Untitled Document

CAT'S HEALTH FACTS

Cats should not be fed raw egg whites because they contain an enzyme that breaks down the vitamin biotin, which is essential to cat health.

Don't pick a kitten or a cat up by the scruff of its neck; only mother cats can do this safely, and only with their kittens.

The small patch of white fur on a cat's chest is known as a "locket".

Cats can’t really see in the dark and their daytime vision is best described as “fair” – but they can see better than their human families in semidarkness. Their eyes don’t really shine in the dark, either. Cats’ eyes contain highly reflective cells that collect light from very dim sources. When you flash a light on a cat in the darkness, these reflective cells make it appear that their eyes are glowing. Long thought to be color-blind, recent studies indicate that cats can distinguish between some basic colors when these colors are paired.

Cats offer sandpaper kisses due to tiny knobs called papillae on the surface of their tongues. They are shaped like backward hooks and are designed to hold food and to provide the abrasiveness cats need for good grooming.

Cats do walk differently from dogs! Cats, along with giraffes and camels, are the only animals with a gait in which front and hind legs move together first on one side, then on the other. Cats also are the only clawed creatures that walk on their claws rather than their paw pads. Cats are frequently born with six or more toes on one paw.

A domestic cat has eighteen claws: five on each of its front paws and four on each of its back paws.

Most cats with orange fur are male. It is extremely rare for a female cat to have orange fur.

A cat's normal body temperature is 101.5 degrees. This is slightly warmer than a humans.

A falling cat will always right itself in a precise order. First the head will rotate, then the spine will twist and the rear legs will align, then the cat will arch its back to lessen the impact of the landing.

Siamese kittens are born white because of the heat inside the mother's uterus before birth. This heat keeps the kittens' hair from darkening on the points.

Kittens are born with both eyes and ears closed. When the eyes open, they are always blue at first. They change color over a period of months to the final eye color.

Kitten's eyes usually open between 7 to 10 days after birth, but it occasionally they open within 2 or 3 days.

Calico cats are almost always female. The gene in cats that causes the orange coat color is sexed linked, and is on the X sex chromosome. This gene may display orange or black. Thus, as female cat with two X chromosomes may have orange and black colors in its coat. A male, with only one X chromosome, can have only orange or black, not both.

Besides their noses, cats can smell with something called the "Jacobson's organ", located in the upper surface of their mouths. This is what cats are using when they scrunch up their eyes and open their mouths after sniffing something intently.

If a male cat is both orange and black it is (besides being extremely rare) sterile. To have both the orange and the black coat colors, the male cat must have all or part of both female X chromosomes. This unusual sex chromosome combination will render the male cat sterile.

Cats have true fur, in that they have both an undercoat and an outer coat.

The color of the points in Siamese cats is heat related. Cool areas are darker.

A cat has five more vertebrae in its spinal column than a human does.

Cats have AB blood groups just like humans.

Cats lack a true collarbone. Because of this lack, cats can generally squeeze their bodies through any space they can get their heads through. You may have seen a cat testing the size of an opening by careful measurement with the head.

Cats’ whiskers, so long and stiff, should never be trimmed. Cats use their whiskers to find their way in the dark, determine whether or not he/she can get into or out of a tight place, and a host of other navigation tasks.

People who own pets live longer, have less stress, and have fewer heart attacks.

A cat's heart beats twice as fast as a human heart, at 110 to 140 beats per minute.

Many cats cannot properly digest cow's milk. Milk and milk products give them diarrhea.

Cats are subject to gum disease and to dental caries. They should have their teeth cleaned by the vet or the cat dentist once a year.

Cats with white fur and skin on their ears are very prone to sunburn. Frequent sunburns can lead to skin cancer. Many white cats need surgery to remove all or part of a cancerous ear. Preventive measures include sunscreen, or better, keeping the cat indoors.

Cats can get tapeworms from eating fleas. These worms live inside the cat forever, or until they are removed with medication. They reproduce by shedding a link from the end of their long bodies. This link crawls out the cat's anus, and sheds hundreds of eggs. These eggs are ingested by flea larvae, and the cycles continues. Humans may get these tapeworms too, but only if they eat infected fleas. Cats with tapeworms should be dewormed by a veterinarian.

Cats can get tapeworms from eating mice. If your cat catches a mouse it is best to take the prize away from it.

Cats, especially older cats, do get cancer. Many times this disease can be treated successfully.

There are tiny, parasitic worms that can live in a cat's stomach. These worms cause frequent vomiting.

Many people fear catching a protozoan disease, Toxoplasmosis, from cats. This disease can cause illness in the human, but more seriously, can cause birth defects in the unborn. Toxoplasmosis is a common disease, sometimes spread through the feces of cats. It is caused most often from eating raw or rare beef. Pregnant women and people with a depressed immune system should not touch the cat litter box. Other than that, there is no reason that these people have to avoid cats.

It has been scientifically proven that stroking a cat can lower one's blood pressure.

People who are allergic to cats are actually allergic to cat saliva or to cat dander. If the resident cat is bathed regularly the allergic people tolerate it better.

Please don't forget to leave your paws in the Purrfect guestbook!!!