Fun Facts About Cats & Dogs

Cats

• The nose pad of a cat is ridged in a pattern that is unqiue as a fingerprint of a human.
• A cat's heart beats twice as fast as a human heart and 110-140 beats per minute.
• The largest cat breed is the Ragdoll. Males weigh 12-20 pounds, with females weighing 10-15 pounds.
• The smallest cat breed is the Singapura. Males weigh six pounds while females weigh only four pounds.
• Calico cats are almost always female.
• The domestic cat is the only cat species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. All wild cats hold their tails horizontally or tucked between their legs while walking.
• During her reproductive life, a single cat can deliver over 100 kittens.
• A single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kitten is just seven years.
• A cat will almost never meow at another cat. This sound is reserved for humans.
• The oldest cat on records was Puss, from England who died in 1939, just one day after her 36th birthday.
• It is believed that a white cat sitting on your doorstep just before your wedding is a sign of lasting happiness.
• Cats can see up to 120 feet away. Their peripheral vision is about 285 degrees.
• The color of a cat's eyes will change as it grows older.
• Kittens begin dreaming at just over one week old.
• Cats need 1/6th the amount of light that humans do to see. Their night vision is amazing!
• Each year Americans spend $4 billion on cat food. That's $1 billion dollars more than they spend on baby food.
• Egyptians shaved their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when they lost a beloved cat.
• Never feed your cat dog food. Cats need five times more protein than dogs do.

Dogs

• Scientists now believe that dogs have been living with people for 100,000 years.
• The American Animal Association estimates that 53 percent of owners vacation with their pets.
• The ancient Chinese royalty loved the Pekingese, and carried them tucked in the sleeves of their royal robes.
• Dachshunds were bred to fight badgers in their dens.
• The Poodle haircut was originally meant to improve the dogs' swimming abilities as a retriever, with the pom- poms left in place to warm their joints.
• Greyhounds are so fast they can reach speeds up to 45 mph for short amounts of time.
• If you see a dog curled up with his tail covering his nose, that means they do so to keep their noses warm in cold weather.
• Many dogs reflect the color green in the dark, but some also reflect orange and red.
• A dog's brain is so good at detecting smell and movement, they even know what part of the house you're in, what you ate for breakfast, and whether you have a cut on your hand.
• In America, 25 percet of all dogs sleep on their owners' bed-Jon Katz.
• Approximately 230 dogs have lived in the White House, more than all the presidents, first ladies and presidential children combined-The Pawprints of History
• A dog was “King” of Norway for three years duringt he 11th century AD. The Nprwegian king, angry that his subjects once deplored him, put the dog on the throne and demanded that it be treated like royalty.
• Laikia was the world's first ever canine astronaut. She was sent into space in an artificial earth satellite, Sputnik 2, by the Russian government in 1957.
• Scientists discovered that dogs could detect a series of test tubes with cancerous cells in it.
• Dogs can warn epileptics that they are going to have a seizure.