20 Interesting facts about cats

1. Every year, nearly four million cats are eaten in Asia

2. On average, cats spend 2/3 of every day sleeping. That means a nine-year-old cat has been awake for only three years of its life.

3. Unlike dogs, cats do not have a sweet tooth. Scientists believe this is due to a mutation in a key taste receptor.

4. When a cat chases its prey, it keeps its head level. Dogs and humans bob their heads up and down.

5. A group of cats is called a “clowder.

6. A cat can’t climb head first down a tree because every claw on a cat’s paw points the same way. To get down from a tree, a cat must back down.

7. Cats make about 100 different sounds. Dogs make only about 10.i

8. A cat’s brain is biologically more similar to a human brain than it is to a dog’s. Both humans and cats have identical regions in their brains that are responsible for emotions.

9. There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, with approximately 40 recognized breeds.

10. Cats are North America’s most popular pets: there are 73 million cats compared to 63 million dogs. Over 30% of households in North America own a cat.

11. Approximately 40,000 people are bitten by cats in the U.S. annually.

12. A cat’s hearing is better than a dog’s. And a cat can hear high-frequency sounds up to two octaves higher than a human.

13. A cat can travel at a top speed of approximately 31 mph (49 km) over a short distance.

14. A cat can jump up to five times its own height in a single bound

15. A cat rubs against people not only to be affectionate but also to mark out its territory with scent glands around its face. The tail area and paws also carry the cat’s scent.

16. While many parts of Europe and North America consider the black cat a sign of bad luck, in Britain and Australia, black cats are considered lucky.

17. A cat’s back is extremely flexible because it has up to 53 loosely fitting vertebrae. Humans only have 34.

18. Approximately 1/3 of cat owners think their pets are able to read their minds.

19. One reason that kittens sleep so much is because a growth hormone is released only during sleep.

20. Cats are extremely sensitive to vibrations. Cats are said to detect earthquake tremors 10 or 15 minutes before humans can.