Cats' standoffish nature and refusal to participate in behavioral studies means that we know surprisingly
little about what's going on inside a kitty's mind.
Luckily, we’re learning a little more each day about our feline friends.
Here’s a look at why exactly cats do some of the adorably weird things they do.
No one's sure when cats first moved into our homes and hearts, but the most commonly repeated
piece of trivia is that it happened in ancient Egypt around 4,000 years ago.
They were considered sacred, treated like royalty, and valued as an important part of
the family.
There's other evidence that suggests cats arrived well before then, with remains of
a human and cat who were buried together dating back 9,500 years.
No one's exactly sure when these mysterious creatures showed up and volunteered their
services, but we're definitely not complaining.
While we consider our feline friends to be domesticated animals, that's not exactly the
case.
When scientists took an up-close-and-personal look at cats' DNA, they discovered that cats
are still pretty wild, at least on a genetic level.
Despite their name, domestic house cats still share most of their DNA with their wild cousins.
Unlike dogs, who have mostly grown out of any wolf-like behavior, cats have kept their
wild instincts, as well as their insistence to be treated like royalty.
Some things never change.
If you’ve ever wondered if your cat has a preferred paw, you’re not alone.
Psychologists at Queen's University Belfast were also interested to see which paw the
majority of cats used the most.
Researchers gave 42 different cats separate jars containing a bit of tuna, which the cats
had to fish out in order to eat.
Whichever paw the cat used to get their snack revealed to researchers whether the animal
was right-pawed or left-pawed.
Out of the 21 male and 21 female felines participating in the experiment, 20 of the males were deemed
left-pawed, with one ambidextrous over-achiever.
Interestingly enough, 20 of the females proved to be right-pawed, and in true cat spirit,
one female cat refused to conform to any human societal expectations.
Cats are notoriously picky eaters.
Just when you think you've got them figured out, they'll almost definitely prove you wrong.
That's not just out of spite, however.
Our feline friends are actually picky because of the weird way their taste buds work.
"She’s not allowed in the United States because she only eats bald eagles."
Cats have always been carnivores, and feral cats still rely on a heavily meat-based diet
for survival.
Their taste buds convey a huge amount of information, including when something's gone bad or been
poisoned, and they also have two different receptors in their tongues that can taste
bitterness.
How cats interpret other kinds of flavors is still unclear, but one thing's for sure,
if they don't like their dinner, they'll absolutely let you know.
It's estimated that about 1 to 5 percent of cats suffer from a feline version of asthma,
which is a lot like the asthma found in humans, complete with breathing issues and coughing.
While a multitude of factors are often at play when a human develops asthma, the biggest
cause for asthma in cats is, well, us.
Human dandruff is cited as a major cause of feline asthma, along with other irritants
that humans bring into their homes, like cigarette smoke.
Some cats have such a powerful allergic reaction to humans and their disgusting habits that
they have to fight to breathe and could suffer collapsed lungs or even broken ribs.
Antibiotics and anti-inflammatories have been shown to help, and asthmatic cats can usually
have their conditions managed, even though vets consider it incurable.
The moral of the story?
If you want to be a cat parent, you should kick your bad habits first.
It's an argument for the ages: who's smarter, cats or dogs?
As it turns out, on a biological level, cats might have a slight edge on dogs.
Just don’t tell them that, they’ll never let the dogs live it down.
With the wonders of modern science, researchers have been able to measure the number of neurons
present in the parts of cats' and dogs' brains responsible for things like problem-solving
and information processing.
A cat has a staggering 300 million neurons in the information-processing part of its
brain, while a dog only has 160 million.
Sorry, pups.
While this means that cats are likely going to be mentally quicker than dogs in many respects,
where do they fall in comparison to humans?
Part of humans' processing power comes from the folds that are on the surface of our brains.
Lots of wrinkles on the brain means a larger surface area, which subsequently means more
processing power.
Cats’ brains happen to be wrinkled like human brains; in fact, they have a 90% similarity.
They also have large and complex cerebral structures, which govern decision-making,
memory, advance planning, and reasoning skills.
Their human-like brains means there's a lot going on in those tiny heads, and if cats
ever found the time and motivation to care, they could outsmart circles around any dog.
So the next time you suspect Kitty is plotting to install himself as the world's next great
supervillain, well, you might be right.
If you've ever known an outdoor cat, you know they have a tendency to disappear for a good,
long while whenever they feel like it, leaving you to wonder where in the world they’ve
been all day, or week.
To get to the bottom of this mystery, The University of Illinois headed up a two-year
research study that fit 42 cats with radio trackers to monitor their every move.
23 of the cats, which were a mix of feral cats and free-roaming, domesticated cats,
were fitted with trackers that included vibration sensors.These sensors gave a glimpse not just
into where the cats were at any given moment, but what they were doing.
The cat with the biggest patch of kingdom was a male feral who wasn't named in the study,
so we’ll just call him Stewie.
Stewie's "home territory" covered a whopping 1,351 acres that included everything from
city streets and a college campus to fields.
As far as researchers could tell, no one made an active effort to feed Stewie, and he was
left to his own devices to find his dinner, as well as navigate his way through busy city
streets and rural areas with dangers like coyotes.
Stewie was a special case, but even the free-roaming cats that technically had homes wandered about
4.9 acres over the course of the study.
However, researchers discovered that all of the cats favored being close to buildings.
If there's one thing cats have in common with toddlers, it's their obsession with boxes.
A box provides cats with a place to hide and ambush passing ankles, as well as the security
of being inside an enclosed space.
When researchers in the Netherlands studied the benefits of giving cats boxes to hide
in, they found that cats with boxes adjusted much more easily to new surroundings and were
far less stressed than cats without boxes.
Essentially, hiding out in a box is a cat’s way of resolving conflict.
It's much more efficient for a cat to hide from their problems than it is for them to
fight.
That makes sense, but what’s up with a cat’s tendency to sit in other weird places, like
in the bathroom sink, or in bowls, or on top of the highest shelf?
Well, there's actually a physical explanation.
Cats have a comfortable temperature range of between 86 and 97 degrees Fahrenheit, which
is much warmer than what humans prefer.
That means cats tend to seek out sunny spots on the floor, as well as tiny, confined spaces
to soak up any warmth they can.
Cats don't just sleep a lot, they sleep all over the place.
You might find Captain Fuzzy-Butt catching a nap in a window, in a chair upstairs, under
your bed, on top of your kitchen cabinets, and in various other random places.
Why do cats feel the need switch up their napping spot so often?
According to experts at Catster, part of the reason is seasonal.
The windowsill that Fuzzy-Butt loves in the summertime isn't as nice in the winter months,
so he goes elsewhere until the long, sunny afternoons come back.
Other experts say part of the reason is likely instinctual.
Cats in the wild tend to sleep in different places for safety, varying their routine to
ensure they aren't easy targets for predators.
As any owner of multiple cats knows, when there's more than one of them in the house,
cats tend to get pretty territorial.
You'll likely find that the highest perch on the cat tree is the napping domain of the
dominant, or oldest, cat.
Some cats might share their space, but they probably won't be too happy about it.
According to Senior Cat Wellness, we may play a part in a cat’s sleeping arrangements,
as sleeping with humans is a cat’s way of bonding with them.
If your cat goes from bed to bed, they probably just want to bond a little bit with everyone!
Changes in mood or the family dynamic also influence a cat's behavior.
Household chaos or grief over a lost friend might make your cat withdraw from his old,
favorite places.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, cats are complicated creatures.
Admit it: you talk to your cat, and your cat talks back to you, in her own special way,
of course.
Cats have a whole bunch of ways to communicate with us, and it's up to humans to pay enough
attention to their facial cues and body language to be able to understand what they're saying.
While they're known for their meows, a lot of people don’t realize that cats don’t
meow to communicate with any other animal, only humans.
While kittens meow at their mothers, adult cats that live together don't usually meow
at each other, and studies of feral cat colonies have found that adult cats in feline company
are usually pretty quiet.
Meowing is how your cat communicates with you in a way they think you'll understand,
and if you pay close attention, you probably will.
For example, meows that mean, "Give me food, human" will definitely sound different than
meows that mean, "Please sit and give me cuddles."
A 2003 Cornell University study had cat owners listen to recordings of various cats and try
and decipher what the felines wanted based on the sounds they were making.
However, the participants were only able to distinguish the specific wants of their own
cats’ meows.
So while there probably isn't some universal cat-language our feline friends are trying
to teach us, they have trained us to recognize their own, specific commands.
That’s right: your innocent-looking cat has mastered the skill of manipulation, and
you’ve been his test subject all along.
There’s nothing cuter than a cat flopping over to show you her belly, and according
to experts, that adorable little move is your cat’s way of letting you know that she’s
super happy to see you.
By showing off her most vulnerable bits and putting herself in the most vulnerable position,
your cat is proving to you that she's happy, relaxed, and feels completely and totally
safe in your company.
Awww.
According to Senior Cat Wellness, cats that sleep on their backs also feel the same sense
of security around their people.
If your kitty is prone to flopping over and exposing her belly while taking a cat nap,
she’s just letting you know that you’re a pretty okay human in her book.
That's a high compliment coming from a cat.
Even the most marginal of cat people know that cats purr when they're happy.
They make their signature noise using some sort of respiratory magic that happens within
their diaphragm and larynx, but just how they do it remains one of the most baffling mysteries
of modern science.
However, don’t always assume your cat is purring simply because she’s content.
Cats sometimes purr when they want us to keep petting them, or keep sitting down so they’ll
have a warm lap to lay on.
It could be that your cat’s purr isn’t an expression of happiness, but more of a
dignified request, or command.
Cats are also known to purr when they're injured or scared, and researchers think that it has
something to do with a purrs’ healing power.
Most domestic cats purr at a frequency of 26 hertz, which just so happens to be the
same frequency that's been found to promote healing in bones and other body tissues.
When cats are injured, they'll likely try to help themselves heal or comfort themselves
by using the reverberation of their own purr.
This is also why cats will often curl up with injured animal friends and purr; they're just
trying to help.
Purring is also something that dying cats have been observed doing, presumably to console
themselves, and maybe to console their owners, too.
Yeah, that’s not heartbreaking at all.
Who else could use a good purr right now?
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Grunge videos about cool animal facts are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one!