10 Quick Facts About the Typical House Cat

The typical house cat is a fascinating animal. If you are researching for information about your cat or doing a report on felines, here are some little known quick facts of interest to round out your project.

1. The typical house cat sleeps about 16 hours per day. The word 'catnapping' obviously comes from this statistic. A cat's brain stays aware of sounds and danger during sleep.

2. No need to offer a cat sugar, most are unable to digest it. They also have no taste buds that can taste the sensation of sweet, a trait that you or I might sometimes wish for!

3. Typical house cats' backbones are connected by muscle, not ligaments like humans. This makes cats superior in flexibility. When a cat stretches, he is really toning muscle comparative to humans performing isometric exercises.

4. When it comes to anatomy, cat's have us outnumbered. They have nineteen million nerve endings for smelling compared to our six million. Their outer ear contains thirty muscles and ours a mere six! You may already know that the typical house cat has more bones in it's body than a person, but did you know that its nosepad is similar to a fingerprint? It can be used for identification purposes. Hard to picture putting Kitty's nose on an ink pad!

5. Contrary to popular opinion, catnip is not every cat's favorite. Loving the herb is genetic, with slightly more cats crazy about it than not. Kittens under 3 months are indifferent to catnip.

6. Typical house cats can hear very faint sounds and can detect their spot of origin within inches. They hear better than their canine friends and can see in the dark six to ten times better than us human friends!

7. Typical house cats' whiskers are important to their balance and if severed may cause them to walk a little sideways.

8. Cat's in the White House have included the administrations of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush.

9. Why do there seem to be so many Tabbys? Because there are! The common striped coat of the Tabby is caused by a dominant gene.