Facts:
Senses
A cat smells with over 200 million olfactory mucosa cells (twice as many as humans but not as many as dogs). A cat does not just smell with his nose. His “Jacobson’s Organ,” located in the upper surface of the mouth, provides additional olfactory information.
A cat’s ears have 40,000 nerve fibers (the human ear has 30,000) and can distinguish between sound sources 3 inches apart from up to 7 feet away or those from 1 inch apart from up to 70 feet away. Kittens hear twice as well as adult cats.
A cat’s night vision, thanks to their pupil and a reflective layer in the back of their eyes, is fifty percent better than a human’s. However, they have one-sixth the number of cones (the color sensitive cells in the eye), so they can only see some blue and green and are not sensitive at all to the red spectrum. A cat’s eyes are also especially sensitive to movement, activating a “predator behavior” especially keen in the cat’s brain.
Cats can taste salt, sour, and bitter, but not sweet. It is possible that certain amino acids give a cat the same pleasurable sensation we associate with sweet.
Their whiskers are more important than their eyes or ears, sensing changes in air movement, helping them navigate through the dark. Even blind cats can make their way around obstacles thanks to the sensitivity of their whiskers. Also, when trying to get through a small opening they use their whiskers to judge the size.
Cats have a homing ability that uses a biological clock, the angle of the sun, and the Earth’s magnetic field. They can almost always find somewhere they have been before.
Sleep and Dreaming
Cats sleep for about 2/3 of their lives; young cats typically sleep around 16 hours a day, and older cats may sleep up to 20! Cats originally used the majority of their energy during shorter bouts of hunting for food, so they needed their sleep to conserve energy and recharge.
Cats experience both rem and non-rem sleep. According to research cats experience the same two types of sleep. You can tell when your cat is deep in rem sleep because their eyes and ears may start twitching.
Weather affects cats’ sleeping habits - cats love to nap on wet and dreary days.
Cats are capable of partially sleep. They fall asleep enough to get rested, but a cat’s senses are “always on,” even when asleep. Snoozing on your lap, with their consciousness buried deep in the Land of Dreams, they can hear rats scampering in the walls, smell food cooking in the kitchen, and sense vibrations in the air from a dog walking by, and still be able to flee in a moment. In contrast, even when cats are awake, they are never far away from sleep.
Cat dream about 30-40% of the time they are sleeping! Kittens begin dreaming before they are old enough to open their eyes.
Hunting and Food
The parts of a cat’s brain that control hunger is separate from the parts of the brain that control the hunting instinct. Therefore, a cat’s desire to hunt can be triggered independent of its desire for food. The hunting instinct also has a connection to the pleasure centers in a cat’s brain. In other words, cats hunt because it makes them feel good, not because their hungry.
While hunting the cat is nearly silent; the tuffs of hair between its paws muffle most of its sound. Because cats are long-sighted, they rely on their whiskers rather than their eyes to sense prey close-up. When stalking mice, a cat catches its prey nearly 75% of the time. When stalking birds, only 10%.
Cats are true carnivores; one of the few species on Earth that can survive solely on meat. However, a typical meal of dry or wet cat food is the approximate equivalent of five mice. A cat’s must have fat in his diet because he can’t produce it on his own and he’ll die without it. Unfortunately, this specialized digestive system means they can’t detoxify certain chemicals, making creosote, paracetamol, and organophosphates deadly poisons in their bodies. Chocolate is also poisonous to cats as well as Tylenol, English ivy, iris, mistletoe, philodendrons, and yew.
Physicality and Coordination
A cat’s cerebellum, the part of the brain controlling physical coordination, is proportionally larger than in most other mammals. Cats jump far enough above their target to gain a hold with their back claws, then fall forward and balance on their front legs. An average housecat can jump seven times his own height.
Because a cat lacks a true collarbone, they can generally squeeze their body through any space they can get their head into.
A cat’s tail, which has more bones than the human spine, helps for balance. While cats may be fast, they aren’t built for speed. A cat’s anatomy is built for quick jumps and short runs. After a few moments, they burn out their batteries and must stop to recharge.
Does a cat always land on his feet? Well, not always, but they have a pretty good chance of making it nearly every time. Within milliseconds of the beginning of a fall, a cat’s biology is in action. An automatic sequence of responses begins with the eyes sending information to the brain and the vestibular system takes over. The cat first turns its head so it is upright. Then, the front half of its body flips 180 degrees. Nerves in the spine turn the rest of the body. It is not so amazing that the cat turns so quickly to put its feet under its body. What is amazing is that it never turns too far, but always turns precisely the necessary distance to get its feet under it.
Paws
A cat’s paws are also versatile tools. They are padded for silent movement, have hooks for climbing, and talons for clawing and fighting. They even act as sponges for cleaning. A cat’s paws are also part of their sensory system, capable of detecting the smallest vibrations in the Earth. A cat can feel the vibrations from a mouse moving its tiny feet across the floor from up to sixty feet away. Also, cats walk on tippy-toe. The back legs are used for jumping and power pushes, the front legs for catching prey.
Skin
A cat’s skin is thinner than most mammals, but it is also more flexible. It also contains sebaceous glands which secret sebum, an oily substance that waterproofs the cat’s fur and makes it shine. Apocrine sweat glands secrete a fluid that lets other cats know when they are “in the mood for love.”
A cat’s skin contains 130,000 hairs per square inch. They have two kinds of hairs: over fur and under fur. Over fur is coarse and protects the underfur which is finer and grows in clusters, providing a cat with insulation.
There are different kinds of under fur, all of which have their own functions. But not all cats have the same kind of fur. There are dozens of different hair types, making each cat breed unique. Finally, a cat’s hairs are part of a complicated sensory system including its paws, whiskers, eyes, and ears. Hairs, penetrating three times deeper into the skin than human hairs, can sense particle changes in air density.
Scent
Like dogs, cats mark their territory with scent, but they do so in a very social way. When a cat rubs against you, they are not only passing their scent on to you, but also getting your scent on him.
Cats create a complicated “family scent” that includes all members of his family (including the dog). Thus, when he goes out on the town, he carries your scent along with him, to show others he belongs to a family. When a stranger comes into the house, a cat smells him out to determine if he wants the stranger’s scent to become part of the family scent. It may take a while for the cat to accept a new scent into the family, but when he does, expect him to get snuggly.
It is also the reason cats claw furniture: a cat’s claws carry a lot of their scent. So, when a cat claws the furniture, they are marking it as part of the family. Self-cleaning is also a way of spreading his scent. Cat’s saliva is rich with scent, and by constantly cleaning themselves they are spreading that scent over their fur.
When a cat picks a fight, they scratch in front of another cat, drawing a line in the sand saying, “This ground belongs to me. Cross it if you dare.” Finally, a cat’s scent communicates how old the cat is, their sexual status, and what mood they were in when they made the mark.
Communication
When cats communicate with each other, they do so with a silent body language that involves dozens of different signals. The position of the body, ears, tail, and whiskers all go into this elaborate communication process.
Cats seldom, if ever, communicate verbally to other cats and only in times of great emotion. It is believed that cats communicate verbally to humans because they perceive us as parents, or caregivers. Kittens communicate verbally to their mother, and thus, if cats do indeed perceive us as caregivers, they may feel the need to communicate to us verbally.
Folklore:
The word “cat” never appears once in the Bible. Cats are native to the region where the Bible stories take place, but there is no mention of them at all.
Freya, the Norse goddess, owned a chariot pulled by cats (sometimes grey, sometimes black, and varying in number). After serving the goddess for seven years, the cats were rewarded by being turned into witches, disguised as black cats.
Cats were also sacred to Bast, the Egyptian goddess, daughter of Isis and Osiris. The cats in her temple in the city of Bubastis wore heavily jeweled collars and were regarded as gods. Anyone who killed a cat in that city was put to death.
Cats were believed to control the moon’s movement, protect the dead, and have total authority over the royal houses at night because of their ability to see things in the dark that humans could not. Cats were so loved by the Egyptians they sometimes mummified a mouse to accompany the cat into the afterworld. During excavations in the ruins of Tell-Basta (the former Bubastis), archaeologists discovered a graveyard with 300,000 mummified cats.
Egyptians also believed in a creature called “The Great Cat” who accompanied Ra on his nightly voyage around the world, protecting him in Apep — the World of the Dead — while he was weak. Every night an evil serpent named Seth tried to devour the boat, and every night the Great Cat sliced off the serpent’s head, allowing Ra’s magic boat to continue its way around the world.
Egyptians kept cats in their houses as protectors as well, keeping them safe as they slept just as the Great Cat protected Ra.
Both Buddha and Mohammed have cats associated with them.
It is said at the Buddha’s funeral the cat was one of two creatures in the entire world who did not weep at the Master’s funeral (the other was the snake).
Mohammed cut the sleeve off his robe rather than disturb the cat sleeping there. It is said that the cat took the piece of cloth to her nest and kept it there. She lived to be one hundred
In the West, cats have often been associated with magic, witches, and natural phenomenon. “When kitty washes behind her ears, we’ll soon be tasting Heaven’s tears” is a common English schoolyard rhyme.
According to British folklore, if a cat sat with her back to the fireplace, you should expect a cold night.
In France, dropping a cat at a crossroads and following her would lead you to treasure, while in Germany, tortoiseshell cats were believed to see into the future and give the gift to a lucky child in the household through a scratch or a kiss.
If a cat washes your face and turns to the East, you can expect company from that direction by the end of the week.
Carry a cat bone in your right pocket, and you’ll have good luck all day long.
Wives and mothers blessed the cats with large gifts of meat and milk when they believed their husbands and fathers would be home soon.
Despite their lack of mention in the Bible, Christian folklore tells us the cat is the only creature who remembered the passage
from Eden when Adam and Eve got themselves kicked out. Therefore, a cat is the only creature who knows how to get back.
Cats and dogs have often been called “guardians of the hearth,” chiefly because ancient peoples believed spirits — both good and evil — came into the house through the fireplace. Thus, if you bring a cat into the house, you must place it by the hearth. If you do, she’ll never leave and will ensure only good spirits enter the house.
A cat’s “household magic” was very important to medieval Europe. Before you can keep a cat in your house, you have to make sure he doesn’t leave. In order to do that, carry him in through a window, not the front door. This ensures the cat will never leave the house.
If you place a cat in the crib of a newborn child, she’ll protect that child ‘till the day she dies. A common belief among the Pennsylvania Dutch tells that placing a cat in a baby’s crib will make his dreams come true.
Masons put living cats in the foundation of a building to ensure good luck to the inhabitants. Driving away a cat who comes into your house voluntarily is bad luck, and finally, a visitor to the household should always kiss the cat to ensure good luck on his journey home.
Sailors also put faith in the magical power of cats. Cats were often kept on board to bring good fortune. If a sailor was approached by the ship’s cat it meant good luck, but if the cat only came halfway it meant he would never see home again. A loudly mewing cat means a difficult voyage while a playful cat foretells a voyage with gusty winds. If a cat runs to the pier ahead of a sailor on his way to the voyage it brings him good luck, but if the cat crosses his path it means bad luck.
In America, schoolgirls have been known to use cat hairs to determine whether or not to accept a marriage proposal. Take three hairs from a cat’s tail and fold them in a paper. Place the paper under your doorstep (pillow, windowsill, etc.). Next morning, carefully unfold the paper to see if the three hairs formed themselves into a Y or N and reply to the suitor accordingly.
While sneezing has always been a sign of witchcraft (if you sneeze three times, it’s because you’re trying to “sneeze the witch out”), a cat’s sneeze is also indicative of good or bad luck. Also, if a cat sneezes three times in a row, it means you’ll catch a cold.
Some Greek alchemists believed cats held the secret to the Philosopher’s Stone. The cat’s whiskers make an “X,” the first letter in the Greek words for “crucible,” “gold” and “time.” These words are also known as The Three Secrets. A cat has nine lives (3 x 3) and these Three Secrets multiplied create the Grand Design, also known as the Philosopher’s Stone (the material that changes base metals into gold).
In addition to storms and witchcraft, cats have also been associated with death. In ancient Egypt, cats were considered the guardians of the dead, but that reputation was not isolated to Egypt. Early Christians believed if a cat sat on a grave the buried person’s soul was in the devil’s power. In sixteenth century Italy the same incident caused the corpse to rise again as a vampire. In America, Scottish immigrants brought with them the notion that if a cat entered a room where a dead body was lying in state, the next person to touch the cat would be blinded.
In Japan, cats are believed to be some of the most advanced souls in Creation. The Buddhists believe cats turn into super souls when they die, for the body of a cat is only a resting place of a highly spiritual soul. Children in Buddhist families have been known to say, ‘When I grow up, I want to be a cat!’”
If people have looked to cats for wisdom, they have also treated them with abject cruelty.
In Europe it was believed a cat’s tail contains a worm, and if you don’t cut off the tail, the cat will die in fits. Also, if you tie paper around all four paws, the cat will dance herself to death, and it has been said you don’t speak secrets in front of a cat because she’ll carry them down to the devil.
It was Pope Gregory XI who first declared cats in league with the Devil in the Vox in Rama Papal Bull, causing a vast massacre of feline life in Europe.
Ambrose Paré the sixteenth century physician, often regarded as “the father of modern surgery,” said the cat was “a venomous animal which infects through its hair, its breath, and its brains” and encouraged mass killings of the creature.
However, Charles I, king of England, owned a lucky black cat he was terrified of losing. He even assigned guards to watch over it. As it happened, the day after the cat died he was arrested and beheaded.
Abraham Lincoln owned four cats. Napoleon had a near pathological fear of them and never let one near his person or in his sight.
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