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If you think you’re a cat expert, think again, because there’s always something new to learn about our feline friends. After doing some digging, we found several cat facts that you might find surprising. Now without further ado, here are 25 surprising cat facts you probably didn’t know.
25 Surprising Cat Facts
1. Cats Can’t Taste Sweetness
Although it’s hard for us humans to imagine, cats can’t taste sweetness. In fact, cats are the only known mammals that lack the sweet gene. If your cat is caught sneaking licks of your ice cream, it’s actually the fat they taste and enjoy, not the sugar.
2. Cats Have a Faster Heart Rate
The normal resting heart rate for a human is 60-100 beats per minute. On the other hand, a cat’s resting heart rate is between 120-160 beats per minute. This means that cats have a heart rate that is twice or nearly twice as fast as humans!
3. Cats And Humans Are Genetically Similar
It turns out that you and Fluffy are more alike than you think. Cats have 90.2% of their DNA in common with humans! Genetically speaking, cats are closer to humans than dogs, who have around 84% of their DNA in common with us. So, if you say that you’re a cat at heart, you’re not far off.
4. Cats Sweat Through Their Paws
Yes, cats do sweat! According to PetMD, a cat’s sweat glands are in a few select areas including “the paws, lips, chin and on the skin that surrounds the anus.” However, they mainly sweat through their paws. If you pay close attention, you might find little damp paw prints on a hot summer’s day.
5. Cats Have Unique Nose Prints
If you look closely at your cat’s nose, you’ll see a pattern of tiny bumps and ridges. Believe it or not, these patterns are exclusive to each cat, which means that no two cats have the same nose print, just as no two humans have the same finger prints. Maybe in the future there will be some sort of nose identification system. But my guess is that there’s no rush for that technology since microchips are already so popular.
6. Cats Have Free-Floating Collarbones
Some sites claim that cat’s don’t have collar bones, but that’s not true. Cats do have collar bones, but unlike humans, they aren’t attached to any other bones. These free-floating collar bones allows a cat to fit through any space where they can fit their head.
7. Most Cats Are Lactose Intolerant
Contrary to popular belief, you should not give milk to your cat because their bodies are not equipped to handle it. Most cats are actually lactose intolerant, meaning they have trouble digesting the lactose in milk. While it might be tempting to share with Fluffy, milk can cause an upset stomach or diarrhea. That’s why it’s best to keep your cat on a lactose-free diet.
8. Cats Can Drink Saltwater
While drinking saltwater can be deadly to humans, cats are a different story. A cat’s kidney’s can filter out salt from water, which means they can tolerate low amounts of saltwater. But just because they can doesn’t mean they should, which is why it’s important to have plenty of freshwater available for your cat.
9. Cats Have Paw Preferences
Just as humans are right-handed or left-handed, cats can also have paw preferences. A study found that overall, “39% of cats were right-pawed, 36% were left-pawed, and 25% had no preference.” In addition, subset studies found that female cats are more likely to be right-pawed while male cats are more likely to be left-pawed.
10. Cats Meow for Humans
While kittens meow at momma cat when they’re cold or hungry, they stop meowing at others cats as adults. But as you’ve probably noticed, cats do continue to meow at humans. The reason is simple! Cats are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. They quickly learn that “cat language” doesn’t work to communicate with humans, but meowing does.
11. Vermont Loves Cats
Every so many years, the American Veterinary Medical Association releases a report of pet ownership demographics in the United States. Their most recent sourcebook revealed that Vermont has the highest percentage of cat owners, at 45%! Apparently Vermonters love more than just Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.
12. Cats Are Impressive Jumpers
Newbie cat owners are frequently amazed at how high cats can jump. But how high is “the norm?” Well, an average-sized healthy, adult cat can jump. To put it into perspective, that’s about 4-5 feet. Not bad, Fluffy!
13. Cats Have Excellent Hearing
While cats and humans have the same lower hearing levels, cats have us beat in upper limits. Cats can hear sounds produced four to five times farther away than humans. More specifically, humans can hear frequencies of up to 20,000 Hz, with that number falling as we age. Cats, on the other hand, can hear sounds up to 64,000 Hz. That’s about three times higher than humans.
14. Their Sense of Smell is Impressive
A cat’s sense of smell is about 14 times better than a human’s. Research has also found that cats have a better sense of smell than dogs. More specifically, cats are better able to discriminate between a greater variety of smells. The scent receptor protein V1R is believed to be responsible for controlling a mammal’s ability to separate scents. Humans have two variants of the V1R protein, dogs have nine, and cats have 30.
15. Cats Can Analyze Scents With Their Mouths
If you have ever seen your cat sneering with open-mouth breathing while hovering over an area, you’ve witnessed the Flehmen Response. Cats display this response while analyzing a particular scent. The scent travels to the vomeronasal organ (Jacobsen Organ) on the roof of the mouth. This organ provides more information about certain scents than the nose alone would. Who would have guessed?
16. Cats Sleep A Lot
According to PetMD, cats sleep for an average of 15 hours a day. Of course, this is simply an average because some sleep as little as 12 hours a day while others sleep as much as 20 hours. Either way, we should definitely take notes from our feline friends because they know what’s truly important in life.
17. Cats Groom A Lot
While you might feel guilty for talking a long shower, it’s nothing compared to the amount of grooming cats do. According to the Cornell Feline Health Center, cats typically spend between 30-50% of their day grooming themselves. Well hey, it’s always nice not having to worry about your roommate’s hygiene.
18. Cats Are Nearsighted
What humans can see clearly at 100 to 200 feet (30 to 60 meters) away, cats can only see clearly at 20 feet (6 meters) away. What’s also surprising is that cats can’t focus on anything less than a foot in front of them. But luckily their whiskers allow them to feel what they can’t see clearly. This explains why a cat might look confused if you put a treat right in front of them.
19. Cats Have Whiskers on Their Front Legs
If you think cats only have whiskers on their faces, think again. If you examine your feline friend, you’ll find that they also have whiskers on the back of their front legs. These are called “carpal whiskers” and help a cat determine the position of a prey and if a captured prey is still moving.
20. A Group of Cats is Called a Clowder
This is one of those cat facts for all you “word nerds” out there. A group of three or more cats is called a “clowder.” If you have a clowder, let us know in the comments.
21. Cats Can Make 100 Vocalizations
This is one of the lesser-known surprising cat facts. Believe it or not, cats can make about 100 different vocalizations. For comparison, dogs can only make about 10. I don’t know about you, but I definitely would have never guessed that one. The more you know!
22. Not All Cats Respond to Catnip
While you might think cats and catnip are like kids and candy, that’s not always the case. Catnip sensitivity is actually hereditary. It’s estimated that 30-50% of cats lack the gene that would make them sensitive to its effects, making them have no reaction.
23. Cats Dream
If you have ever seen your cat twitch their tail or whiskers in their sleep, you’ve probably caught them in dreamland. Yes, just like humans, dogs, and other animals, cats do dream! When a cat sleeps, they organize and recall the day. Cats can also have nightmares.
24. Cats Don’t Always Kill to Eat
The University of Georgia’s KittyCam project researched 60 pet cats in the Athens-Clarke County area. Researchers found that on average, cats only ate what they killed 30 perfect of the time. About 21 percent of the time, they brought their kill home and half the time they left it to rot.
25. A Litter of Kittens Can Have Multiple Fathers
This is arguably one of the most surprising cat facts! Sometimes a litter of kittens comes from multiple baby daddies, which is a phenomenon called “superfecundation.” This can happen when a female cat mates with more than one male during her fertile period, giving her eggs the possibility to be fertilized by more than one mate.
Resources
https://www.scientificamerican.com
https://www.pulaskianimalhospital.com/
https://www.hiddenhearing.co.uk/
https://www.halifaxhumanesociety.org/
Disclaimer: The Purring Journal is not in the medical field. This post is made for entertainment purposes only. Use the information presented in this article at your own risk. Always seek medical advice from licensed veterinarians.
