Mar 4, 2025, 04:45 PM IST

8 interesting facts about cats

Monica Singh

Here are some cool and amazing about  cats that will leave you in awe.

Did you know that originally it was thought that Egyptians domesticated the cat? But in 2004, French archaeologists discovered a 9,500 year old cat grave in Cyprus. This makes this the oldest known pet cat and it predates Egyptian art about cats by over 4,000 years!

The oldest known pet cat existed 9,500 years ago

If you thought cats spent a lot of their lives sleeping, you’d be right. According to Veterinary Hub, Cats actually spend 70% of their lives sleeping, which works out to around 13-16 hours a day. It’s a cat’s life!

Cats spend 70% of their lives sleeping

An orange tabby cat called Stubbs was the mayor of Talkeetna, a small town in Alaska for 20 years! He had several uncontested elections and although he didn’t hold any legislative power, he was loved by locals and tourists alike.

A cat was the Mayor of an Alaskan town for 20 years

The richest cat in the world according to Guinness World Records is Blackie. When his millionaire owner passed away he refused to recognise his family in his will and instead gave his 7-million-pound fortune to Blackie!

The richest cat in the world had 7 million Pound

You’ve heard of monkeys and dogs in space, but did you know that a cat braved the great unknown too? On October 18th 1963 Felicette, also known as ‘Astrocat’ was the first and only cat to go to space.

In 1963 a cat went to space

According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, Herodotus wrote in 440BC that when a pet cat died in Ancient Egyptian times the family members would shave off their eyebrows in mourning. Now that’s an interesting cat fact!

Ancient Egyptians would shave off their eyebrows when their cats died

This fun cat fact will really blow your mind. A study discovered that our little house cats share 95.6% of their genetic makeup with tigers! They also share a lot of the same behaviours such as scent and urine marking, prey stalking and pouncing.

House cats share 95.6% of their genetic makeup with tigers

Your cat has their own unique print, much like we do with our fingerprints. A cat’s nose is formed of a unique pattern of ridges, which are very similar to the individual ridges of the human finger.

Fingerprint or nose?