FELINE: relating to or affecting cats or other members of the cat family
FACTS: a thing that is known or proved to be true
Presenting Feline Facts: history, anatomy, behavior, sizes, colors, gait, hearing, eyesight, grooming, purring, breeds, hair vs fur, whiskers, and more.
Ailurophilia is the love of cats.
The term comes from Herodotus, the Greek historian, who called the cats he found in Egypt “ailuroi” – tail wavers. People who like cats are called ailurophiles
Felines have 244 bones in their bodies! (About 40 more than humans!) and 2 muscles in each ear!
Only felines sweat from the pads of their paws.
Before Cat Litter, people kept their cats outside. Then, in 1947, Edward Lowe, a delivery man, whose family had a business selling ice, coal, sand, sawdust, and granulated, kiln-dried clay in Michigan, was out of sand and suggested to a cat owner that she could try granulated clay which was as good for absorbing cat urine as it was for the grease spills. And thus, Cat Litter was born.
In relation to body size, cats have the largest eyes of any mammal.
A domestic cat can sprint at about 31 miles per hour.
Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run.
The cat’s front paws have 5 toes, but the back paws have 4. Some cats are born with as many as 7 front toes and even extra back toes (called polydactyl).
Ann Baker, a breeder who lived in California during the 1960s, is credited with creating the Ragdoll. Baker took a domestic longhaired white female that was found running wild in her neighborhood, and bred her with another long-haired cat. The resulting kittens were the progenitors of the Ragdoll breed. By selecting for traits like a friendly personality and long, plush fur, Baker eventually produced the big, soft kitty we know and love today.
CATS walk on their toes.
Cats have five toes on the forefeet and four on the hind feet. The fifth toe is set high on the forefoot and does not touch the ground during walking, but it is used in grooming and capturing prey.
A cat walks by moving both left feet and then both right feet. This promotes speed, agility and silence. The only other animals that walk this way are giraffes and camels.
The world’s most famous two-faced cat, Frank and Louie (also known as Frankenlouie) was a Ragdoll. He had two functioning eyes, a blind central eye, two noses, and two mouths.
Wankee, born 1895 in Hong Kong, became the first UK Siamese champion in 1898.
Most orange cats are male and a vast majority of calicos are female.
In 1950, 4 month old kitten from Geneva, Switzerland, followed a group of climbers to the top of the Matterhorn.
The first official cat show in Great Britain was held at the Crystal Palace in 1871.
The first cat show in the United States was held in 1895 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Light colored cats are more likely to develop an auto immune disease.
The domestic cat is the only type of cat that can hold its tail upright when walking. Wild cats tuck their tails between their legs or hold them horizontally while walking.
It has been scientifically proven that stroking a cat can lower one’s blood pressure.
A house cat can reach 30 mph when running.
A cat’s sense of smell is 14 times stronger than a human’s.
Cats whose coats are red (orange), cream or calico can develop freckles as they age. The spots can appear on the eyelids, mouth, nose and paw pads – all areas of exposed skin.
