10 Cool Cat Facts That Kids Will Love

Because cats are the best 😻

Cool cat

Cats like to act all mysterious — and it turns out they’re hiding some pretty cool facts about themselves! Check out these top 10 coolest, kid-friendly cat facts to find out why your cat BFF is even more awesome than you thought.

Cats spend about 70 percent of their day sleeping

Both wild cats and house cats can spend anywhere from 16 to 20 hours of their day sleeping. It’s likely that they evolved to sleep so much to save their energy for hunting. However, it’s rare that cats are in deep sleep for most of those hours, so it’s more like they’re napping. They have to stay alert, after all!

Over 200 cats live at Disneyland

Shortly after Disneyland opened in 1955, Walt Disney discovered that a group of feral cats began living in Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Most of the cats were adopted out to park cast members, but many remained and they and their babies have acted as pest control for decades. Today, it’s estimated that about 200 cats live in Disneyland, and there are feeding stations around the park where they can go and grab a quick bite before continuing life in the Happiest Place On Earth.

Calico cats are almost always female

Calico, or tri-colored, cats are almost always girls because their coloring is related to the X chromosome (two X chromosomes are needed for calico fur, and only girl cats have two X chromosomes)! While some male cats are calicos, it’s super rare.

Some cats are born with extra toes

Cats with multiple toes, also called polydactyl cats, have an extra toe that sometimes looks like a thumb, or like the cat is wearing a mitten. They’re sometimes called Hemingway cats because author Ernest Hemingway owned a polydactyl cat named Snow White, and her 50-plus descendents still happily roam around Hemingway’s Key West home. About half of them have extra toes!

Cats only started meowing to communicate with humans

You may notice that when cats play with each other they don’t use the same sounds they use when communicating something to humans. That’s because adult cats only continue meowing after their kitten stage to communicate with their human parents, in the same way kittens mew to their moms. It’s literally a cry for attention that they use with us, but not with other adult cats!

A group of cats is called a “clowder”

It’s true! More than two cats can be called a clowder, a clutter, a pounce or a glaring of cats.

Purring could be a form of pain relief for some cats

We all know that cats purr when they’re happy, but some scientists believe that cats also purr when they’re in pain. The low vibrations that purring creates could help repair broken bones, heal wounds and relieve pain, similar to a back massager.

Cats can’t taste sweetness

A study in 2005 confirmed that cats are “sweet blind,” meaning they can’t taste sweetness at all. And although they lack the taste buds to taste sugary things, scientists believe they did have them at one point in history, but they’ve since lost them through evolution.

The ancient Egyptians kept cats as pets, too

Household cats have been around for thousands of years. In 2014, archaeologists found six cat skeletons buried with their parents in an Egyptian cemetery that dated back to between 3600 B.C. and 3800 B.C.!

In fact, when family cats would pass away, ancient Egyptians would shave off their eyebrows!

Ancient Egyptians believed that their cats were magical and good luck charms, and if they could afford to, they would often dress them in jewels. So when the family cat passed away, Egyptian families would shave off their eyebrows and would mourn their loss until their eyebrows grew back.

You always knew your cat was pretty cool, but now you can see just how awesome she really is!