Facts about cats

If you’re looking for:

10 fun facts about cats.

20 interesting facts about cats.

25 or even 100 amazing facts about cats you’re in luck.

Here’s why.

I’ve compiled 120 interesting and amazing facts about cats.

You can use these facts to amaze your friends and relatives.

But that’s not all.

If you just adopt a pet, or looking to attend a pet adoption event near you

Please pay attention, because:

These fun facts will show your fur baby is smarter than you give them credit for.

If you run a pet shelter imagine for a minute how an adopter will go from awe to jaw dropped shock as you tell them these facts.

But here’s what’s interesting.

If you run an animal or pet shelter please pay attention because:

You can use this as an opportunity to tell adopters, donors, friends and relatives that cats are special.

These fun cat facts will interest kids, feline parents and even dog lovers.

You’re free to share this with anyone.

Use it as a resource on your pet shelter website, brochure etc.

You can do all of these, only if you’ll link back to the main source at furrsomecats.com to avoid any copyright issues.

With that being said, let’s get going furrsome guys and girls.

Facts about cats

To make this the best facts about cats on the Internet.

I’ve categorized these amazing and interesting facts about cats to cover several areas like: cat genetics, claws and feral cats.

But that’s not all.

These facts also includes:

Cat communication, cat food. Cat Reflex, night vision and social behavior.

But here’s what’s interesting.

These amazing facts also covers:

• Cat breeds.
• Superstition and history around cats.
• Sense of smell and Cat predation on wildlife.
• Cat intelligence and mating position.
• Cat scratching and diseases passed from cats to humans.
• Cat fur trade.
• And much more.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way. Let’s dive into these facts about cats.

• There are no 100% Hypoallergenic cat breeds, but breeds like Siberian, and Siamese cat produce little fed1 protein that causes allergies in humans.
• The donosky cat is the only hairless cat breed without a whisker(vibrace).
• Many ornamental and potted plants like tulips and monstera are toxic to cats.
• The United States leads in cat ownership with 73.8 million cats. While The United Kingdom has 10.9 million domestic cats as pets.
• The most common form of pet cruelty or abuse is feeding a cat wrong food.
• The English word puss is an onomatopoeia from using a sound to attract a cat.
• Cat abandonment explode the global feral cat population, and has driven into extinction bird, mammal, and reptile species.
• Grreek, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Etruscan traders introduced domestic cats to southern Europe.
• Cats are crepuscular, meaning most active during dawn and dusk and sleep an average of 12-16 hours a day.
• Comestic cats can run up to 30 mph (48 km/h).
• Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they require animal protein and essential amino acids like taurine and arginine.
• Cats cannot synthesize nutrients from plant sources.
• The earliest form of cat food was horse meat.
• Spratt was the first known commercial manufacturer of cat food.
• Cats cannot synthesize carotenoids to vitamin A.
• Cats are intolerant to glutamic acid.
• Vegetable oil in cats food is used to make food palatable and increases food intake by cats.
• Dry cat food that contains high amounts of carbohydrate is associated with feline obesity and type 2 diabetes.
• Soy isoflavones in commercial cat food is associated with hyperplasia of the thyroid glands and thyrotoxicosis in cats.
• Chronic kidney disease is common in the feline population for older and aging cats.
• The average lifespan of an indoor cat is 13 to 17 years.
• Kittens are born blind and deaf.
• A group of kittens is called a kindle.
• A group of adult cats is known as a clowder, glaring or a colony.
• Cats should not be given foods that contain garlic,onions, grapes and raisins.
• Chocolate can be toxic to cats because of its theobromine content.
• Caffeine in chocolate has an adverse affect on cats.
• A female cat or unsprayed cat in an estrous cycle is called a queen.
• Cats have 18 toes – 5 on each front paw, 4 on each back.
• Polydactyl cats have extra toes due to a genetic mutation.
• Persian, Siamese and Main Coon cat are the most popular cat breeds in the US, UK and Canada.
• Singapura is the smallest pedigreed cat and weighs about 1.8 kg.
• Genetic diversity for cats is lowest in purebred populations, which results in 20 or more deleterious genetic disorders in pure breed cats.
• Cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees.
• Cats have cognitive abilities to create mental maps of any familiar person locations based on hearing their voices.
• Cats have around 20 muscles in each ear.
• Cats’ acute hearing ability is enhanced by its pinnae which amplify sounds.
• Cat forelimbs are attached to their shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones, thus cats can pass through any space their head fits in.
• Cats have small molars and are incapable of masticating their food effectively.
• The cat carnassial pair ( premolars and molar) on each sides of cat mouth, act like a pair of scissors to shear meat into small pieces.
• Cats have better dentitions than humans because:of their thicker protective enamel less sugar in their diet, Less retention of food in their mouth, Less damaging saliva.
• Cats’ acute smell is due to a well developed olfactory bulb.
• Cats’ olfactory mucosa is twice that of humans.
• Jacobian organs in cats’ mouths help in flehmening.
• Cats are sensitive to the pheromones (3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol).
• Scent gland and urine spraying are ways cats communicate using Pheromones.
• Cats can detect nepetalone in catnips at less than one part per billion.
• Cats react to silver vine (Actinidia polygram) and Valerian herb because of the pheromones these plants produce.
• Cats have 470 taste buds compared to 9000 in humans.
• Most wild and domestic cats have taste receptor gene mutation and can’t taste sweetness.
• Cats only have specialized taste buds for acids and amino acids.
• Cats only detect umami flavor and it’s different from that of humans.
• while humans can detect glutamine acid and aspartic acids.
• Cats can only detect histidine and inosine monophosphate.
• Cats find tuna palatable because of its high histidine and inosine monophosphate content.
• Cats with instinct prefer food with temperature around 30°c and 100°F (similar to a fresh prey).
• Cats whisker (vibrissae) help trigger protective blink reflexes that prevent damage to their eyes.
• Cats show redirected aggression when it’s agitated by a stimuli, sight, object or sound.
• The grimace scale (ear/head position,whisker change etc) is used to detect pain in cats.
• The lingual papillae in cats tongue contain keratin that makes it rigid thus acting as brush.
• Cats display neuroplasticity (the ability to reorganize and learn with past experiences).
• Cats can dream due to their short period of rapid eye movement accompanied by muscle twitches.
• Cats exhibit neophobia (tendencies to reject novel flavors) and reject food that have tasted unpleasant in the past.
• Most adult cats are lactose intolerant and can’t process milk leading to diarrhea or soft stools.
• Pica (tendencies to eat odd objects, plastic wool paper etc) can endanger cats’ health.
• Cat predation on wildlife leads to loss of 1.3-4.0 billions of birds annually.
• Cats bring prey to humans’ guardians as a show of dominance hierarchy.
• The most common reason for feral cat fights is over a female cat.
• Cats mating position is called lordosis behavior.
• At 9-10 months a Kitten is assumed to have reached puberty.
• The health benefits of Neutering a cat includes: increase life expectancy and low incidence of reproductive neoplasia.
• Neutering a cat before puberty is associated with urinary tract related disease and retarded physeal closure.
• About 250 heritable genetic disorders in cats are similar to those from humans caused by inborn error of metabolism.
• Cat diseases can be detected using genetic tests used by humans, thus cats are perfect animal models.
• Cats scratch surfaces to shed the outside layer of their claw sheaths.
• Cats have excellent night vision due to tapetum lucidum, a membrane that reflects light through the retina back into the eye, thus increasing the eye’s sensitivity.
• The cat has poor color vision, with only two cone cells, optimized for sensitivity to blue and yellowish green.
• Cats cannot distinguish between red and green.
• Nictitating membranes in cats allow them to blink and still see.
• The cat has slit pupils , this allows it to focus bright light without chromatic aberration.
• The earliest records that shows taming of an African wildcat was excavated close by a human Neolithic grave in Shillourokambos ,southern Cyprus.
• The scientific name Felis catus was coined by Carl Linnaeus.
• In medieval Europe, cats were sometimes associated with witchcraft.
• The Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) is one of the largest breed registries.
• The Guinness World Record for the oldest cat is held by “Creme Puff,” who lived to 38.
• Spaying and neutering is a method of population control for cats.
• Cats become habituated with any toy they play with.
• Cats play fighting is a way to learn skill to stalk and capture prey.
• Cats are major prey of Coyotes.
• A male cat’s penis has 120-150 backwards pointing penile spine that’s why female cats yowl louder on withdrawals.
• Penile spines in male cats help increase excitement, which induce ovulation in cats.
• Seconds after mating a female cat will chase any attempt to mate with her until she thoroughly cleans her vulva.
• Female cats ovulation is not triggered with one mating and cats are superfecund ( females can mate with multiple males when in heat) resulting in kittens with different colors.
• Cats are one of the world’s most invasive species.
• Domestic Cats are cosmopolitan species and are present in all continents except Antarctica.
• Cats are present in remote islands like Kerguelen island.
• Cats can live on small islands without any humans.
• Cats’ ability to breed with wild cats poses danger to wildcat in Iberian peninsula, Scotland and Hungary.
• Domestic Cats can breed with other Felinae species, evidence in hybrids like the Kellas cat in Scotland.
• Forum Romanum and Colosseum are famous feral cat colonies in Rome.
• The flightless Lyall’s was driven to extinction a few years after it was discovered by domestic cats.
• Domestic cats are responsible for the extinction of Chatham rails,New Zealand merganser and the south Island piopio.
• Cats contributed to the extinction of the Chioninia coctei and Navassa curly tailed lizards.
• The leopard cat ( Prionailurus bengalensis) was tamed independently in China around 5500 BC.
• Making a cat-fur coat requires about 24 adult cats.
• The cat fur trade is outlawed in the US, European Union and the UK.
• Cat pelts are used in Switzerland as traditional medicine for rheumatism.
• Walter chandoha has photographed about 90000 cats during his photography career.
• Cats can easily spread salmonella, toxoplasmosis and cat-scratch disease even if the cat shows no symptoms.
• Cats were revered in ancient Egypt and Bastet, a goddess , was depicted in the form of a cat.
• In Jewish legend ,the first pet cat was living with Adam as a pet that got rid of mice.
• Although no species of animal is sacred in Islam, cats are revered by Muslims.
• In 1903 Evelyn De Morgan painted The Love Potion depicting a witch with a black cat.
• Bubastis is a sacred city in ancient Egypt where dead cats were embalmed and buried.
• Aristotle called female cats as naturally lecherous in his book history of animals.
• According to Italian folklore on the day Mary gave birth of Jesus a cat also gave birth to a kitten in Bethlehem.
• Ship cats were good luck charms and used to control rodents during the age of discovery.
• Cats are revered in Islam and Prophet Muhammad had a favorite cat called muezza.
• Cats have seven lives in Italy, Germany , Greece , Brazil and the Spanish speaking region but 9 live in many other regions.
• The killing of cats in Ypres in medieval Belgium is remembered in the innocuous present-day Kattenstoet (cat parade).
• Cats displace weasels as a choice of pest control because they are enthusiastic hunters and pleasant to have around the house.
• Ancient Egyptians mummified dead cats out of respect like they mummified kings and queens.

Wrap up on: facts about cats

If you’ve been searching for up-to-date facts about cats in 2025.

I’d hope this has been an interesting read.

Here’s a few interesting stats that you can share to help pet shelters increase their adoption drive.

• The Guinness World Record for the oldest cat is held by “Creme Puff,” who lived to 38.
• Cats exhibit neophobia (tendencies to reject novel flavors) and reject food that have tasted unpleasant in the past.
• Cats are revered in Islam, and Prophet Muhammad had a favorite cat called muezza.
• Ancient Egyptians mummified dead cats out of respect like they mummified kings and queens.
• Cat pelts are used in Switzerland as traditional medicine for rheumatism.
• Cats display neuroplasticity (the ability to reorganize and learn with past experiences).
• Cats can dream due to their short period of rapid eye movement accompanied by muscle twitches.

If you find these stats interesting please share it to a would be cat adopter.But that’s not all.

Share it to millions of shelters, journalists and influencers.

Here’s why.

Together we can help reduce cat and dog anesthesia rates.

But here’s what is interesting.

Today we can increase adoption at no-kill animal shelters.

Let’s #Cleartheshelters Like and share today while it’s fresh in your mind.

Eke Obiajurum.