From the time you wake up with a fluffy pile purring on your face to the time you go to bed with that fluffy pile purring on your face again, there are a lot of reasons to love our cats. If you want to celebrate Felis catus in all its furry glory, try sharing some of these 50 bits of cat trivia.
1. Cats spend between 30 to 50 percent of their day grooming themselves.
Are you that clean? This behavior serves several purposes: It helps cats tone down their scent so they can avoid predators, it cools them down, it promotes blood flow, and it distributes natural oils evenly around their coat, allowing them to stay warm and dry. Grooming also serves as a sign of affection between two cats, and it’s thought that saliva contains enzymes that serve as a natural antibiotic for wounds.
2. Purring doesn't always mean a cat is happy.
Cats often make the sound when they’re content, but they also purr when they’re sick, stressed, hurt, or giving birth.
3. It's possible that purring helps bone density.
Scientists don’t quite know why cats purr, but one hypothesis is that the sound frequency of purring—between 25 and 150 Hertz—"can improve bone density and promote healing," theorizes Leslie A. Lyons, an assistant professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, in an article for Scientific American. "Because cats have adapted to conserve energy via long periods of rest and sleep, it is possible that purring is a low energy mechanism that stimulates muscles and bones without a lot of energy."
4. A cat's nose has catnip receptors.
Ever wonder why catnip lulls felines into a trance? The herb contains several chemical compounds, including one called nepetalactone, which a cat detects with receptors in its nose and mouth. The compounds trigger the typical odd behaviors you associate with the wacky kitty weed, including sniffing, head shaking, head rubbing, and rolling around on the ground.
5. But most cats don't respond to catnip.
More than half of the world’s felines don’t respond to catnip. Scientists still don’t know quite why some kitties go crazy for the aromatic herb and others don’t, but they have figured out that catnip sensitivity is hereditary. If a kitten has one catnip-sensitive parent, there’s a one-in-two chance that it will also grow up to crave the plant. And if both parents react to 'nip, the odds increase to at least three in four.
6. Cats make great private detectives.
Can’t afford a private eye? A feline might be able do the job for free. In the 1960s, ambassador Henry Helb—who then lived in the Dutch Embassy in Moscow—noticed that his two Siamese kitties were arching their backs and clawing at one of the walls. Helb had a hunch that the cats heard something he couldn’t, and sure enough, he found 30 tiny microphones hidden behind the boards. Instead of busting the spies, Helb and his staff took advantage of the surveillance and griped about household repairs or packages stuck in customs while standing in front of the mics. The eavesdroppers took care of their complaints—and apart from Helb and his companions, no one was the wiser.
7. The wealthiest cat is named Blackie.
A rich British antique dealer named Ben Rea loved his cat Blackie so much that when he died in 1988, he left most of his estate—totaling nearly $13 million—to the lucky (albeit likely indifferent) feline. The money was split among three cat charities, which had been instructed to keep an eye on Rea’s beloved companion. To this day, Blackie holds the Guinness World Record for Wealthiest Cat.
8. Your cat probably hates music.
But they might like tunes written by composer David Teie, who partnered with animal scientists to make an album called Music for Cats. Released in 2015, the songs are “based on feline vocal communication and environmental sounds that pique the interest of cats,” Teie’s website states.
9. A group of kittens is a kindle.
A kindle isn’t just an e-reader—it’s also a word that’s used to describe a group of kittens born to one mama cat. Meanwhile, a group of full-grown cats is called a clowder.
10. Many historical figures loved cats.
If you adore felines, you’re in good company: Many of history’s most famous figures—including Florence Nightingale, Pope Paul II, Mark Twain, and the Brontë sisters—all owned, and loved, cats.
11. Abraham Lincoln was a huge fan of cats.
Still, the title of history’s craziest cat man might go to Abraham Lincoln. Mary Todd Lincoln was once asked if her husband had any hobbies. Her response? “Cats!” (He also liked dogs.)
12. If you love cats, you're an ailurophile.
Looking to elevate your vocabulary? Try using the word in a casual conversation. It’s a fancy word for "cat lover," and it’s derived from the Greek word for cat, ailouros, and the suffix -phile, meaning "lover." Conversely, the word ailurophobe—a combination of ailouros plus phobe—describes someone who hates cats.
13. Cats first went to space in 1963.
On October 18, 1963, French scientists used a rocket to launch the first cat into space. The feline’s name was Félicette, and she made it safely to the ground following a parachute descent. Almost definitely landing on her feet.
14. The world's oldest living cat is 31 years old.
As for the world’s oldest living cat, the title belongs to a sometimes-cranky white-and-orange kitty named Rubble, who celebrated his 31st birthday in June. The average lifespan is 12-18 years.
15. The Guinness World Records don't have an award for fattest cat.
Officials don’t want to encourage people to overfeed their pets, but in 2003, a Siamese cat named Katy was a serious contender for the unofficial record. Katy, who lived in Asbest, Russia, was given hormones to stop her mating. The treatment had an unintended side effect: It dramatically increased her appetite, and the hungry kitty ballooned to 50 pounds.
16. Cats might be marking you as territory when they massage you.
Sounds right. Experts haven’t figured out why cats like to knead, but they’ve come up with several possible explanations, one being that your kitty is trying to mark their "territory" (that’s you!) with the scent glands in their paws. And since kittens knead their mama’s belly to stimulate milk production, there’s also a chance that they carry this behavior into adulthood—a phenomenon known as a "neotenic behavior."
17. There's a cat painting worth close to $1 million.
In 2015, a 6-by-8.5-foot oil painting billed as the "world’s largest cat painting" sold at auction for more than $820,000. It’s called My Wife's Lovers, and it once belonged to a wealthy philanthropist named Kate Birdsall Johnson. She loved felines so much that she owned dozens (some even say hundreds) of kitties, and commissioned a painter to capture her Turkish Angoras and Persians in their natural element. Since Johnson’s husband called the clowder "my wife’s lovers," the nickname was selected as the artwork’s title.
18. Cats don't always land on their feet.
Contrary to popular belief, cats don’t always land on their feet when they fall. But more often than not, all four paws end up touching the ground. Cats have a fantastic sense of balance, so they’re able to tell “up” from down and adjust their bodies accordingly. If they sense they’re plummeting downwards, they twist their flexible backbones mid-air, allowing them to right themselves so they don’t fall splat on their backs. Additionally, cats can spread their legs out to “parachute” through the air, and they’re small, light-boned, and covered in thick fur—meaning their fall isn’t going to be as hard as, say, a dog’s.
19. America's favorite breed is the Exotic.
In 2018, America’s most popular cat breed was the Exotic—a flat-faced kitty that’s essentially a short-haired version of a Persian cat. The second most beloved breed was the Ragdoll, and the British Shorthair ranked at No. 3.
20. T.S. Eliot thought cats were more poetic than dogs.
The musical Cats is based on a collection of T.S. Eliot poems called Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Published in 1939, it follows the whimsical antics of a group of felines—but the manuscript was originally intended to feature dogs, too. In the end, though, Eliot determined that "dogs don’t seem to lend themselves to verse quite so well, collectively, as cats."
21. Your cat might be allergic to you.
Usually we think it's the other way around, but even if you’re not allergic to cats, your cat might be allergic to you. One in 200 cats are believed to have asthma—and this number continues to rise among indoor kitties as they're more frequently exposed to cigarette smoke, dust, human dandruff, and pollen.
22. Japan has a cat who manages a train station.
A train station in Southeastern Japan is presided over by an adorable "stationmaster": a 7-year-old calico cat named Nitama. The Kishi train station near Wakayama City hired Nitama in 2015, just a few months after its prior feline mascot, Tama, died from acute heart failure at the age of 16.
23. Cheetahs aren't the only cats that are fast.
Greyhound dogs are the ones with a bus line named after them, and cheetahs get the prestige, but house cats are pretty speedy, too: The average running feline can clock around 30 mph. That's enough to get a ticket in a school zone.
24. Yes, ancient Egyptians loved cats.
The ancient Egyptians revered cats, and even worshiped a half-feline goddess named Bastet. People who harmed or killed cats faced harsh legal sentences, including the death penalty.
25. No one knows why black cats are considered to be bad luck in some cultures.
This myth has persisted across Western civilization for centuries.
to be continued …