Friday Cat Facts

Happy Friday!  We’d like to share some Fun Friday Cat Facts with everyone:

• It has been scientifically proven that stroking a cat can lower one’s blood pressure.
• In 1987, cats overtook dogs as the number one pet in America (about 50 million cats resided in 24 million homes in 1986). About 37% of American homes today have at least one cat.
• If your cat snores or rolls over on his back to expose his belly, it means he trusts you.
• Cats respond better to women than to men, probably due to the fact that women’s voices have a higher pitch.
• In an average year, cat owners in the United States spend over $2 billion on cat food.
• According to a Gallup poll, most American pet owners obtain their cats by adopting strays.
• When your cats rubs up against you, she is actually marking you as “hers” with her scent. If your cat pushes his face against your head, it is a sign of acceptance and affection.

• Contrary to popular belief, people are not allergic to cat fur, dander, saliva, or urine – they are allergic to “sebum,” a fatty substance secreted by the cat’s sebaceous glands. More interesting, someone who is allergic to one cat may not be allergic to another cat. Though there isn’t (yet) a way of predicting which cat is more likely to cause allergic reactions, it has been proven that male cats shed much greater amounts of allergen than females. A neutered male, however, sheds much less than a non-neutered male.
• Cat bites are more likely to become infected than dog bites.
• In just 7 years, one un-spayed female cat and one un-neutered male cat and their offspring can result in 420,000 kittens.
• Some notable people who disliked cats:  Napoleon Bonaparte, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Hitler.

• Both humans and cats have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion.
• A cat’s brain is more similar to a man’s brain than that of a dog.
• A cat has more bones than a human; humans have 206, but the cat has 230 (some cites list 245 bones, and state that bones may fuse together as the cat ages).
• Cats have 30 vertebrae (humans have 33 vertebrae during early development; 26 after the sacral and coccygeal regions fuse.
• The cat’s clavicle, or collarbone, does not connect with other bones but is buried in the muscles of the shoulder region. This lack of a functioning collarbone allows them to fit through any opening the size of their head.