•Besides smelling with their nose, cats can smell with an additional organ called the Jacobson's organ, located in the upper surface of the mouth.

•In ancient Egypt, killing a cat was a crime punishable by death.

•Cats lack a true collarbone.  Because of this, they can generally squeeze their bodies through any space they can get their heads through.  Their skeleton contains more than 230 bones and the pelvis and shoulders are loosely attached, increasing their flexibility.  A cat's backbone has 26 more vertabrae than a human's has.

•Cats sleep 16-18 hours per day.

•A large majority of white cats with blue eyes are deaf.  White cats with only one blue eye are only deaf in the ear closest to the blue eye.

•A cat uses 32 muscles to control its ears, and they can pivot 180 degrees.

•The black plague in Europe was partially due to the fact that people believed cats were evil, so all cats were collected and burned, leaving the rats (carrying disease-causing parasites) to run free and multiply.  Those people who secretly kept cats were among the many that survived.

•The domestic cat, the camel, and the giraffe are the only animals who walk by moving both their front and hind legs on one side, then the other.

•Cats have about 100 vocal sounds while dogs have only 10.

•Cats can hear sounds that are almost two octaves higher than humans can hear.

•Cats can jump seven time the length of their tail.

•Cat whiskers can be used as an alternative sensing device in the dark.  The extreme sensitivity of the hairs can register very small changes in the air pressure, enabling cats to maneuver in the dark.

•Contrary to popular belief, cats cannot see in the dark although they are able to see better than humans in dimly lit areas.

•All cats are digitigrade - they walk on their toes with the back part of their foot raised (which is yet another reason not to declaw your cat).

•Cats have five toes on their front paws and four on their back paws.  A polydactyl cat has more than the normal number of toes.

•Both wild cubs and domestic kittens are born with blue eyes.  Color changes usually occur in the 12th week.

•A cat cannot see directly under its nose, which is why they have a hard time finding food dropped on the floor.

•Cats with white fur and skin on their faces and ears are prone to sunburn.

•Both domestic and wild cats that have dark markings on the fur have those same dark markings on their skin.  For example, if a leopard were shaved, its skin would still make it look as if it were a leopard.

•A six-month-old cat is developmentally equivalent to a child of approximately 10 to 14 years old.

•Cats dream only during deep sleep.

•Abraham Lincoln was the first president to bring a cat into the White House.

•President Rutherford B. Hayes had the first Siamese cat in the United States.

•Selective breeding has resulted in an extremely fat face among certain varieties of cats.

•Colors do not appear as vivid to cats as they do to humans.

•According to superstition, dreaming of a ginger cat promises luck in money and business.

•In Great Britain, seeing a white cat is considered bad luck.

•Studies disagree as to whether or not cats can see the color red.

•Non-pedigree cats generally have fewer genetic health problems than pedigrees do.

•A kitten first opens its eyes between 8 and 20 days of age.  As soon as a kitten's eyes are open, its sense of balance is impeccable.   A kitten's eyes change to their permanent color at 12 weeks of age.  Kittens' permanent teeth grow in between the ages of 12 and 18 weeks.

•To a cat's eyes, stationary objects appear slightly out of focus.

•Like humans, cats are either left- or right-handed.

•Abyssinians are believed to be descended from the cats of ancient Egypt.

•Kittens begin to run and play at approximately four weeks of age.

•Most of a kitten's growth takes place during sleep.

•The brain of a sleeping cat is as active as when the animal is awake.

•No matter the cat's age, a human companion will always be seen as a mother figure.

•The location of its eyes gives a cat binocular vision for better depth perception.

•A cat has approximately 40 more bones than a human does.

•Although kittens play more than adults, most cats play throughout their entire lives.

•There are approximately 100 breeds of pedigreed domestic cats, but the non-pedigreed "house cat" is by far the most   popular.  Pedigree cats make up a mere 10 percent of the cat population.

•A stocky, compact body, such as that of the Persian, is termed "cobby."

•Colorpoint patterns are affected by temperature - the cooler it is, the darker the fur.  Siamese kittens are white when they leave the warm womb, and the extremities become their darkest parts.

•In cold weather, a cat's hair stands on end to stop a layer of air that acts as insulation.

•Cats often choose manmade physical borders as the boundaries of their own territories.

•Even as they sleep, cats monitor the environment for signs of danger.

•Cat are able to see in one-sixth of the light that humans require.

•To a cat, being petted by a human is akin to being groomed by the cat's own mother.

•Cats have twice as many odor-receptor cells as humans do.

•A cat on alert pushes its whiskers forward.  The top two rows of a cat's whiskers move independently of the bottom two.

•Because a cat lacks sweat glands, it sometimes licks itself to cool down.

•A feral cat is not a wild cat.  It is a domestic cat that has grown up in the wild.

•The small patch of white fur on a cat's chest is known as a "locket."  "Mascara lines" describe the dark fur that extends from the edges of a cat's eyes.

•A kitten that is taken too early from its mother may be either aggressive or timid later in life.  If it is taken before it is weaned it may never mature emotionally. It may try to suck on objects, human fingers, or its own paw for the rest of its life.

•The hairless tip of a cat's nose is known as the "nose leather."

•The hair that grows out of a cat's ears is described as its "ear furnishings."

•Jowls are common in unneutered adult male cats.

•Tabbies are marked on the forehead with an "M."

•A cat with a "ruff" has fine, long hairs that frame the face.

•Even lions, tigers, and the other big cats engage in play in order to sharpen their hunting skills.

•The big cats are incapable of meowing, with the exception of cougars and lynxes.

•Well-fed cats make good mousers because they have more patience than underfed cats do.

•A group of cats is called a "clowder" or a "pounce."

•Most cats have no eyelashes.