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Some Interesting Feline Facts
The first cat show took place in Winchester England, in the year 1598. It took the form
of a side-show at the St Giles Fair. Prizes
were given for the best ratter and
best mouser.
Ginger
cats are mostly male, tortoiseshell cats are mostly female.
Cats sleep for an average of sixteen hours a day. This means that two thirds of its
life are spent in the land of nod.
Scientists say that the frequency a cat purrs at triggers the healing process in feline
bones. It is believed to have a similar effect to that of ultrasound on humans.
The word puss originated from the Egyptians, who called the cat pasht, which
meant the moon, because cats were nocturnal. Later this became shortened to pas, and
over the years has become puss.
Cats can jump 5 times as high as they are tall.
The African Wild Cat is accepted by most, to be the
true ancestor of the domestic cat. It was domesticated by the Egyptians, and
later taken by sea to the rest of the world.
Probably the oldest representation of a pet cat is that of a figurine showing a woman
cuddling a cat. This was found at Hacilar, a Neolithic site in Turkey. It is dated from
more than 7,000 years ago.
Cats become intensely agitated before major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and severe
electrical storms. In many cases cats have been observed desperately trying to escape from
inside buildings prior to an earthquake. Upon their escape, some females have been seen
rushing back carrying their kittens to safety. Then a short time later the disaster
happens and demolishes the buildings.
The largest litter was produced by Tarawood Antigone, a brown Burmese cat owned by
Mrs. Valerie Gane of Church Westcote, Kingham, Oxfordshire, England. It consisted of one female, fourteen males and
four stillborn. They were delivered by Caesarean
section on 7th August 1970. The mother
was four years old, and the father was half-Siamese.
Normal body temperature for a cat is 102 degrees
F.
A
domestic cat measured over approximately a quarter-mile distance can
reach a maximum speed of 30 MPH.
A cat has a poor sense of taste. We have 9,000 taste buds, while a cat has only 473. A
cats eating experience relies upon smell
just as much, if not more, than taste. Its sense
of smell is thirty Siam, was the first Siamese Cat to reach
the United States of America. The cat was a gift from the American Consul in Bangkok
to
the wife of the American President, Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1878.
In Europe in the 18th century, dead cats were placed inside the walls of new houses,
often with a rat or mouse placed inside the
mouth. This practice was supposed to protect
the house from rodent invasions.
In 1995 a tiny green kitten was discovered in a hayloft by Mrs. Pia Bischoff in
North-west Denmark. She adopted it as a pet, and
tried in-vein to wash out the green
colour. The kitten has proved to be in perfect health despite its sickly colour!
Himmy was the world's heaviest domestic cat.
He was a tabby belonging to Thomas Vyse of
Redlynch, Cairns, Queensland,
Australia. The Guinness Book of Records documents him as
weighing 46lb, 15.25 oz. He died in 1986, aged ten years.
The
smallest recorded cat is only 19 cm long. Tinker Toy is a blue point
Himalayan-Persian, and is owned by Katrina and Scott Forbes of the USA.
In 1976 a mystery cat in Hong Kong killed more than 20 dogs. According to local
people it was about 4 feet long, and black or
grey in colour. It was never caught.
Dusty of Bonham in Texas is reputed to be the most prolific female cat in the world, by
1952 Dusty had produced 420 kittens.
The record-holder for the longest fall in feline history is held by, "Andy."
Owned by Florida Senator Ken Myer in the 1970's, he
fell from the 16th floor of an
apartment building and survived.
Nedjem (meaning "Sweet" or "Pleasant") is the first cat to be given
a name. It dates from the reign of Thutmose lll (1479 BC -
1425 BC).
The oldest cat lived from 1903 to 1939, a staggering 36 years. He was a tabby cat called,
"Puss".
"Whiskey", at 33years is oldest living cat.
Although not verified by Guinness as yet his owner, Jean Stone from
Essex hopes to do so soon. Guinness
at present records the oldest living cat as Kataleena Lady, a
27-year-old Burmese born on March 11, 1977, in Australia
The cat has an image-intensifying device at the rear of the eyes (tapidum
lucidum). With this it can
utilise every scrap of light that enters its eyes.
Indoor cats live twice as long as their outdoor counterparts.
Half of all cats die in road accidents.
Cats should not be given milk as it contains fat and can cause gastric upsets,
especially in Siamese cats. If milk is
given, a dish of water should also accompany it, this will help balance the fat intake.
The first serious book on cats was written by Francois-Augustin Paradis de Moncrif
(1687-1770).
A cat named Hamlet escaped
from his cage on a flight across the Atlantic and became trapped behind
a panel in the aircraft. The cat remained there for seven weeks
undiscovered, and had traveled a staggering 600,000 miles.
Two
old English names for male cats are - ‘Gib-Cat’ and
‘Boar-Cat’
It
is said that the expression "Tom-Cat" comes from a book (The
Life and Adventures of a Cat’) written in 1760, where the hero was a
cat called Tom.
In
the 19th century, the remains of 300,000 embalmed cats were discovered
in a temple on the River Nile
A
cat's ear contains 32 muscles.
In
total, cats have 30 vertebrae, that's 5 more than we
humans.
Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or
run. The only other animals to do this are the giraffe, camel and the
and the maned wolf.
Cats
lose almost as much fluid in the saliva while grooming themselves as
they do through urination.
[ Cat Care
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Feline Facts
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Feline Statistics
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Sounds ] [
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Cat Poetry
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