October 29th is National Cat Day. Here are 14 little-known facts about our feline friends

[TexasTowelie]

October 29th is National Cat Day, an annual day of awareness to promote feline adoption.

Around 3.4 million cats are in U.S. animal shelters every year, and only 37 percent of them find forever homes.

"Cats have been popular household pets for thousands of years, and their numbers only continue to rise. Today there are three cats for every dog on the planet, and yet cats remain more mysterious, even to their most adoring owners," says John Bradshaw, the author of Cat Sense, on the book's website.

Cats have gotten a bad reputation as finicky, not affectionate loners. But is that reputation deserved? We did some hunting and came up with these little-known facts about our furry feline friends:

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/october-29th-as-national-cat-day-little-known-facts-about-our-feline/2342596

[pangaia]

1. Always liked cats.

They refuse to play silly dog games...well, most of the time.

Too self-possesed.

[hibbing]

2. Whiskers

Yeah yeah, their whiskers determine if their head can fit through a space, but what if their belly is a lot wider than their head? I'm a horrible owner, my cat is so chubby.


Peace

[TexasTowelie]

3. Let me introduce you to cat corset...

I don't know if it will fix the problem you described, but at least the photo is "in season."

[JayhawkSD]

4. Yes, that is one of several "facts" that are incorrect.

The whiskers would have to be the width of their bodies, and almost no cats have whiskers that long. Some cats have whiskers which are not even the full width of their head. The nerves at the roots are very sensitive and can detect air currents, which means they can use their whiskers to navigate in enclosed spaces with no light. They can also detect the air currents caused by the movements of prey near their heads.

One person's cat kept escaping the house and was discovered to be climbing up the chimney at night. The reason he was never caught doing it until they installed a motion triggered camera was that he only did it at night when cool night air was sinking in the chimney. During the day time air was either still or rising in the chimney.

Their ability to maneuver through tight spaces has to do with their joint structure, which is not socketed like ours, and like a dog's, with interconnected bones, but is hinged and connected only by ligaments. Has nothing to do with lack of collarbones, which is a result of not having a vertical neck.

One thing it didn't mention is that cats night vision is able to see ultraviolet, which means they can see heat. Sort of like night vision goggles. That's why they are night hunters. They don't see stationary objects very well in daytime, nor to they see vertical movement as well as they do horizontal movement.

[KT2000]

5. I'll be celebrating!

National Cat Day !!!

[Duppers]

6. only 37% find forever homes. 😞

Folks, get the babies spade and neutered.

[Skittles]

7. aw my kitty is one in 200?

I have to take him to the vet for an asthma shot about once every two months

[JayhawkSD]

9. Sometimes what they think is asthma is actually a heartworm.

See below. Might be well to test for it, if they haven't already.

[Skittles]

10. would a full blood panel detect bloodworm?

he had one of those recently....my kitty was an injured stray - I ordered a feral trap over the internet to catch him. He treated me like the someone who had stolen him from the great outdoors and could not wait to get out. When he did, he was gone for over two weeks. I spotted him from my patio one cold, rainy morning, and he came back inside. He has insisted on maintaining a semi-feral life (I insist he always be home if I am at work or asleep and am usually successful in this endeavor)....this has been going on for a dozen years now. His asthma started a couple of years ago.

[JayhawkSD]

11. No. They have to test specifically for the antibody.

And it's heartworm, actually, not bloodworm. The lifespan of the heartworm is about one year, so if it has been going on for two years it's probably not heartworm. Still, I would test. It's not expensive.

[Skittles]

12. now that I think about it

I do believe my vet did test for heartworm, when my cat first exhibited symptoms at age 10....I had him do a chest xray also to rule out other stuff ....he gets the shot and is fine for I'd say 7 weeks and then he will have a couple of mild wheezing episodes that then escalate pretty quickly. He really hates me stuffing him into a box and taking him to a guy who sticks a needle in him...total drama queen. I wish he could see the correlation between the needle and feeling better right away - well, maybe he does but he still hates it. I adore him and will do what it takes.

[JayhawkSD]

13. Sounds like you're a good caretaker.

Chest x-ray won't catch it either, nor will it detect asthma. Doesn't mean it wasn't a good idea, it certainly was.

Other than the antibody blood test, the only other test would be ultrasound of the heart, but I think you have him covered. It's been two years, and no heartworm would possibly live that long. (They cannot reproduce within the cat; require the intermediate host of a mosquito.) He is responding to asthma medication, which pretty well confirms he has asthma.

Reminds me of when I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. The neurologist said the only way to confirm it in a laboratory test was during autopsy and, "unfortunately you're not dead yet." (My wife took some exception to that.) "What we usually do," he went on, "is start you on Parkinson's medication, and if the symptoms clear up then we confirm the diagnosis."

Unhappily, the diagnosis was confirmed but, happily, some twelve years later the disease is still very well controlled by the medication.

[JayhawkSD]

16. "He really hates me stuffing him into a box and taking him to a guy who sticks a needle in him..."

Molly mostly doesn't like going to the vet, but mostly doesn't complain, or uses her "tiny voice" in transit. It's not a long trip. One day I was taking her in for the checkup and had her in the carrier on the front seat beside me. She had not made a sound until I was entering the freeway. I was down the on ramp and looking over my left shoulder to blend into 70mph traffic when she let out this ear splitting protest. Scared the shit out of me and almost killed both of us.

She, by the way, is a survivor of Lymphoma, a bit over four years now. Calico kitties are tough. She gets pills twice a day, four of them each time, and subcutaneous fluid daily. Takes it all in stride, like it's no big deal. Awesome little cat.

[JayhawkSD]

8. Cats have amazing immune systems.

When a mosquito, for instance, injects a cat with heartworm, the cat's immune system often kills all of the larvae and the cat comes out uninfected, leaving nothing but antibodies behind. Sometimes just one or two will survive to become worms, which will live in the cat's heart and have no effect on the cat whatever - sometimes cause a bit of coughing. Once in a rare while when the worm dies of old age it will be ejected from the heart into the cat's lung and will then instantly kill the cat, but that is very rare.

Heartworms have so little effect on cats that it was long thought that cats don't get them. On the rare times that a cat died from them the cause was simply listed as "unknown" or "cardiac arrest." Now we know that they do, probably as often as dogs, but while dogs have no natural defense against them and will host as many as fifty worms in their hearts, cats are almost immune.

[Kingofalldems]

15. Larry The Cat sez:

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