International Cat Day | Fun Cat Quiz!

International Cat Day is a celebration held annually to celebrate the contribution that cats bring to our lives and raise awareness on the need to care for them. Through this day, both potential and already cat parents are also educated on the ways to protect these extremely independent, intelligent, curious, and adventurous creatures.

International Cat Day is celebrated on different months and days in different countries. For instance, in the USA, we celebrate this day on October 29th, while in the United Kingdom and Canada, they celebrate this day on August 8th each year. February 22nd is the National cat date in Japan, whereas March 1st is Russia’s official international cat day.

International Cat Day was created in 2002 with the aim of celebrating the positive impacts cats have on human life as well as getting to know how to better care for and protect these lifetime companions. This day is also referred to as World Cat Day in some countries. Popular pet cat breeds include Siamese, Persian, Scottish Fold, Maine Coon, Ragdoll, Bengal, British Shorthair, Abyssinian, Cornish Rex, Oriental Shorthair, Sphynx, Devon Rex, Himalayan, American Shorthair, Japanese Bobtail.

Here are some interesting facts about Cats;

Ailurophilia in Greek means the one who is a cat lover.

The group of words associated with cat (catt, cath, chat, katze) stem from the Latin word catus, meaning domestic cat, as opposed to feles, or wild cat.

A group of cats is called a ‘clowder’.

A female cat is called a queen or a molly, while a male cat is called a tom.

Ginger tabby cats sometimes have freckles around their mouths and on their eyelids!

Cats have 3 eyelids.

Some Siamese cats appear cross-eyed because the nerves from the left side of the brain go to mostly the right eye and the nerves from the right side of the brain go mostly to the left eye. This causes some double vision, which the cat tries to correct by “crossing” its eyes.

The little tufts of hair in a cat’s ear that help keep out dirt, direct sounds into the ear, and insulate the ears are called “ear furnishings”.

Cats have over 30 muscles that control their ears with the ability to rotate their ears 180 degrees.

Cats have supersonic hearing.

A cat’s smell is their strongest sense.

Cats rely on smell to identify people and objects.

Grimacing cats are usually “taste-scenting”. They have an extra organ that allows the cats to taste-sense the air.

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

The biggest wildcat today is the Siberian Tiger. It can be more than 12 feet (3.6 m) long (about the size of a small car) and weigh up to 700 pounds (317 kg).

The most popular pedigreed cat is the Persian cat, followed by the Main Coon cat and the Siamese cat.

The smallest pedigreed cat is a Singapura, which can weigh just 4 lbs (1.8 kg), or about five large cans of cat food. The largest pedigreed cats are Maine Coon cats, which can weigh 25 lbs (11.3 kg), or nearly twice as much as an average cat weigh.

The ability of a cat to find its way home is called “psi-traveling”. Experts think cats either use the angle of the sunlight to find their way or that cats have magnetized cells in their brains that act as compasses.

Polydactyl cats or a cat with 1-2 extra toes on their paws, is a result of a genetic mutation. These cats are also referred to as “Hemingway cats” because writer Ernest Hemingway reportedly owned dozens of them at his home in Florida.

All cats have claws, and all except the cheetah, sheath them when at rest.

A cat can’t climb head first down a tree because every claw on a cat’s paw points the same way. To get down from a tree, a cat must back down.

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.

Female cats tend to be right pawed, while male cats are more often left pawed.

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

Cats have “nine lives” owing to a flexible spine and powerful leg and back muscles.

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.

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

The first cat in space was a French cat named Felicette (a.k.a. “Astrocat”) In 1963, France blasted the cat into outer space. Electrodes implanted in her brains sent neurological signals back to Earth. She survived the trip.

A cat rubs against people not only to be affectionate but also to mark out its territory with scent glands around its face. The tail area and paws also carry the cat’s scent. To get the scent of humans off, cats lick themselves.

Cat meows to communicate with other felines only when they are kittens, signalling their mother.

Cats can drink seawater.

A cat’s jaw can’t move sideways, so a cat can’t chew large chunks of food.

Grown up cats have 30 teeth. Kittens have about 26 temporary teeth, which they lose when they are about 6 months old.

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.

A cat has the power to heal themselves by purring. A domestic cat’s purr has a frequency of between 25 to 150 Hertz. This happens to be the frequency at which muscles and bones best grow and repair themselves. 

A part from being a form of self-healing, purring can also be a sign of nervousness and contentment.

A cat usually has about 12 whiskers on each side of its face. Whiskers help cats to detect if they can fit through a space.

Cat paws act as temperature regulators, shock absorbers, hunting and grooming tools, sensors, and more.

The normal body temperature of a cat is between 100.5 ° and 102.5 °F. A cat is sick if its temperature goes below 100 ° or above 103 °F.

If they have ample water, cats can tolerate temperatures up to 133 °F.

Cats hate the water because their fur does not insulate well when it’s wet. The Turkish Van, however, is one cat that likes swimming. Bred in central Asia, its coat has a unique texture that makes it water resistant.

The smallest wildcat today is the Black-footed cat. The females are less than 20 inches (50 cm) long and can weigh as little as 2.5 lbs (1.2 kg).

Kittens sleep for longer periods of time because a growth hormone is released only during sleep.

On average, cats spend 2/3 of every day sleeping in some pretty crazy positions. That means a nine-year-old cat has been awake for only three years of its life.

Cats spend nearly 1/3 of their waking hours cleaning themselves.

Cats have 1000 times more data storage than an iPad.

Issac Newton invented the cat flap. Newton was experimenting in a pitch-black room. Spithead, one of his cats, kept opening the door and wrecking his experiment. The cat flap kept both Newton and Spithead happy.

Two members of the cat family are distinct from all others: the clouded leopard and the cheetah. The clouded leopard does not roar like other big cats, nor does it groom or rest like small cats. The cheetah is unique because it is a running cat; all others are leaping cats. They are leaping cats because they slowly stalk their prey and then leap on it.

A commemorative tower was built in Scotland for a cat named Towser, who caught nearly 30,000 mice in her lifetime.

In just seven years, a single pair of cats and their offspring could produce a staggering total of 420,000 kittens.

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.

In the 1930s, two Russian biologists discovered that colour change in Siamese kittens depend on their body temperature. Siamese cats carry albino genes that work only when the body temperature is above 98° F. If these kittens are left in a very warm room, their points won’t darken and they will stay a creamy white.

Interesting facts sourced from: 163 Cat Facts That Will Blow Your Mind | Fun Cat Facts (welovecatsandkittens.com)

Here is a pop quiz for you! Look at the video carefully and let us know in the comments below what unique aspect of the “CAT WALK” do you notice!