20 Little Known Facts about Cats

How well do you know your Cat?

I personally am not a cat owner, but I know a lot of my readers probably are.  So I thought it would be neat to post some interesting facts about cats to test your cat knowledge.

 20 Little Known Facts about Cats

1. Cats have only been domesticated half as long as dogs have.
2. A cat will lose just as much body fluid while grooming as it will from urination.
3. The first domesticated cat arrived in America on the Mayflower.
4. America’s only native pure-bred cat is the Maine coon cat.
5. Female cats are what’s called superfecund.  This means each kitten in a litter may have a different father.
6. For the cats that will only eat dog food.  This can cause them to go blind because dog food lacks the essential cat nutrient taurine.
7. A cat purrs at the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.
8. Most pure white, blue-eyed cats are deaf.
9. In 1930 the average life expectancy of a cat was 8 years.  It has now reached 16 years.
10. Only 20% of cats actually get “high” from catnip, because the required gene is lacking.
11. 30% of a cats lifetime is spent grooming, while 65% is spent sleeping.
12. The record for the largest litter of kittens is held by an English cat – 19 kittens, 15 of which survived, this was in 1970.
13. There was a cat in Texas that had given birth to around 420 kittens during her lifetime.
14. Texas is also the home to the longest living cat, Creme Puff, who lived to the ripe age of 38.
15. Cats are successful in catching mice in merely one third of their attempts.
16. Aspirin and antifreeze are fatal for cats, garlic and onions are also considered bad.
17. Why are cats more attracted to women than men.  Because the women have higher pitched voices.
18. People may think they are allergic to cat hair or dander, but it is actuall sebum they are allergic to.  It is a fatty substance secreted by the cat’s sebaceous glands. So the allergy may be present to one cat, but not another.
19. There are currently more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild.
20. In the United States alone, there are around 7 thousand “pet” large breed cats, such as tigers.