The cat family split from the other mammals at least 40,000,000 years ago, making them one of the oldest mammalian families. This is also the reason they are so distinct and different from many other mammalian families, developing and evolving on their own branch for so long.
Cats are a Digitigrade Species, meaning in essence that they walk on their digits or toes, with the rest of what we would call the foot more or less raised in the air.
This is what gives them that wonderful appearance of neat little round feet and jellybean toes.
A large majority of white cats with blue eyes are deaf. White cats with only one blue eye are deaf only in the ear closest to the blue eye. White cats with orange eyes do not have this disability.
A cat’s hearing is better than a dog’s, and a cat can hear high-frequency sounds up to 2 octaves higher than a human.
Cats can run at a top speed of 31 miles per hour (49 KMPH) over short distances.
If you want a cat to love you, ignore it. Ever notice how the one new person in the room who hates cats is the very person who’s lap a cat will jump into? It’s because they’re ignoring it. In “cat speak” a direct stare is a challenge and a precursor to dominant behaviour, so the cat lover, who is likely to look them in the eye and call them is always the one a cat distrusts, until they get to know them of course.
Cats will blink in the general direction of people they like, in a gesture that says “I’m not staring, I’m not challenging, we’re OK.” With humans they like, this can amount to anything from a handshake to a kiss… so if you want a cat to like you, either ignore it, or give it 2 to 3 slow blinks.
