SOME INTERESTING CAT FACTS

MOST OF US DON'T KNOW AS MUCH AS WE THOUGHT WE DID ABOUT CATS

There are almost more cats in America than there are people.   If they ever join forces and decide to revolt, the cat lovers of the world may be faced with a really big problem. Cats have been around for a long, long time.

Unfortunately, in today's society, the cat population has exploded, with the result that many new kittens are turned out to become homeless, or placed indiscriminately in homes where they are neglected and often cruelly mistreated.

Below are 5 interesting things I recently learned about cats. If you think cats can't learn to do tricks, that all cats are instinctive hunters, and that cats love sweets, think again. A lot of what we think we know about cats is not true at all.


1. CATS CAN LEARN TO DO TRICKS---EVEN OLDER CATS

Although most of us have had some success in getting our cats to chase a ball, or try to catch a moving target when we dangle it in front of him, we usually don't go beyond those simple tricks, thinking that cats don't have the ability to learn tricks.

Cats may not particularly want to learn to do tricks, but they certainly can learn to do quite a few things if we are patient and willing to work with them long enough.

Cats have been taught to heel, sit, and beg just like a dog; and they can learn to jump through hoops, roll over, open doors, hide things in a box, play dead, eat with their paws, fetch, and, my very favorite trick, to use a toilet.

If you decide to try some of these tricks with your cat, work on one until it is perfected before starting on another.



 2. CATS ARE NOT INSTINCTIVE HUNTERS

   

Because of their portrayal as great mousers, I just assumed that all cats were instinctive hunters. Not necessarily true, although they do instinctively grab at moving objects, whether animate or inanimate.

Animal experts say that kittens born to non-hunting mothers will usually not learn to hunt on their own, thus leading us to believe that hunting is a taught skill. I have a friend who was having trouble with mice in her house. An acquaintance gave her a cat, but the cat would not hunt the mice at all. She finally rid her house of mice through the use of mousetraps and, to this day, the cat still shows no interest in real live mice. Dangle a toy mouse in front of him though, and he is all over it.


3. ONE CAT YEAR IS EQUAL TO ABOUT 6 HUMAN YEARS

Ever wondered why your 5 year-old cat isn't as lively as he or she used to be? It's because cats age much faster than humans.

A 5-year-old child is still dashing around the house hour after hour all day long, while a 5-year-old cat may dash for a few minutes, but soon gives up and heads for its favorite snoozing spot. That's because a 5-year-old cat is more like a 30-year-old human.

They age about 6 years to each 1 year of a human's life on the average, although during their first year or two, cats age even faster than that.  


4. CATS CANNOT TASTE SWEETS

Poor cats. It’s hard to imagine life without being able to taste sweets,(especially chocolate,) but most veterinarians agree that cats do not taste sweets. Our cat really loves to lick out a bowl that has held ice cream or pudding, but maybe just because it is something different from her usual diet. (Or something she perceives as forbidden.)
  










 5. MOST WHITE CATS WITH BLUE EYES ARE DEAF

Some white cats have only one blue eye, and are deaf only in the ear closest to the blue eye. White cats with orange eyes usually hear normally.

I think that blue-eyed white cats are among the most beautiful of all cats, even though I've never owned one. Being deaf would definitely be a real drawback for any cat, especially if its owners permit it to wander around outside where not being able to hear could quickly become fatal. Even inside, it would be a great disadvantage for a cat not to hear approaching feet that might stumble over a cat curled up on the floor.





There are lots of other unusual facts about cats but those above are just a few I chose to share in this article. It might be fun, if you have one or more cats of your own, to start keeping a list of odd things they do to share with other cat lovers online. You won't have to look far to find a cat lover. They are everywhere.


 ***If you'd like to learn some other interesting and unusual facts about cats, click on the picture below to check out this Kindle book called, Cats: Some Awesome Facts You Didn't Know, from
Amazon.com.