Cool Cat Facts

A grey housecat looks through a magnifying glass.
Drawn by Takashi Mifune and used with permission.

Introduction

Here are some of my favorite cat facts. I hope you like them, too.

Facts in quotes are direct quotations from the works cited. Everything not quoted are my own words.

My main source for cat facts is John Bradshaw’s book, The Behaviour of the Domestic Cat. I like how detailed his book is. But I reference other works as well.

This page was last updated on .

Facts About Real Cats

Cat Sense, Chapter 3
Their kidneys are very efficient, as expected for an animal whose ancestors lived on the edge of deserts, and many cats drink little water, getting all the moisture they need from the meat they eat.

I especially like this cat fact. Cats have super-efficient kidneys!

Behavior, Chapter 1
All living species in today’s cat family are thought to descend from an Asian genus Pseudaelurus that lived some 11 million years ago.

More recently, the housecat (Felis catus) evolved from populations of the African wildcat (Felis sylvestris lybica).

Behavior, Chapter 1
In contrast to the situation in most domesticated animals, including the dog, specific breeds make up a minority of the cat population, as little as 6–8% in both the UK and the USA (but as high as 23% in urban Australia).
Behavior, Chapter 1
Unusually among domestic animals, its skeleton and musculature have been scarely modified from the wild F. silvestris. While the skeleton adopts the general mammalian pattern, there is clear evidence of modification to permit efficient hunting.

Which is super cool! Of course the cat wouldn’t need to modify its skeleton. It’s perfect already.

Behavior, Chapter 1
The long, laterally compressed canines are used in holding food and specifically for dislocating the vertebrae of prey. These teeth are equipped with abundant mechanoreceptors, which may be used to sense the precise place that the killing bite should be delivered.

I wonder if severing the prey’s spinal cord reduces the pain it would otherwise feel.

Behavior, Chapter 1
The claws, made from the structural protein keratin, are derived from the skin rather than the skeleton.

Human fingernails are made from keratin, too.

Behaviour, Chapter 2

Cats have big eyes relative to their size. The average housecat eyeball is 22 millimeters in diameter. In contrast, human eyeballs have an average diameter of 25 millimeters.

Facts About Fictional Cats

There are currently a total of 30 cat Pokémon
  1. Meowth
  2. Persian
  3. Mew
  4. Espeon
  5. Umbreon
  6. Raikou
  7. Suicune
  8. Skitty
  9. Delcatty
  10. Shinx
  11. Luxio
  12. Luxray
  13. Glameow
  14. Purugly
  15. Purrloin
  16. Liepard
  17. Litleo
  18. Pyroar
  19. Espurr
  20. Meowstic
  21. Litten
  22. Torracat
  23. Incineroar
  24. Solgaleo
  25. Zeraora
  26. Perrserker
  27. Sprigatito
  28. Floragato
  29. Meowscarada
  30. Chien-Pao

Generations 4 and 7 are tied for largest number of cat Pokémon per generation—five each. Generation 8 has only one cat Pokémon and is therefore the worst generation.

Sources