Facts About Cats II

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

beautiful cats

Most cats give birth to a litter of between one and nine kittens. The largest known litter ever produced was 19 kittens, of which 15 survived.

The richest cat is Blackie who was left £15 million by his owner, Ben Rea.

Cats prefer their food at room temperature.

Cats not only walk on their toes but they have 5 toes on their front paws and 4 toes on the their back paws

The world record for the cat with most toes belongs to Jake who has 28 toes, with 7 on each paw. (Cats with more than 5 toes on a paw is called poly-dactyl cats)

According to Hebrew legend, Noah prayed to God for help protecting all the food he stored on the ark from being eaten by rats. In reply, God made the lion sneeze, and out popped a cat.

The cat who holds the record for the longest non-fatal fall is Andy. He fell from the 16^th floor of an apartment building (about 200 ft/.06 km) and survived.

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

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

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

Some cats have survived falls of over 65 feet (20 meters), due largely to their “righting reflex.” The eyes and balance organs in the inner ear tell it where it is in space so the cat can land on its feet. Even cats without a tail have this ability

Researchers are unsure exactly how a cat purrs. Most veterinarians believe that a cat purrs by vibrating vocal folds deep in the throat. To do this, a muscle in the larynx opens and closes the air passage about 25 times per second

When a family cat died in ancient Egypt, family members would mourn by shaving off their eyebrows. They also held elaborate funerals during which they drank wine and beat their breasts. The cat was embalmed with a sculpted wooden mask and the tiny mummy was placed in the family tomb or in a pet cemetery with tiny mummies of mice

Smuggling a cat out of ancient Egypt was punishable by death. Phoenician traders eventually succeeded in smuggling felines, which they sold to rich people in Athens and other important cities.

The claws on the cat’s back paws aren’t as sharp as the claws on the front paws because the claws in the back don’t retract and, consequently, become worn.

Killing a cat was punishable by death in ancient Egypt

In 1888, more than 300,000 mummified cats were found an Egyptian cemetery. They were stripped of their wrappings and carted off to be used by farmers in England and the U.S. for fertilizer

During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Innocent VIII condemned cats as evil and thousands of cats were burned. Unfortunately, the widespread killing of cats led to an explosion of the rat population, which exacerbated the effects of the Black Death (plague epidemic killing an estimated 25–60% of Europeans from 1348 through 1351)