Interesting Facts About Cats

Ailurophila means the love of cats.

A cat's nose pad has a unique pattern, similar to a human fingerprint.

Calico cats are almost always female. Male calicos would be sterile, due to a genetic anomaly.

A single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kittens in 7 years.

Sir Isaac Newton is credited with inventing the cat door.

Cats are partially color blind.

Cats spend 16 hours per day sleeping.

Ancient Egyptians shaved their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when their cat died.

The majority of white cats with blue eyes are deaf. White cats with one blue eye may be deaf in the ear nearest that eye.

Many cats are lactose intolerant.

The heaviest cat weighed 45 lbs 10 oz.

The oldest cat lived 36 years.

Cats cannot taste sweets.

Chocolate and Tylenol (acetaminophen) are highly toxic for cats.

Color points of Siamese cats are heat related. Cooler areas such as ears, nose and legs are darker.

A cat can't see directly under her nose.

Cats have about 100 vocalization sounds.

Cats cannot taste sweets.

Cat's Age Compared with Human Years

Cat Age 6 mo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Human Age 13 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 81 85 89 93

This chart is taken from CatChow.com. There is no simple formula for comparing a cat’s age to that of a person. Cats can get pregnant at approximately 6 months of age; people can get pregnant at approximately 13 years of age. So a 6-month-old cat is roughly equivalent to a 13-year-old person. A cat’s bones stop growing at around 1 year of age; a person’s bones stop growing around 21 years of age. A 1-year-old cat is roughly equal to a 21-year-old person. After that, it’s approximately 4 years for every year.

To Mrs Reynold's Cat

Cat! Who hast past thy Grand Climacteric,
How many mice and Rats hast in thy days
Destroy'd - how many tit bits stolen? Gaze
With those bright languid segments green and prick
Those velvet ears - but pr'ythee do not stick
Thy latent talons in me - and upraise
Thy gentle mew - and tell me all thy frays
Of Fish and Mice, and Rats and tender chick.
Nay look not down, nor lick thy dainty wrists -
For all the wheezy Asthma, -and for all
Thy tail's tip is nicked off - and though the fists
Of many a maid have given thee many a maul,
Still is that fur as soft as when the lists
In youth thou enter'dst on glass- bottled wall.

John Keats 1818