• The catgut formerly used as strings in tennis rackets and musical instruments does not come from cats. Catgut actually comes from sheep, hogs, and horses.
• A large majority of white cats with blue eyes are deaf. White cats with only one blue eye are deaf only in the ear closest to the blue eye. White cats with orange eyes do not have this disability.
• Neutering a cat extends its life span by two or three years.
• Ten human years translate to about 60 cat years. A one year old cat is similar in age to an 18 year old human.

• Besides smelling with their nose, cats can smell with an additional organ called the Jacobson’s organ, located in the upper surface of the mouth.
• Cats can’t taste sweets.
• The chlorine in fresh tap water irritates sensitive parts of the cat’s nose. Let tap water sit for 24 hours before giving it to a cat.
• The average cat food meal is the equivalent to about five mice.

• Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day. When cats are asleep, they are still alert to incoming stimuli. If you poke the tail of a sleeping cat, it will respond accordingly.
• In Great Britain, black cats are thought to bring good luck.

• Like birds, cats have a homing ability that uses its biological clock, the angle of the sun, and the Earth’s magnetic field. A cat taken far from its home can return to it. But if a cat’s owners move far from its home, the cat can’t find them.
• Hunting is not instinctive for cats. Kittens born to non-hunting mothers may never learn to hunt.
• Cats bury their feces to cover their trails from predators.
• Mother cats teach their kittens to use the litter box.
• Among other tasks, cats can be taught to use a toilet, come, sit, beg, eat with their paws, heel, jump through a hoop, play a piano, play dead, roll over, open a door, hide food in boxes, shake, and fetch.

• The first cat show was in 1871 at the Crystal Palace in London.
• Today there are about 100 distinct breeds of the domestic cat.
• Genetic mutation created the domestic cat which is tame from birth.

• The ancestor of all domestic cats is the African Wild Cat which still exists today.
• In ancient Egypt, killing a cat was a crime punishable by death.
• In ancient Egypt, mummies were made of cats, and embalmed mice were placed with them in their tombs. In one ancient city, over 300,000 cat mummies were found.

Tylenol and chocolate are both poisonous to cats.

A cat is pregnant for about 58-65 days. This is roughly two months.

• Cats have a full inner-eyelid, or nictitating membrane. This inner-eyelid serves to help protect the eyes from dryness and damage. When the cat is ill, the inner-eyelid will frequently close partially, making it visible to the observer.
• You can tell a cat’s mood by looking into its eyes. A frightened or excited cat will have large, round pupils. An angry cat will have narrow pupils. The pupil size is related as much to the cat’s emotions as to the degree of light.

• 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.