Cat Facts 14

•  Cats use their whiskers to determine if they can fit through a small space. The bigger the cat, the longer the whiskers will likely be. a white mouse peeking out of a cardboard box
• The Egyptian Mau is one of, if not the oldest domesticated cat breed. 
• It is also known to be one of the fastest breeds.
• Mau is Egyptian for Cat. 
• When cats bring you a dead bird or a mouse, it's not a sign of affection but instead to let you know you suck at hunting. Maybe it's a sign of affection, making sure you don't starve but still! 
• Only 86% of U.S. Cats are spayed or neutered.
• Around only 24% of cats who enter a shelter end up getting adopted. (Spay and neuter your pets!) 
• In just 10 years one female cat could produce around 49,000 kittens. Another reason to spay and neuter your pets and help support Trap-Neuter-Release programs. 
• Cats spend nearly 1/3rd of their lives cleaning themselves. 
• They also spend nearly 1/3rd of their lives sleeping.
• Blacks cats are often seen as bad luck in North American whereas, in the Uk and Australia, they are seen as good luck. a black cat lying on a person's leg
• A Cat's spine is so flexible because it's made up of 53 loosely fitting vertebrae. Humans only have 34. 
• A Cat's jaw can't move sideways. 
• When cats walk their back paws step almost exactly in the same place as the front paws did beforehand, this keeps noise to a minimum and limits visible tracks.
• Ever wonder why catnip lulls felines into a trance? The herb contains several chemical compounds, including one called nepetalactone, which a cat detects with receptors in its nose and mouth.
• More than half of the world’s felines don’t respond to catnip. Scientists still don’t know quite why some kitties go crazy for the aromatic herb and others don’t, but they have figured out that catnip sensitivity is hereditary. If a kitten has one catnip-sensitive parent, there’s a one-in-two chance that it will also grow up to crave the plant. And if both parents react to 'nip, the odds increase to at least three in four.