• Cats lack a true collarbone. Because of this lack, cats can generally squeeze their bodies through any space they can get their heads through. You may have seen a cat testing the size of an opening by careful measurement with the head.
• Cats with white fur and skin on their ears are very prone to sunburn. Frequent sunburns can lead to skin cancer. Many white cats need surgery to remove all or part of a cancerous ear. Preventive measures include sunscreen, or better, keeping the cat indoors.

• Cats are subject to gum disease and to dental caries. They should have their teeth cleaned by the vet or the cat dentist once a year.
• Cats, especially older cats, do get cancer. Many times this disease can be treated successfully.
• Most cats have no eyelashes.
• Many cats cannot properly digest cow’s milk. Milk and milk products give them diarrhea.

Cats do not think that they are little people. They think that we are big cats. This influences their behavior in many ways.

People who are allergic to cats are actually allergic to cat saliva or to cat dander. If the resident cat is bathed regularly the allergic people tolerate it better. Studies now show that the allergen in cats is related to their scent glands. Cats have scent glands on their faces and at the base of their tails. Entire male cats generate the most scent. If this secretion from the scent glands is the allergen, allergic people should tolerate spayed female cats the best.

Though rare, cats can contract canine heart worms.

• Siamese coat color and crossed eyes may be caused by the same gene.
• The color of the points in Siamese cats is heat related. Cool areas are darker. Siamese kittens are born white because of the heat inside the mother’s uterus before birth. This heat keeps the kittens’ hair from darkening on the points.

• Cats have AB blood groups just like people.
• A form of AIDS exists in cats.

The gene in cats that causes the orange coat color is sexed linked, and is on the X sex chromosome. This gene may display orange or black. Thus, as female cat with two X chromosomes may have orange and black colors in its coat. A male, with only one X chromosome, can have only orange or black, not both. If a male cat is both orange and black it is ( besides being extremely rare ) sterile. To have both the orange and the black coat colors, the male cat must have all or part of both female X chromosomes. This unusual sex chromosome combination will render the male cat sterile.

A cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why the cat cannot seem to find tidbits on the floor.

When well treated, a cat can live twenty or more years.