Test Your Knowledge! Is It Fact or Fiction?

Today, we are going to test your cat knowledge!  Below are a series of cat “facts” – your job is to determine which “facts” are true and which ones are false.  Some of the questions can be rather tricky, so read each “fact” very carefully.  Oh, and be sure to read to the conclusion of this posting for a Spike update.

This is a timed challenge, so don't lollygag!  Begin! 
 

1.    On average, cats spend 2/3 of every day sleeping. That means a nine-year-old cat has been awake for only three years of its life!  Fact or Fiction?

2.    Unlike dogs, cats do not have a sweet tooth. Scientists believe this is due to a mutation in a key taste receptor.  Fact or Fiction?

3.    A group of kittens is called a kindle. A group of cats is called a clowder. Fact or Fiction?

4.    Female cats tend to be right pawed, while male cats are more often left pawed. Interestingly, while 90% of humans are right handed, the remaining 10% of lefties also tend to be male.  Fact or Fiction? 

5.    A cat can’t climb head first down a tree because every claw on a cat’s paw points the same way. To get down from a tree, a cat must back down.  Fact or Fiction? 

6.    The technical term for a cat’s hairball is a “bezoar.”  Fact or Fiction?

7.    When a cat chases its prey, it keeps its head level. Dogs and humans bob their heads up and down.  Fact or Fiction?

8.    The first cat in space was a French cat named Felicette (a.k.a. “Astrocat”).  In 1963, France blasted the cat into outer space. Electrodes implanted in her brains sent neurological signals back to Earth. She survived the trip.  Fact or Fiction?

9.    According to Hebrew legend, Noah prayed to God for help protecting all the food he stored on the ark from being eaten by rats. In reply, God made the lion sneeze, and out popped a cat.  Fact or Fiction? 

10. When a family cat died in ancient Egypt, family members would mourn by shaving off their eyebrows. They also held elaborate funerals during which they drank wine and beat their breasts. The cat was embalmed with a sculpted wooden mask and the tiny mummy was placed in the family tomb or in a pet cemetery with tiny mummies of mice.  Fact or Fiction? 

11. In 1888, more than 300,000 mummified cats were found an Egyptian cemetery. They were stripped of their wrappings and carted off to be used by farmers in England and the U.S. for fertilizer.  Fact or Fiction?

12. In Holland’s embassy in Moscow, Russia, the staff noticed that the two Siamese cats kept meowing and clawing at the walls of the building. Their owners finally investigated, thinking they would find mice. Instead, they discovered microphones hidden by Russian spies. The cats heard the microphones when they turned on.  Fact or Fiction? 

13. A cat rubs against people not only to be affectionate but also to mark out its territory with scent glands around its face. The tail area and paws also carry the cat’s scent.  Fact or Fiction?

14. During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Innocent VIII condemned cats as evil and thousands of cats were burned. Unfortunately, the widespread killing of cats led to an explosion of the rat population, which exacerbated the effects of the Black Death.  Fact or Fiction?

So how did you do on the quiz?  Think you know cats?  Well, if you answered “true” to all the cat facts listed above, then you would be absolutely correct!  Count yourself as a cat fact “aficionado!”  Congratulations! 

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On a more serious note, we plan on taking Spike, a former Poetry cougar, to Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine so we can discover why Spike is having difficulty standing and walking. Spike will travel late tonight to Texas A&M and will be seen by the veterinarians first thing Friday morning.  Please say a special prayer for Spike as he travels to College Station in search of a cure for his medical issues.  We will tweet his trip progress and give you an update on his medical condition on Monday.

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