cats don’t have an incest taboo, so they may choose to mate with their brothers and sisters.

• Cats dream, just like people do.

• Cats have contributed to the extinction of 33 different species.

• Cats perceive people as big, hairless cats

• Cats were first brought to the Americas in colonial times to get rid of rodents.

• Collective nouns for adult cats include “clowder,” “clutter,” “glaring,” and “pounce.”

• Each cat’s nose print is unique, much like human fingerprints.

• Every Scottish Fold cat in the world can trace its heritage back to the first one, which was found in Scotland in the 1960s

• It’s not uncommon to see cats in food stores in big cities as a form of free — and adorable — pest control.

• Kittens in the same litter can have more than one father. This is because the female cat releases multiple eggs over the course of a few days when she is in heat.

• Male cats are the most sensitive to catnip, while kittens under 3 months old have no response at all.

• Most world languages have a similar word to describe the “meow” sound.

• Some 700 million feral cats live in the United States, and many shelters run trap-neuter-release programs to stem the population growth.

• Studies suggest that domesticated cats first appeared around 3600 B.C.

• The first known cat video was recorded in 1894.

• There are about 88 million pet cats in the United States, which makes them the most popular pet in the country!

• Two hundred feral cats prowl the park at Disneyland, doing their part to control rodents — the ones who don’t wear funny outfits and speak in squeaky voices.

• White cats with blue eyes are prone to deafness.

• Cats are one of, if not the most, popular pet in the world.

• There are over 500 million domestic cats in the world.

• Cats and humans have been associated for nearly 10000 years.

• Cats have flexible bodies and teeth adapted for hunting small animals such as mice and rats.

• Domestic cats usually weigh around 4 kilograms (8 lb 13 oz) to 5 kilograms (11 lb 0 oz).

• The heaviest domestic cat on record is 21.297 kilograms (46 lb 15.2 oz).

• Cats can be lethal hunters and very sneaky, when they walk their back paws step almost exactly in the same place as the front paws did beforehand, this keeps noise to a minimum and limits visible tracks.

• Older cats can at times act aggressively towards kittens.

• Domestic cats love to play, this is especially true with kittens who love to chase toys and play fight. Play fighting among kittens may be a way for them to practice and learn skills for hunting and fighting.

• Feral cats are often seen as pests and threats to native animals.

• In terms of development, the first year of a cat’s life is equal to the first 15 years of a human life. After its second year, a cat is 25 in human years. And after that, each year of a cat’s life is equal to about 7 human years.

• Cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees.

• The hearing of the average cat is at least five times keener than that of a human adult.

• In the largest cat breed, the average male weighs approximately 20 pounds.

• A cat cannot see directly under its nose.

• Most cats have no eyelashes.

• Some believe that if you dream about a white cat, good luck will follow.

• Meows are not innate cat language—they developed them to communicate with humans!

• Cats can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by mice. They can also see in near darkness.

• To aid with navigation and sensation, cats have dozens of movable whiskers over their body, especially their face. These provide information on the width of gaps and on the location of objects in the dark, both by touching objects directly and by sensing air currents.

• Types of body language, including position of ears and tail, relaxation of whole body, and kneading of paws, are all indicators of mood. The tail and ears are particularly important social signal mechanisms in cats e.g. with a raised tail acting as a friendly greeting, and flattened ears indicating hostility.

• It has been theorised that the high-pitched sounds house cats make to solicit food may mimic the cries of a hungry human infant, making them particularly hard for humans to ignore.

• Cats are known for their cleanliness, spending many hours licking their coats. If you have ever been licked by a cat, you have probably noticed that their tongues feel like sandpaper. Cats use their tongue to brush their fur and keep it smooth.

• Owing to the close similarity between play and hunting, cats prefer to play with objects that resemble prey, such as small furry toys that move rapidly, but rapidly lose interest (they become habituated) in a toy they have played with before. Cats also tend to play with toys more when they are hungry.

• The mechanism by which cats purr is elusive. The cat has no unique anatomical feature that is clearly responsible for the sound. However, felids of the Panthera genus (tiger, lion, jaguar and leopard) also produce sounds similar to purring, but only when exhaling.

• Kittens purr to let their mother's know that everything is ok. Adult cats purr when they feel safe and happy. Cats can purr for a long period of time without stopping.

• Cats have 4 four different meanings for "'meow'". If you listen carefully, you can hear that each meow is different: 1). I'm hungry!, 2). I want to go out!, 3). Help! and 4.) I want attention!

• Cats will sometimes roll over on their backs when they see you. This is probably the friendliest thing a cat can do. It's his/her way of saying 'I trust you'.

• Cats often press against you with their paws. Kittens get milk by nursing from their mother. They press against their mother with one paw and then the other. This is called "kneading". Kneading helps the mother cat give milk to the kittens. When adult cats knead with their paws, it reminds them of their mother when they were a kitten.

• Do cats always land on their feet? Not always, but they have better balance than most animals. When cats spread out their back and front legs they fall more slowly, because their bodies act as a parachute. The tail can also help balance a cat.

• Cats rub up against your leg to make you smell like a cat. The more you smell like them the more they like being around you. Also, they are letting other cats know that you are their own special friend. They are depositing their scent, or marking their territory, on you. A cat will rub its head or the side of its chin against you, the furniture, or any object. Cats have glands on their forehead, mouth and chin that produce pheromones and they transfer these onto objects.

• Cats sometimes make mad dashes around the house. This is because they have pent-up energy that needs to be released. Instincts also make them want to hunt and run.

• Can you train a cat to do tricks? Cats are not like dogs, but they can understand many human words and commands. Many common tricks that cats can learn are retrieving a ball, ring the doorbell, or turn on a tap.

• Are cats smart? In the animal kingdom, the cat's IQ is surpassed only by monkeys and chimps. Cats think and adapt to changing circumstances and learn by observation, imitation, and trial and error. Interestingly, cats seem to learn more quickly from their own mothers than from examples set by unrelated cats, but imitate humans. They have been shown to exhibit greater problem solving abilities than dogs.

• Why do cats wag their tails from side to side? The tail moving from side to side in a gentle manner means contentment. If the cat is sitting quietly, she might be focused on something. Fast, whipping back and forth could be anger or annoyance. Tail wagging in between these descriptions could mean he or she's feeling indecisive.

• Why do cats love boxes so much? When cats explore, one thing they are looking for is a potential hiding space. The experience of jumping and sliding into a box resonates with their instinct to find protected spaces out in the wild where they are able to see their environment without being seen.

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