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[ World Champion Ratter ] [ World's Worst Hater ] [ Ailurophobia ] Feline Facts and Fallacies
The first cat show took place in Winchester England, in the year 1598. It took the form of a side-show at the St Giles Fair. Prizes were given for the best ratter and best mouser.
Cats sleep for an average of sixteen hours a day. This means that two thirds of its life are spent in the land of nod.
The first serious book on cats was written by Francois-Augustin Paradis de Moncrif (1687-1770).
Cats should not be given milk as it contains fat and can cause gastric upsets, especially in Siamese cats. If milk is given, a dish of water should also accompany it, this will help balance the fat intake.
Feline hearing is so sensitive that cats can hear higher frequencies than dogs. These are typical figures:- A young to middle aged human - 20,000 cycles per second. A middle to retirement aged human - 12,000 - 15,000 cycles per second. Dogs hear between 35,000 - 40,000 cycles per second. But our feline friends can actually hear up to 100,000 cycles per second.
Half of all cats die in road accidents.
Indoor cats live twice as long as their outdoor counterparts.
The cat has an image-intensifying device at the rear of the eyes (tapidum lucidum). With this it can utilise every scrap of light that enters its eyes.
The oldest cat lived from 1903 to 1939, a staggering 36 years. He was a tabby cat called, "Puss".
In 1980 a cat in Bradford, Yorkshire was attacked by a dog, it climbed 70 feet up a vertical, pebbledash wall of a five-storey block of flats.
Nedjem (meaning "Sweet" or "Pleasant") is the first cat to be given a name. It dates from the reign of Thutmose lll (1479 BC - 1425 BC).
The record-holder for the longest fall in feline history is held by, "Andy." Owned by Florida Senator Ken Myer in the 1970's, he fell from the 16th floor of an apartment building and survived.
Dusty of Bonham in Texas is reputed to be the most prolific female cat in the world, by 1952 Dusty had produced 420 kittens.
In 1976 a mystery cat in Hong Kong killed more than 20 dogs. According to local people it was about 4 feet long, and black or grey in colour. It was never caught.
Himmy was the worlds heaviest domestic cat. He was a tabby belonging to Thomas Vyse of Redlynch, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The Guinness Book of Records documents him as weighing 46lb, 15.25 oz. He died in 1986, aged ten years.
In 1995 a tiny green kitten was discovered in a hayloft by Mrs. Pia Bischoff in North-west Denmark. She adopted it as a pet, and tried in-vein to wash out the green colour. The kitten has proved to be in perfect health despite its sickly colour!
In Europe in the 18th century, dead cats were placed inside the walls of new houses, often with a rat or mouse placed inside the mouth. This practice was supposed to protect the house from rodent invasions.
Siam, was the first Siamese Cat to reach the United States of America. The cat was a gift from the American Consul in Bangkok to the wife of the American President, Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1878.
A cat has a poor sense of taste. We have 9,000 taste buds, while a cat has only 473. A cats eating experience relies upon smell just as much, if not more, than taste. Its sense of smell is thirty times better than ours.
The largest litter was produced by Tarawood Antigone, a brown Burmese cat owned by Mrs. Valerie Gane of Church Westcote, Kingham, Oxfordshire, England. It consisted of one female, fourteen males and four stillborn. They were delivered by Caesarean section on 7th August 1970. The mother was four years old, and the father was half-Siamese.
Cats become intensely agitated before major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and severe electrical storms. In many cases cats have been observed desperately trying to escape from inside buildings prior to an earthquake. Upon their escape, some females have been seen rushing back carrying their kittens to safety. Then a short time later the disaster happens and demolishes the buildings.
Probably the oldest representation of a pet cat is that of a figurine showing a woman cuddling a cat. This was found at Hacilar, a Neolithic site in Turkey. It is dated from more than 7,000 years ago.
The African Wild Cat is accepted by most, to be the true ancestor of the domestic cat. It was domesticated by the Egyptians, and later taken by sea to the rest of the world.
The word puss originated from the Egyptians, who called the cat pasht, which meant the moon, because cats were nocturnal. Later this became shortened to pas, and over the years has become puss.
Cats bury their faeces, not because they are any cleaner than other animals, but to dampen down their odour, in an act of subordination in fear of its social standing. In the feral cat community dominant tomcats will deposit their faeces on raised points where their odour can be wafted abroad.
Scientists say that the frequency a cat purrs at triggers the healing process in feline bones. It is believed to have a similar effect to that of ultrasound on humans.
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