9 Fun Facts About Cats

Aug 12
4 min read

Two kittens cuddle on a soft blanket, one white with bright blue eyes in front, one black beside it, calm and cozy.

We love to snuggle them, give them treats and take photos of their toe beans but do we know all of the weird and fun facts about our fuzzy little family?? Here are some of our favorite fun facts about cats! And of course their are 9:

Cats are obligate carnivores. What does that mean? That means cats must eat meat to survive. Unlike humans and dogs that can get nutrients from a variety of sources cats have evolved to rely entirely on animal tissue.
Cats cannot taste "sweet" things. They don't have the gene to be able to taste anything sweet! Which wasn't scientifically known until 2005. Cats can taste bitter very strongly (probably why they hate getting pills, if it touches their tongue they might foam at the mouth a little to get the flavor out), they can taste sour and a little bit of saltiness. They can taste the "meat flavor" also known as Umami and they have a unique taste receptor that is tuned specifically into ATP (found in meat) to detect if something is actually meat!
Did you know orange kitties are typically boys? There are orange female cats but they are rare! This is because the orange coloring is tied to the X chromosome and since males only need one of those the orange coloring ends up being male more often than not.
Orange cats might be boys but tortoiseshell cats are almost always girls. This is because tortoiseshell cats require two different color genes at once (you need two X chromosomes which is what a female is). If you meet a male tortoiseshell they have an extra chromosome! Which typically results in the male being sterile, the odds of meeting a male tortoiseshell cat is 1 in 3,000!
Add this word to your vocabulary: Superfecundation. In short this means that 1 pregnant female cat can have multiple fathers in that litter! This is because cats are induced ovulators which means when they are in heat they ovulate in response to mating so even if they get pregnant from one male, they will likely mate with several and those males will also create offspring in the litter!
Have you ever seen your cat sniff something and then... open their mouth? Cats have a second "nose" called the Jacobson's organ! When a cat smells something intense (usually something we think is super stinky or icky) they open their mouth and seem a little zoned out, this is because they are pulling scent molecules up through a duct in the roof of their mouth to this second nose which is used to detect pheromones! Typically used for smelling other cats, detecting mates and territory (I imagine its usually urine that makes them react this way but it can definitely just be other intense smells!)
A cat's paw strike is one of the fastest limb movements of any mammal. What does that mean? That means if a snake and a cat were facing off and the snake went to strike at the cat, the cat could actually out-react the striking snake and smack it down with its paw!
Cat's have a "righting reflex" which is how they always land on their feet! This is because of the vestibular system, or the tiny fluid filled canals in a cat's ear that detect which way is up. This system paired with their flexible, fluid like body means that it only takes 30 milliseconds for a cat to register which way is up and start to right itself!
The myth that cats have 9 lives doesn't have any definitive roots but it appears in English as far back as 1546 in a proverb collection by John Heywood: "A woman has nine lives like a cat". But it's most likely even older than that. The ancient Egyptians revered cats with the divine and the number 9 was considered a sacred number, so it's possible the nine lives concept traces back to Egyptian mythology. Although, cats do seem to have a way of cheating death, with their "righting reflex" and their quick paws and their ability to steal anyone's hearts and be invited inside to sleep on a comfy couch!