Did You Know? (Little Known Facts About Cats)

by John Sage

Down at the Malcolm Cat Sanctuary at Akrotiri, there is a dedicated team of ailurophiles (otherwise known as helpers and feeders) together with a whole host of members and supporters who also fall into this category.

Don’t know what an ailurophile is? Neither did I until I came across it by accident. It is from the Greek word ailouros meaning ‘cat’ so the word simply means ‘a cat lover’. (Why couldn’t they just say that?)

But it got me thinking, so I looked to see if there were any other facts about cats and their followers that I (and perhaps other ailurophiles) didn’t know.

Here are a few:

  1. Cats sleep for 70% of their lives.
  2. Cats have 32 muscles to control their outer ear, compared to only 6 in humans.
  3. Owning a cat can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by a third, according to recent research.
  4. Adult cats only meow to communicate with humans.
  5. Cats recognise their owners’ voice, but seem too cool to care, according to a study (anyone who owns a cat knows that already).
  6. Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats.
  7. Cats have three eyelids.
  8. Cats have more than 100 sounds in their vocal repertoire, while dogs have only 10.
  9. A fingerprint is to a human as a nose is to a cat.
  10. In ancient Egypt, killing a cat, even accidentally, incurred the death penalty.
  11. Cats can get sick or die from eating chocolate (in fact they can’t taste anything sweet).
  12. Cats can’t see directly below their noses.
  13. Nearly 10 percent of a cat’s bones are contained in its tail.
  14. Cats can become addicted to tuna, and refuse to eat anything else, becoming known at ‘tuna junkies’.
  15. Not many nerds like me spend their time looking up unusual facts about cats!

Hope you enjoyed this little survey and hope that you get to know more about our feline friends (and hopefully become a lifetime friend to one) at the sanctuary – you will always be welcome.

We are open all year round (except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day) between 9 and 11 am and from 2 to 4 pm, seven days a week.

In fact, you may become one of our team of ‘ailurophiles’ !

Malcolm Cat Sanctuary 25952622.

Visit the website www.malcolmcat.org