Here's an interesting list of cat facts I came across. The most popular names for female cats in the U.S. are Missy, Misty, Muffin, Patches, Fluffy, Tabitha, Tigger, Pumpkin and Samantha. People who own pets live longer, have less stress, and have fewer heart attacks.21% of dogs and 7% of cats snore. A cat uses its whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through. The average house cat spends approximately 10,950 hours purring in a lifetime. A cat can live twenty or more years. The average age for an indoor cat is 15 years, while the average age for an outdoor cat is only 3 to 5 years. The oldest cat on record was Puss, from England, who died in 1939 just one day after her 36th birthday. (We wish we could have them all that long!) Most cats have no eyelashes. Cat's fur easily becomes charged with electricity and sparks can be seen if their fur is rubbed in the dark. Cats purr at 26 cycles per second, the same as an idling diesel engine. A cat cannot see directly under its nose. If your cat is near you, and her tail is quivering, this is the greatest expression of love your cat can give you. If her tail starts thrashing, her mood has changed --- Time to distance yourself from her. A cat keeps purring, no matter if it is inhaling or exhaling. Cats have five toes on each front paw, but only four toes on each back paw. A cat's arching back is part of a complex body language system. The cat was domesticated over 4,000 years ago. All cats are members of the family Felidae. A house cat spends 70% of its time sleeping. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear. There is no single cat called the panther. The name is commonly applied to the leopard, puma and the jaguar. Cats have true fur, in that they have both an undercoat and an outer coat. The cat was the symbol of liberty in ancient Rome. Read more: http://weirdfacts.com/animal-facts/2501-cat-facts.html#ixzz2JbpU9h4X
I also heard that any cat that has Ginger or orange fur and is tri-colour, like my little Pussington, has to be a female cat!
Wow. That's a drastic difference actually. :S I'm assuming that the number is so low for outdoor cats because of accidents and starvation, etc, as opposed to being their possible longevity in general. I'm sure the average is greatly decreased by all the kittens who end up dying early on, too.
These are really great, I didn't know a lot of these. Thank you for sharing! Dusty's whiskers must be broken! Or maybe he just doesn't care if he can fit. My mom had an indoor/outdoor cat for 20 years, she was the best. DUSTY DOES THIS! Awwwwwwww, and so does Sassy. They're such good, loving babies! So this is what Sassy is up to! She was kneading like crazy on the chair arm beside my sister today.
Aw, cute! I love these cat facts. I didn't know about their limited sight under their nose. No wonder I had a kitty who would always go cross eyed when I would touch his little nose. He hated it and would get super dizzy. He also probably had a vision problem.
Wow, my outdoor cat has defied the odds! She's been around at my parent's house (where I'm visiting now) for a good 8 years and is going strong. I'm glad of it. Also, my name is a popular cat name?! That's neat and funny to me.
I think there's a difference between cats who are owned (like your parents') and who likely feed the cats, etc.....and stray cats who simply live outdoors. I think that strays don't have nearly as high of odds of surviving over time.
Well, here's the thing. Our outside cat was a stray. Her mother was a stray who used to hang around the neighborhood (I use neighborhood loosely, I lived in the middle of nowhere), but no one fed her. She was the only smart kitten who decided, "hey, these people have a garage and an outside dog. Let's shelter in the shed and steal the dog food". It was years before my parents started feeding her anything for herself. It took until after I got inside cats and was bringing cat food into the house before they bothered. She got her own bowl only after my cats and I moved out of the house. They gave her Dorian's old bowl. She survived the first few years all on her own, it's just recently that she's been pampered.
