Thursday Thirteen #4

For this week, we thought we thought we'd tell you thirteen facts about cats that we learned. Here goes:

1. The nose pad of a cat is ridged in a pattern that is unique, just like the fingerprint of a human.
[Oh man. This is too cool!]

2. There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, with 33 different breeds.
[That's a lot of kitties!]

3. A cat's heart beats twice as fast as a human heart, at 110 to 140 beats per minute.
[Mommy lays her ear on our bellies to try and listen sometimes.]

4. Cats wag their tails when it is in a stage of conflict. The cat wants to do two things at once, but each impulse blocks the other. For example: If your cat is in the doorway wanting to go outside, and you open the door to find it raining, the cat's tail will wag because of internal conflict. The cat wants to go outside, but doesn't want to go into the rain. Once the cat makes a decision and either returns to the house or leaves into the rain, the tail will immediately stop wagging.
[Very interesting! We didn't even know why we did that...]

5. There are three body types for a cat. Cobby type is a compact body, deep chest, short legs and broad head. The eyes are large and round. Muscular type is a sturdy body and round, full-cheeked head. Foreign type is a slender body, with long legs and a long tail. The head is wedge-shaped, with tall ears and slanting eyes.
[We're both muscular we think!]

6. More than 35,000 kittens are born in the U.S. each year. Spay or neuter your cat.
[Yup. Been there. Done that.]

7. A cat will almost never "meow" at another cat. This sound is reserved for humans.
[Now, who knew that one?]

8. The average age for an indoor cat is 15 years, while the average age for an outdoor cat is only 3 to 5 years.
[Ah ha! that must be why mommy and daddy won't let us go outside.]

9. The oldest cat on record was Puss, from England, who died in 1939 just one day after her 36th birthday.
[Man, that is one old poose! We hope we can live to be that old!]

10. The behaviors shown by most house cats have a parallel in the wild.
[Yes, we demonstrate these daily. Ollie frequently lays around looking bored like those big cats do in the jungle. And, Mr. Chen demonstrates the hunt daily.]

11. A cat will kill it's prey based on movement, but may not necessarily recognize that prey as food. Realizing that prey is food is a learned behavior.
[But, what explains why prey killed when moving gets dropped into the food bowl??]

12. Cats are the sleepiest of all mammals. They spend 16 hours of each day sleeping. With that in mind, a seven year old cat has only been awake for two years of its life!
[Zzzzzz... That explains why we have so many lives. 'Cuz we spend so many of them sleeping!]

13. Egyptians shaved their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when they lost a beloved cat.
[Now, that's what we call a tribute.]

Bonus Fact - Cats knead with their paws when they're happy.
[Well heck we all knew this one... We sure wouldn't be baking biscuits if we were upset.]

Taken from Amazing Cat Facts.