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Top 10 Interesting Facts You Didn’t Know About Cats

If you are a cat person, you are probably amazed and hypnotized by their elegance, care about themselves, and the stress less life they live.

Their owners know that the cat’s life circulates selfishly around the cat itself, but having these animals as pets, you feel the calm they provide you with and remove all the negative energy and stress out of you. But, you probably didn’t know that your cat can be allergic to you, did you?

Below you can find ten interesting facts about these animals.

Cat domestication began in China.

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Scientists once believed that cats were domesticated in Ancient Egypt approximately 4000 years ago. New research, published in 2013, shows that a breed of once-wild cats lived near farmers in China some 5300 years ago.

Some of their illnesses are similar to ours

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Cats are susceptible to more than 250 hereditary disorders, and many of them are similar to diseases that humans get. They even have their own form of Alzheimer’s disease, and, like us, they can get fat—in fact, 55 percent of American cats are overweight or obese.

Their short-term memories are pretty good

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Short-term memories typically fade away in about a minute. Still, in a study published in Current Biology in 2007, scientists determined that cats’ short-term memory of certain things lasts 10 minutes.

A cat’s brain is more complex than a dog’s

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via Mr 76

Speaking of fascinating feline characteristics, did you know that cats possess the exciting biofacts? Sure, their brains are small, accounting for just 0.9 percent of their body mass, but they have an amazing surface folding and a structure that is about 90 percent similar to ours. The brain’s cerebral cortex is responsible for cognitive information processing—it is more complex in cats than in dogs, and cats have some 300 million neurons, compared to 160 million in dogs.

They can be allergic to you

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via xose carlos mosquera

Does your cat cough frequently? You might be to blame. Feline asthma—which affects one in 200 cats—is on the rise thanks to the human lifestyle. Since cats are more frequently being kept indoors, they’re more susceptible to inflammation of their airways caused by cigarette smoke, dusty houses, human dandruff, pollen, and some kinds of cat litters.

They know exactly how to get what they want from their owners

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According to a 2009 study, they do it by mimicking babies crying. Cats in want of food will make an urgent cry or meowing sound in the 220 to 520-hertz frequency range while purring at a lower frequency. Babies also cry in this frequency range (usually between 300 and 600 hertz), and humans find it difficult to ignore.

Disrupting their routines can make them act sick

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Even healthy cats can exhibit illness symptoms—including going to the bathroom outside the litter box, vomiting, and a decreased appetite—if there’s a change in their routines.

They really can’t taste sweet things

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via cutestpaw.com

Cats aren’t interested in sweet stuff because of a defect in the gene that codes for part of the mammalian sweet taste receptor.

They don’t necessarily purr because they’re happy

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via artlimited.net

Sure, cats purr when they appear to be content, but they also purr when they’re giving birth, sick, nursing, wounded, or in a stressful situation.

They are lactose intolerant

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via joda317

Although your average cat will lap up a saucer of milk like its sweet ambrosia, the fact is, they are lactose-intolerant. Like some humans, as they grow, cats stop making the enzyme lactase, which breaks down their mother’s milk.

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