No milk for cats !
You might think that a saucer of milk for the cat is like sweet honey to you. However, you will be amazed to know that cats are lactose-intolerant! Like some humans, as cats grow, they stop making the lactase enzyme in their bodies. So a bottle of milk is not really the best treat to your cat.
Super kidneys
Another amazing fact is about cats is that they (and their tasty friends, the rats) have powerful kidneys that are so efficient that they can drink seawater to rehydrate, unlike many other species.
The mice assassin!
Cats are known as talented hunters. However, the most talented of them according to The Guinness Book of World Records is Towser, the Glenturret cat. Towser, the cat from Crieff, Scotland, lived for about 24 years. During these 24 years, she managed to kill 28,899 mice. So you can forget about the hitman and let Towser do the mouse assassination jobs for you!
Suitors for cats
You have probably seen how miserable a cat can be when her heat cycles start. She will keep on yowling and continuously try to escape the house to meet up with cat suitors. Male cats that share the same eagerness will stick around, waiting for a mating opportunity. However, the mating process is not romantic at all. It is like torture, as the male cat’s penis is full of barbs that look like fish hooks causing much pain to the female. Despite that, this painful part of the courtship is what brings on ovulation.
Cats have nine lives
The proverb “ cats have nine lives” has become widely used to convey the meaning of the invincibility of someone. This proverb is based on a true fact about cats. Cats would seem to be able to escape death due to their speed and agility. This is very clear in the cats’ ability to survive falls from heights. There are many records of cats falling from more than 20 floors with only getting minor injuries. You call that luck? Well, I don’t think so.
The cat hero
Although, unlike dogs, cats might be known for being somehow selfish and self-interested, some of them can be really heroes. In 2012, a cat managed to save its female owner’s life when she suffered a diabetic seizure and lost consciousness. The cat jumped onto her chest and kept on nudging and biting at her face so that she wakes up. The cat then ran into the diabetic woman’s son and kept on trying to wake him up until he woke up and went to call for help.
Another cat hero
Another cat hero was in Argentina in 2008. A one-year-old boy was found by police being protected and kept alive by a group of cats. These cats saved the life of that orphan baby boy after being separated from his homeless father. They gathered around him at night to keep him warm and went to bring scraps of food for him to eat.
Kill that black cat !
Gregory IX, the Pope from 1227 until 1241, believed that people were worshiping black cats as a representation of Satan. Therefore, he ordered to kill all black cats, causing huge massacres of cats all over Europe. These massacres fired back later in the 1340s, when rats that are infected with the Black Plague spread in Europe, causing this epidemic to widely spread without any protection by the cats that would have likely killed these sick rats and saved millions of lives.
Cat street accidents
Running over an animal while driving your car is a highly likely incident that you might face. It feels really bad, and you most probably will stop to try to help that poor animal, especially if it is a pet. Sadly, an enormous number of people are reported to continue on their way without stopping even after hitting people, and not only a pet. In the UK, for example, it is against the law not to report a car accident of hitting a dog or a farm animal, not reporting a car accident involving a cat in not against the law. I believe that law needs to be amended.
The Mafia cat
The Godfather is one of the greatest movie in history, and it won many Academy Awards. It even became the subject of many studies, especially the Mafia boss, Vito Corleone, the role played by the famous actor Marlon Brando. What is interesting about that Godfather is that despite his ruthless power and influence, he always showed deep tenderness to his pet cat. However, this cat was not planned to appear at the movie or be part of that epic. It was only a wandering cat in the set that Brando picked up and then the idea came and the cat became a movie star.
