Cool Cat Facts |
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| Cats have 24 whiskers above the lips, 12 on each
side. Their whiskers stretch out the same length as the widest
part of their body...this enables them to know if they can fit
through a narrow space before sticking their whole body in and
getting stuck! |
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| The cat's front paws are also sensory organs.
Their front pads are so sensitive to vibrations that they can
"hear" with their feet. Even little rodents running are enough
vibration for the cat to sense. |
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| Humans cannot tolerate heat over 111 degrees, but
a cat doesn't mind a skin temperature of up to 126 degrees
(Fahrenheit). |
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| Cats have an organ called a Jacobson's Organ (vomeronasal
organ), situated just behind and above the front teeth, which
allows them to "smell/taste" something. When a cat encounters an
interesting smell, it presses it's tongue up against the roof of
it's mouth, forcing air through the Jacobson's organ and giving
it much more information than just smelling alone. That funny
response, in which they stop and their mouth is slightly open,
is called the Flehmen reaction. |
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| A cat can jump six times its length without
seeming to exert themselves much at all! Imagine if we could
jump six times our length without causing us to even breathe
hard. |
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| Cats are far-sighted. When prey gets too close,
they rely on their other senses to capture it. |
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| Check out a cat's whiskers to know its mood: A cat
not thinking about much and feeling mellow has its whiskers
standing out on either side of its face. A threatened cat will
hold its whiskers drawn back. A nosy or inquisitive cat will
point its whiskers slightly forward in an attempt to "feel" what
is immediately ahead of it. |
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| Cats rub on us to "mark" us as their property, and
rub on other things around the house to mark their territory.
It's the equivalent of us putting our names on things that
belong to us. They have sebaceous glands that produce their
scent around their mouth, nose, eyes, the back of the neck and
shoulder area, at the base of their tails (on the back and the
underside), and also on their feet. |
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| When a cat scratches on stuff, he is not only
getting the blunt, old layer of nail to reveal new, sharper
claws, he's also marking his territory. |
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| Cats not only purr when they are contented and
pleased, they also purr when they are in pain and when they are
dying. |
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| The color genes for both all black and all white
are both dominant in cats. It is rare to see an all black cat
with no white (or brown) hairs, just as it is rare to see an all
white cat with no black hairs. All white cats with blue eyes, in
which they are albino and there are no melanocytes to color the
eye and hair, are deaf. This is because, if the melanocytes
didn't make it down to the eyes during gestation, the ear canal
will remain closed. The nerve cells in the cochlea then die and
the cat is completely deaf. In some white cats that have one
blue eye and one copper eye, the ear on the side of the blue eye
may be deaf. |
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| All red tabby cats, with very few exceptions, are
male. All tortoiseshell cats (calico without white) are, with
very few exceptions, female. If a male tortoiseshell cat is
born, it will be sterile. |
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The benefits of owning a cat: Statistically, you
are likely to
- live longer
- have lower blood pressure
- be in less danger of heart attacks
- suffer less stress and gain more tension
relief
- be emotionally stronger and not as likely
to become depressed
- be better motivated and more purposeful
- be less aggressive
- less self-centered and more supportive of
other people
- be less judgmental to others
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| Mother dogs that are nursing pups will willingly
take care of little kittens as well. |
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| Cats meow mostly for our benefit. Only mother
cats and kittens meow for each other. Adult cats do not need to
do so. |
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