Awesome Cat Facts to Understand Them Better

SUMMARY:
- Cats have been domesticated for about 4,000 years! Before that, they were one of the greatest hunters feared by numerous species.
- A group of kittens is often called a kindle; a group of adult cats is called a clowder. A female cat is referred to as a queen, and a male cat is known as a tom.
- Cats only meow at humans. With other animals, they hiss, spit, and purr — but never meow. They also tend to greet each other by touching noses.
- The problem of acne is pretty common among cats. They usually end up developing blackheads on their chins, which is widely known as feline acne.
- Most cats tend to spend about two-thirds of their day sleeping. So the average 9-year-old cat has been fully awake for only 3 years of its life! Cats also spend about one-third of their waking hours cleaning themselves up.
- One of the reasons why cats clean themselves so often is to lick your scent off! When your cat rubs against you from nose to tail, it wants to mark you as its own.
- Cats have rather sensitive stomachs, so you should be very careful about your furry friend's menu. Never give your cat onion, garlic, green tomatoes, chocolate, grapes, or raisins.
- Your cat always understands when you say its name…it just chooses to ignore you! Specialists believe this happens because, historically, cats haven't been domesticated to listen to people's orders — unlike dogs.
- A cat's whiskers aren't there to make them extra cute! They’re covered in numerous nerve cells and blood vessels.
- Cats have a special reflective layer in their eyes called the tapetum lucidum. This layer easily magnifies incoming light and allows cats to see around 6 times better than we do in the dark and low light.
- A cat's heart beats way faster than ours with about 110 to 140 beats every single minute.
- A cat's cerebral cortex contains 300 million neurons. Just for comparison, dogs have only around 160 million.
- It's a natural instinct for a kitten to cover its poop. If your cat doesn't do that, this is its way of showing you who's the true head of the house.
- Back in 2007, a calico cat named Tama became a station master and greeted passengers at Kishi Station.
- Cats can easily jump about 6 times their own length! This is all thanks to the powerful muscles in their back legs, which allow them to jump onto any surface they like.
- Biologically, a cat's brain is kinda similar to ours. We have almost identical brain regions that take care of our emotions, so there's a chance that you and your furry friend feel the same way sometimes.
- In the cat world, the concept of left- or right-handedness is a thing too! Most cats are actually left-pawed!