Random facts and questions about cats

Do you know an interesting cat fact or have a cat question that is not related to health, nutrition, behavior, breeds, or care?

Some facts and questions don't deserve their own thread or belong in any existing category, but would be interesting to cat lovers. I decided a thread should be devoted to compiling that information.

For example nobody needs to know 32 muscles are used to rotate each ear 180 degrees. But it is interesting that a cat would have that many muscles around one ear and certainly being useless information (to most cat lovers) does not make it unwanted information.

i read a domestic cat can run like 30 miles/hr. [I should confirm but too lazy.]

aeevr said:

I read a domestic cat can run like 30 miles/hr. [I should confirm but too lazy.]

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But it seems they never do because they spend most of the day sleeping.

I read the all-time longevity record for a domestic cat is 34 years.

Actually, the ear thing isn't that surprising.  Cat's ears are truly amazing.

A cat can hear frequencies twice as high as a dog.  I know they can identify such frequencies from a long distance; my brother used to tell me that our cats would let him know when we were coming while we were still almost a mile away; they apparently recognized the sound of the turbocharger on the truck, which turns upwards of 100,000 rpm. 

It is said a cat can distinguish between two sounds sources located only 18 inches apart 100 feet away.
 

  I always found their sense of taste interesting................Why is it they are so finicky?

http://www.catsplay.com/thedailycat/2003-06-09/mind_communication/senses_taste/senses_taste.html

    I have seen some cats that love things from tomato sauce to even broccoli! Generally it is meat and dairy for Maia, but definitely specific kinds

cheylink said:

I have seen some cats that love things from tomato sauce to even broccoli! Generally it is meat and dairy for Maia, but definitely specific kinds.

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I read cats can't taste sweets. I can't believe that because Patricia used to have a bad habit of drinking my chocolate milk before I did. (I drink white milk at home now to keep her silly tongue out of it!) Can someone explain why an animal that can't taste sweets loves chocolate?

Wilbur stole my broccoli once. Needless to say I was caught totally unprepared for that.

EmilyMayWilcha said:

I read cats can't taste sweets. I can't believe that because Patricia used to have a bad habit of drinking my chocolate milk before I did. (I drink white milk at home now to keep her silly tongue out of it!) Can someone explain why an animal that can't taste sweets loves chocolate?

Wilbur stole my broccoli once. Needless to say I was caught totally unprepared for that.

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So your cat won't drink regular milk, but will drink chocolate milk?

There are other flavors besides sweet your cat could be picking up on. Maybe she's just entertained by your reaction...

My cat likes tomato juice.

Cats supposedly can't see shades of red, so why does Jamie always choose hot pink toys, blankets, etc., when given a choice? If the materials are different, I'd assume the dyes are, too, so he probably wouldn't be going by the smell.

Here's one a friend told me, if someone could verify it t'would be nice:

Cat's are predominately left-pawed, unlike people. So, a south-paw cat like my Aya favors her right when reaching for things etc...

Regarding what cheylink said, about taste: I can definitely believe it, because Ana had the strangest tastes in food of any cat I've ever known. We had to find ways to protect our garbage, because she'd chew holes in the plastic bags (the supposedly "heavy duty" kind) to get to the "goodies" inside. And by "goodies" I mean banana peels, citrus peels (pumello or orange), green beans, and even carrot peels. We had to lock our garbage in the laudry room just to keep the bags intact until it could be taken out!

Here's one from me: cats don't actually say "meow" obviously, but if you want to try to reproduce the way a cat pronounces a meow, "ngao" is probably about as close as you can get. I've fooled my own mother many times in the past. She'd come in asking if there was a cat shut in the room with me.

I remember hearing somewhere--I think it was on TV--that it's supposedly common for cats to favor objects that are purple? I don't think I've ever heard it since, though.

jcat said:

Cats supposedly can't see shades of red, so why does Jamie always choose hot pink toys, blankets, etc., when given a choice? If the materials are different, I'd assume the dyes are, too, so he probably wouldn't be going by the smell.

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If the fabric is different, I doubt color has anything to do with it.

Also, nobody told me it is impossible to like gray and white better than blue and yellow.

Lyrajean said:

Here's one a friend told me, if someone could verify it would be nice:

Cat's are predominately left-pawed, unlike people. So, a southpaw cat like my Aya favors her right when reaching for things etc.

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True, the majority of cats are southpaws - and more tomcats than queens are that way. But Emily taught me paw preference can switch when she suffered a painful leg infection. After that, she always drank with her left paw instead of the right one. (She dipped it in the water to lick it.)

EmilyMayWilcha said:

If the fabric is different, I doubt color has anything to do with it.

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The "fabric" isn't different - I'm talking about plastic, rubber, leather and cloth toys and fleece or cotton blankets or towels that are identical except for the color. I would assume that the pink dye used in a plastic ball wouldn't smell exactly like the pink dye used in a cotton towel. However he sees hot pink, it's his favorite color, and other people have told me their cats prefer pink or red.

I hear cats can't see right in front of their noses.

jcat said:

The "fabric" isn't different - I'm talking about plastic, rubber, leather and cloth toys and fleece or cotton blankets or towels that are identical except for the color. I would assume that the pink dye used in a plastic ball wouldn't smell exactly like the pink dye used in a cotton towel. However he sees hot pink, it's his favorite color, and other people have told me their cats prefer pink or red.

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So Jamie's favorite color apparently is gray or white. Maybe a colorblind man can explain it because most of those guys can't see red either.