10 Fantastic Cat Facts

1. Ambidexer-Cat?

You probably never thought about a cat as being either left- or right-pawed, but over 40 percent are either lefties or righties. That means there’s quite a few out there who are ambidextrous. Luckily for them, they can probably operate the can opener with both paws…

2. Warm or Cold?

Food that is. Cats don’t like their food too hot or too cold. They like it just right. And for them, just right is room temperature, just like their prey would be in the wild. Cats are indeed the Goldilocks of the animal world.

3. In Living Color

Cats see in color, so your new paisley frock in orange, purple, and yellow won’t be lost on them. They also have fantastic night vision, and only need one-sixth of the light humans require to see. So don’t go getting your cat night-vision goggles.

4. What’s in a Name?

A group of kittens is called a “kindle” (yes, just like that fancy new electronic book device available now), while a group of adult cats is called a “clowder.”

5. Meow?

We all know the meow sound, whether it’s questioning, scared, happy, or imperiously demanding dinner. Curiously, cats only meow at people, not at other cats.

6. Four-Legged Mood Rings

Cats are highly intuitive creatures, and they are more than able to pick up your mood, especially from your tone of voice. They know when you’re yelling at them (though they often don’t seem to care). If you need your cat to calm down, try speaking to her in a soothing, loving voice. You’ll be amazed.

7. Lofty Beginnings

Ever wonder who invented the cat door? It was Sir Isaac Newton. Perhaps he was vexed by his cat wanting in and out all the time and disturbing his work, so he did something about it–much to the relief of cat lovers everywhere.

8. It’s All in the Fall

Cats really do land on their feet. In fact, they all fall in the same way. First they rotate their head, then twist their spine around, followed by a rear leg alignment and finally they relax into it and arch the back, thus lessening impact. But please, don’t experiment with this at home. Take our word for it.

9. Baby Machines

Unless you want a “clowder” of cats cluttering your home, spay, and neuter your furry feline. Just one pair of cats and their kittens can produce 420,000 (!) offspring in a mere seven years.

10. Individuality

Like human fingerprints, cats have their own built-in unique tag of telling them apart–their nose! The nose pads of cats are all uniquely ridged, meaning no two are the same.