1. Cats can drink sea water in order to survive. Cats have crazy kidneys that filter out the salt from the water so they can re-hydrate themselves.
2. All cats are good natural hunters, even domesticated housecats. But are they too good? Free-ranging cats, domesticated cats who spend a lot of their time outside, have contributed to the extinction of 33 different species, including birds, mammals, and reptiles. They are actually listed among the top 100 most invasive species.
3. Cats do not have sweat glands, like humans. Instead, when they want to cool off they sweat through their paws. The sweat glands on cats’ paws secrete a scent that they use to mark their territory. So whenever they are walking or scratching they are actually marking that spot as their own.
4. Doesn’t lounging about for the whole day seem wonderful? If you own a cat, you know that it spends most of its time being lazy and basking in the sun. But did you know they spend a whopping 70% of their lives sleeping? That’s 16 hours a day! Cats need an enormous amount of energy to hunt, or pounce on the little toy mouse they have. Sleeping is their way of storing up energy.
5. Disneyland owns about 200 cats! While they probably love the cute creatures, their pets have another purpose. Every night, the cats are released in the park to hunt down all the little Mickeys and Minnies. The park first started employing cats in the 1950’s and now the program has grown tremendously.
6. Senior cats start to experience something like human dementia or Alzheimer’s when they reach an old age, usually around 8. The cats wander around the house a little dazed and confused, which is why they meow constantly. If your cat is displaying these symptoms, experts say it is best to comfort it and provide an extra blanket at night.
7. Cats’ whiskers grow to be as long as the cat is wide. Whiskers don’t just make cats adorable they also serve an important purpose. Cats use their long whiskers to make sure their body will be able to fit through tight openings. If the whiskers bend or move, the cat knows it won’t be able to fit.
8. Ever wonder why cats always seem to land on their feet? Well, they actually don’t violate the laws of physics; instead, they place themselves in an umbrella position, much like a skydiver to slow down the fall. Also, due to their keen sense of direction that can easily tell which side is up then adjusted their body accordingly.
9. However, it takes some time for cats’ bodies to realize they are falling and properly adjust. Cats are more likely to survive a higher fall because they have more time to prepare their body and decelerate. The death rate for cats falling from a 2 to 6-story building is much higher than falling from a 7 to 32-story building.
10. The existence of cats can be traced back to the Middle East. But a genetic study changed the way we look at cats. The study found that every single domesticated cat could be traced back to one of five African wild cats from 8000 BC! That’s one big family
11. If you take a look at your cat’s nose, you will notice it has a bunch of tiny bumps and ridges. Like a human’s fingerprint, the pattern of bumps and ridges is unique to each cat. So if your cat ever gets arrested its nose print will be in the kitty criminal records forever!
12. Your cat probably meows a lot at you, but have you ever noticed that it rarely show the same vocalization to other cats. Kittens meow at their mothers to tell them they are hungry or cold, but once the cat gets older it doesn’t meow at other cats. Cats do “yowl” at each other, usually during breeding season or if they are annoyed. But mainly, cats just meow at humans to get us to do what they want.
13. Owning a cat can reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack by nearly a third. If you’re stressed out, you may want to consider adopting a cat.
14. The technical term for “hairball” is “bezoar” and people once believed it could cure poisoning, so they saved up bezoars and sold them.
15. A cat’s brain is 90% similar to a human’s, which is much more similar to us than a dog’s brain. That’s probably why they get along so well with highly intelligent
