Interesting facts about cats( and a few about dogs

[lindahoyland]

Cat facts
8/12/2006 5:00 AM
By: Lisa Chelenza



Cats were domesticated around 6,000 years ago and have stayed connected to humans ever since. In the late 1980s, cats became the most popular pets in the U.S. So today we honor our feline friends with fun facts you may not know.

Sorry dog lovers, but cats are the number one talkers in the home, with over 100 different sounds. Dogs average around 10. Your cat probably won't ever steal a donut off your plate. Cats cannot taste sweets. FYI, chocolate is poisonous to both dogs and cats, and so are many over-the-counter drugs. Never give your pets medication unless prescribed by a vet.

Despite the common belief that cats are color blind, recent studies have shown cats can distinguish red, blue and green.

Watch your cat walk around the house some day and you will find they walk with both left legs then both right legs and on their toes. They can also jump seven times as high as their tail.



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Cat facts

Cats were domesticated around 6,000 years ago and have stayed connected to humans ever since. In the late 1980s, cats became the most popular pets in the U.S. So today we honor our feline friends with fun facts you may not know.







Cats are sound asleep 15 percent of their lives and half asleep about half of the time. It can be very tiring to be far superior to their human caretakers. Cats see six times better than humans at night and find their way home using a biological clock -- the Earth's magnetic fields and the angle of the sun.

Spaying and neutering your cats will help them live a longer healthier life as well as keep your vet costs down over their lifetime. And you won't have to worry about males spraying in your house or finding homes for a litter of kittens.

Americans take care of about 60 million cats and spend billions on everything from vet care to catnip. But there are still thousands of cats who need good homes in cat rescue organizations and animal shelters. You may find a new friend there waiting for you.

[StefaniaB]

Thanks for posting this, Linda. It started me on a rant that I hope everyone will put up with. It is a comment on veterinary practices here in the US. I wonder if the following occurs in other places in our Global community:

Last week my aged cat suddenly refused to eat, refused to walk, and did little but sleep for about a day. The vet and I were concerned that she might have early stages of kidney failure--not at all uncommon for a 16 year old cat. Still, if she were 10, i would have thought she had a virus because her temperature was a border line fever.

Poor ZouZou was so dehydrated that they kept her at the regular vet for 24 hours and pumped her full of fluids. Oh, and they also started her on antibiotics. One week later, after blood tests that showed nothing major wrong, my 16 year old cat is eating, drinking, playing, and acting herself. What does it prove? I spent a huge amount of money to verify that ZouZou had a virus and merely needed a $16 bottle of antiobiotics to get better.

She's worth it, but why don't vets go for the normal solution first, before they do all these tests for the nearing death solution.

Rant off.

A much poorer Steff

[lucidity]

Sorry to hear about that problem, Steff. I'm glad to hear that your sweet one is doing better though.

How do you guys feel about declawing? I always thought it was very sad, since I heard what they do is cut off the tip of the cat's digit to keep the claw from being able to grow.

When my son was a toddler we had a terrible time with Herbie wanting to scratch him. In fact he did scratch my son more than a few times and we wondered if it was time to change our ideas on the practice. We called the vet and even made an appointment.

The day before the appointment my husband and I discussed it again and decided against it, since Herbie was over 12 years old and the anesthesia might have been more of a problem than the surgery itself.

So, basically, I'm not sure one way or the other. I still think it's sad, but I can see it from the other side as well. (Typical Libra!)

[lindahoyland]

I had opposite experiences to you, Stef, we took our old cat who wouldn't eat to the Vet( When my parents were alive) and the Vet dismissed it as an infection and fleas. We went twice and they inisited it was only that. My Mum found him dead in the back garden soon after.

Last year, my Queenie had cat flu and refused to eat and was rapidly deteriorating. It took 3 trips to the vet before they admitted her to put on a drip.Luckily, she made a full recovery.

I am glad Zou Zou is getting better.

Declawing is against the law in the UK as we consider it very cruel. The best thing is to keep your tetanus injections up to date if you have a cat.

[Raksha]

Steff, I'm so glad ZouZou got better. I've been on the receiving end of expensive over-testing of a pet, but in ZouZou's case, I think the vet did the right thing in pumping her with fluids, only because the cat was elderly and dehydrated.

(in my case, it was my Jenny, who seemed to be in pain and not inclined to move after she had eaten too much - she would yip in pain if she tried to move around. So I brought her to the vet, where the vet-who's-most-inclined-to-do-surgery-but-least-inclined-to-give-advice did all sorts of blood tests and had her on I.V.s for a day or two, suspecting pancreatitis. After reviewing the bloodwork results, and seeing that Jenny was physically feeling better, he came to the conclusion that she had suffered from "dietary indiscretions" - meaning a $120 bellyache! I was probably lucky to only have run up $120 worth of veterinary fees. Nowadays (it happened about 8 years ago) it would cost at least twice that. Then there was the time that the same vet wanted to do surgery on Jenny's ears because a mild ear infection that was not causing her any pain had not gone away in 10 days. (Since Jenny was coming into season,I sent Jenny off to her show-handler with instructions to take her to her own vet, who eliminated the infection in about three days with an ear-cleaning solution I still use - for about $10).

I don't support declawing in cats; I think they ought to be able to climb trees if they're indoor/outdoor cats, and scratching posts if they live indoors. I think that if one is worried about a cat scratching one's toddler, one should not allow the toddler to touch the cat (I don't think cats attack toddlers from across a room), or monitor how the toddler is handling the cat (which would be a good idea anyway)...Or, don't get a cat in the first place.

If the cat is so vicious that he attacks the toddler unprovoked, then find the cat a home without kids.

I don't mean to sound didactic, Lucidity; I'm sure you're a good parent and pet owner, but too many parents don't watch their small children and pets, and the kid(s) end up getting scratched or worse. When you have a toddler, you should never let it interact with a cat or a dog un-supervised, no matter how gentle the critter is or how much the toddler loves animals.

When I was about six, I yearned for a kitten to cuddle, since our dog did not allow me to hug or cuddle him (he would guard and protect me, but did not appreciate me, or any child, grabbing at him, and my mother kept kids away from him). My mother took in a kitten that had been a stray. I don't really remember having it, but my mother later told me that I was making the kitten miserable by hugging it all the time, the kitten was scratching me in retaliation; so she found a home on a farm for the kitty. We then acquired a gentle six-month-old female Basset Hound who didn't mind being petted.


I do support removing canine dewclaws (the unused claws, evolutionary leftovers, usually found on the rear legs near the hocks I think, they're near an artery and could cause the dog a lot of bleeding if they catch on something), as long as it's done at the proper time - which is 2-3 days after birth., when no anesthesia is necessary and I believe it's less physically traumatic.




RAKSHA THE DEMON, who is not a vet but who has probably sent her vets' kids to college by now.

[StefaniaB]

Oh, animals. What we humans go through for them.

I totally support the British law against declawing cats. I wish the US had a similar law. That practice is nothing but cruel. I didn't know about dogs' dew claws, Raksha. From what you folks said about all the testing and IV that Zouie went through, I guess I did the right thing. I was just floored that I paid $600 and put my poor cat through what she no doubt considered hell.

As far as the cat clawing the toddler, well, kids grow up. What happened with your son and the cat, Lucidity? Were they able to resolve their differences?





- Steff