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| Tortiseshell Maine Coon kitten |
As I've probably mentioned, I have five
cats. Some people think that they're stupid and dull, but they are
really anything but. Since I love both cats and random facts, here
are some random facts about cats.
Unlike dogs, cats cannot taste sweet
things.
Also unlike dogs, you don't have to
'house-train' a cat because they essentially house-train themselves.
Their instinct is to use sand, so all you have to do is give them a
litter box and the mother will 'train' her own kittens.
The largest domestic breed of cat is
the Maine Coon, who can weigh up to 25 pounds. The smallest is the
Singapura, who can weigh only 4-6 pounds.
The stories about cats being worshipped
in ancient Egypt are true. They were often mummified along with their
owners, with embalmed mice given as food 'for the next world'.
Cats sleep up to 16-18 hours a day.
Cats hunt by mimicking the calls of its
prey. If your cat makes a 'chirping' noise while looking out the
window, she's probably craving that bird on the deck.
Declawing your cat is not simply
cutting their nails. Instead being made of dead tissue that grows
back the way human nails do, the claws are extensions of their
fingers. For a human, this would be like amputating the fingers after
the last knuckle. It's one thing to remove a cat's claws because
they're diseased or cause other problems; for instance, my friends
had to declaw their cat on the back feet because he had a gaping
wound on his neck that couldn't heal because of his scratching.
However, many people will have a cat declawed because they don't like
the way she's scratching things.
Instead of declawing a cat because
she's wrecking your furniture, file the claws or use 'claw caps' that
are glued onto the tips to make the claws too blunt to do any damage.
Use deterrent sprays on the furniture and give them other things to
scratch on.
Cats with calico and tortiseshell
('torties') coats are nearly always female. The patterns are
sex-linked traits, which means that it's very rare to find a male
calico and, if you do, he's sterile.
Cats use a different vocal 'signal' for
humans than they do for each other.
Abraham Lincoln loved cats. In
contrast, Adolph Hitler hated them and Napoleon was afraid of them.
Grown cats can no longer digest milk
because their bodies stop making lactase, which is the enzyme used to
digest a mother's milk.
Cats actually can be
manipulative. Having over 100 different sounds in their repertoire,
they know which ones humans respond to and alter their 'speech'
accordingly, usually to get food or attention.
Cats generally have five 'toes' on
their front paws, but only four on the back. Polydactyly, or the
presence of extra digits, is very common.
Neutering a male cat can extend his
life by two or three years.
Cats can get almost any disease humans
can. The cat we had growing up had Parkinson's Disease.
Cats do not have sweat glands all over
their bodies. Aside from grooming, licking itself helps a cat stay
cool because the evaporation of the moisture on its fur causes a
'cooling' effect.
On the same tip as above, cats can have
allergies. My Russian Blue is allergic to rice, dairy, soy and egg,
as well as grasses and pollen.
Cats have 'dominant' sides just like
humans do. Female cats tend to be 'right-pawed' while males are more
often 'left-pawed'.
For more cute kitty facts, visit
http://facts.randomhistory.com/interesting-facts-about-cats.html.
Meow!
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