Interesting facts about cats - answers to your cat trivia questions
Why and how does a cat do what it does? We present some interesting facts about cats ...
Facts, facts, facts ... the questions kids ask!
A while back, a friend and her son came to visit. The little boy (at that age when kids are interested in everything) is clearly a cat-lover and probably destined to be a scientist, too.
He soon made good friends with my Siamese. And then wanted to know all about him.
How old was he?
What did he eat?
Where did he sleep?
Where were his toys?
Did he play games?
These soon led on to more general cat questions, and then to his wanting to know all sorts of other facts about cats.
Puzzling cat questions - why do they do that?
During the day, we covered lots of fascinating facts and trivia, most of them inspired by these puzzling thoughts:
Why do cats purr? We all think they purr when they're happy, but could there be other reasons?
How does a cat purr? A cat's purr seems to come from its throat – but does it really?
Do cats dream? They twitch and seem to chase things in their sleep. Could they be dreaming?
How long do cats live? A very good question, but it depends on many different things - nutrition, care, indoor or outdoor ...
(If you'd like to work out how old your cat is, in human terms, why not try using our cat age chart?)
Why do cats eat grass? Grass may not seem like an ideal snack, but many of our feline friends eat it. Why?
Sam asked plenty of other cat questions, too. We'll come back to those facts for another time. For the moment, though, here are ...
Ten other cat facts you might not know
Felines have been associated with humans for almost 10,000 years. A 9500-year-old Neolithic grave found in Cyprus contained the skeletons of both a human and a cat.
The oldest cat recorded by the Guinness Book of Records was Creme Puff, who lived to the ripe old age of 38. Creme Puff belonged to Jake Perry, and died in 2005. Cats typically live for 15-20 years.
The largest species of domestic cat is the Maine Coon, weighing up to 11 kilos (25 lb). The average weight for a cat is 4-5 kilos (8-11 lb).
They are known to hunt over 1000 different species for food.
Ginger cats are three times more likely to be male than female.
Tortoiseshells are usually female.
White cats with blue eyes are very likely to be deaf (but not always!)
All members of the species must eat meat, as they need taurine, a protein found in meat, to stop them from going blind.
Contrary to popular opinion, it's best not to offer cats milk, as it can give them diarrhea. This is because some of them (and particularly Siamese and other orientals) lack the enzyme to digest lactose, a sugar found in milk.
Sir Isaac Newton (when he wasn't busy discovering gravity) is thought to have invented the cat flap.
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More interesting facts can be found on these pages:
