Cat info» Five facts about cats
Five facts about cats
White cats are deaf more
often
It is a fact that white cats are deaf more often. The cause is genetic.
The W-gene is responsible for both the white coat and the deafness. To reduce
the chance for deafness in white kittens, you should not mate a white cat with
another white cat. Deafness occurs even more often in blue eyed white cats.
Sixty to eighty percent of these cats are deaf. This means that only twenty to
forty percent of blue eyed white cats have normal hearing. Odd eyed white cats
that have one blue eye are likely to be deaf on the same side as their blue eye.
Tortoiseshell and calico cats are almost always females
Tortoiseshell
cats’ coats are both black and red, calico cats are part black-and-red and part
white. Tortoiseshell and calico cats (torties) are almost always females,
because two X-chromosomes are needed to create this coat pattern. Very rarely a
male tortoiseshell is born (approximately 1 in 3000). This seems impossible
since males have one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome. However, sometimes a
tomcat has one extra X-chromosome, causing the double colour of the coat. This
is a genetic defect, which makes the tortie coat possible, but which also means
the tomcat is sterile and cannot produce offspring.
Chocolate is toxic
for cats
Chocolate contains methylxanthines (mainly theobromine), which
cannot be metabolised by a cat. The substance affects the central nervous
system, kidneys, liver and respiration. This is also the case in dogs. Many pets
will eat chocolate though, which may lead to chocolate poisoning. This will not
kill the animal instantly, but you should know that too much chocolate
definitely has negative side effects. As little as 50 grams of chocolate can
cause serious problems in a cat. Symptoms of chocolate poisoning are
restlessness, vomiting, diarrhoea, shaking and epileptic seizures as well as an
increased heart rate and cardiac arrhythmias which may be fatal. The symptoms
occur within six to twelve hours. High doses will show symptoms within an hour.
White chocolate contains less theobromine than dark chocolate, which makes it
less toxic.
Cats dream
Cat dream as we do. A sleeping cat that moves
its paws and tail and twitches its ears is dreaming. Cats dream for
approximately six minutes at a time. They sleep about sixteen hours a day. This
is a lot of sleep for a mammal! Unlike humans, cats take many smaller naps
during the day and night. A cat dreams about three hours a day. The other
thirteen hours are spent in a superficial sleep without dreams. When dreaming
cats are sleeping more deeply, which causes muscle relaxation. This is why a
dreaming cat prefers to sleep on its side.
Cats are born with blue
eyes
Kittens are born with their eyes closed. The eyes do not open until they
are seven to ten days old. Kittens always have blue eyes. The eye colour changes
in the first four to five weeks after birth. The eye colour is final when the
kitten is nine months old. Some cats keep their blue eye colour. The variation
in eye colour among cats is large: orange, yellow, green, blue, brown and
everything in between. Kittens have poor eyesight. Their retina has not yet
fully developed which makes their sight blurry. It takes about three months
before their eyesight is fully developed.
