Hey Internet! You Say You Love Cats, But Here Are 36 Facts About Cats You Never Knew


If there’s thing we know about the internet, it’s that the internet loves cats. But how much do you, Mr. and Mrs. Internet, really know about cats? However much you think you know about the internet’s favorite pet, we’ll bet you didn’t know all of the 36 facts about cats in this video.

This is John Green of the blog Mental Floss. Green’s whole job is to find the most obscure, interesting, or just plain weird facts about — everything. But we don’t need to know about everything. We only need to know about cats.

So before you even watch this video, which in all honesty, is fascinating and well worth your next nine minutes — at least if you love cats — let us hit you with a few cat facts of our own.

Did you know…

• Cats only meow at humans — rarely, if ever, at other cats.

• Most female cats are right handed, or right-pawed as the case may be. Male cats on the other hand, or paw, are mostly lefties. Maybe that’s where the phrase “southpaw” comes from.

• Pet cats outnumber pet dogs in the United States 88 to 74 —million, that is.

• If you haven’t spayed/neutered your cat, you must! Cat overpopulation leads to an increase in the number of feral cats, or “alley cats” — that is, domestic cats born and raised in the wild. And that’s bad for the environment, because feral cats have been responsible for wiping out at least 33 other species.

• We all love it when our cats purr. But scientists still don’t know how cats do it. What makes that purring sound? It’s a cat mystery.

• The brain of a cat shares 90 percent of its characteristics in common with the human brain. That’s more than dog brains.

• A typical house cat can run faster than any human being who ever lived — over 30 miles pert hour, in short bursts.

• If your cat seems reluctant to drink from its water bowl, try moving the water away from the food. In the wild, cats won’t drink from a stream or pond near where they eat because they instinctively know that their dead prey could contaminate the water with disease. House cats have the same instinct, though in most cases, they’ll get over it.

Not enough cat facts for you? Watch the Mental Floss video for 36 more.

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