11.29.06
Posted in Cat Articles, Just For Fun, Cat Trivia at 10:26 am by pawpathblog
In this post, we explore the origins of the saying “the cat’s meow,” which appropriately enough, means “something considered to be outstanding” or the “height of excellence.”
This lovely saying was coined by American journalist, boxing authority and cartoonist Thomas Aloysius Dorgan (1877-1929) who signed his cartoons with the acronym ”TAD.” Wikipedia states that he is credited with coining more expressions than anyone else.
He also coined the phrase “the cat’s pajamas” which means the same thing.
Here’s a “Cat’s Meow” sculpture that we thought was really cute, which we found at the Art Institute of Chicago’s online museum shop:
Another expression with the same meaning is “the cat’s whiskers.”
Hey, cat bloggers, you guys are the cat’s meow! 
Permalink
10.26.06
Posted in Cat Articles, Just For Fun, Cat Trivia at 9:09 am by pawpathblog
There are very many wonderful (and some not so wonderful) euphemisms, anecdotes and sayings in the English language about cats. Ever wonder why people say cats have nine lives? We did! And here’s what we found out:
One reason, which is fairly obvious, is that cats are very resilient and crafty, and can survive falls from great distances with their ability to absorb shock (although many stupid people overestimate this and don’t protect cats from falling to their deaths from high windows). Cats, being their tenacious selves, gracefully skirt near-death situations, making them seem like they have multiple lives. But why the number nine?
The number nine was a lucky, mystical, or magic number because it is the Trinity of Trinities (3 x 3). As cats seem able to escape injury time and time again, this lucky number seemed suited to the cat. While in most countries the cat is said to have nine lives, in Arab and Turkish proverbs poor puss has a mere seven lucky lives and in Russia, is said to-survive nine deaths.(source: Paws For Proverbs)
The Egyptian Goddess Bast, or Bastet
Another possible origin is Ancient Egyptian mythology, when cats were worshipped as gods in Ancient Egypt (ahhh, those were the days!). Justine Hankins claims that the number nine is associated with various Egyptian gods and cats, but we haven’t been able to fact-check these statements. Any Egyptolo-cats out there who have any insights?
During the Dark Ages, cats were killed as demonic beings (unfathomable!). The most possible origin of the nine lives saying could be Beware the Cat, which is the earliest original piece of long prose literature in English, published in 1533.
Beware the Cat : The First English Novel
The author William Baldwin wrote, “it is permitted for a witch to take her cat’s body nine times.” (source: Cat Facts) If you want to read about the number nine, check out the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight, which also gives Beware the Cat credit for the 9 lives myth.
As a bonus, here’s a related term which is a bit more nasty, but hey, it’s Halloween time!
Cat O’ Nine Tails:
In olden days, people were flogged by a nasty device made up of three separate knottings of three stands attached to the whip’s handle. While the strands may have been made from the hide of cats, the multiple of 9 had already been associated with cats; presumably if a person being flogged survived, they were as lucky as a cat with 9 lives. Yeeeeowch! (source: Cat-ch phrases)
Wow, all that research made me want to take a nap with Pinky, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do!
- Bambi
Permalink
10.17.06
Posted in Cat Articles, Cat Trivia at 5:32 pm by pawpathblog
The headline everywhere today is that our country is becoming overpopulated, as the U.S. hit a population of 300 million Tuesday morning, making us the third most populated country in the world next to China and India. Read more on cnn.com >> or see the Population Clock on the U.S. Census homepage.
What about cats? According to the Veterinary Market Statistics in 2001, there were about 70 million cats in households. It is estimated that there are over 60 million feral cats roaming the streets in America, which would make the cat population about 130 million in the U.S.! However, there are no reliable sources for the exact cat population (see wildlife.org), so nobody knows how many cats there really are. The U.S. Census does not collect data on pet ownership.
There are a lot of organizations that are doing excellent jobs on controlling the feral cat population. One of them is the Alley Cat Allies.
We’re catching up! Careful, puny humans, we are taking over the world. Mwa HA HA HA HA HA HA! -Leo
Don’t be such a bonehead, Leo. Seriously. Cat overpopulation is a serious issue! -Bambi
Permalink
10.13.06
Posted in Just For Fun, Cat Trivia at 12:16 am by pawpathblog
Don’t let paraskavedekatriaphobia (the fear of Friday the 13th) get you down! Friday the 13th’s are no more unlucky than are black cats. It’s just folklore and silliness! One of the possible origins of why Friday the 13th has been thought of as unlucky is that hundreds of the Knights Templar in France were arrested on October 13, 1307 on a Friday. If you’re curious (and we KNOW you are!) go here to read more about origins of the Friday the 13th superstition.
As for why adorable & beautiful black cats get a bad wrap, it’s because black cats were somehow always linked to witches and the devil in the Middle Ages. Witches were thought to have powers to transform themselves, hence if a black cat crossed your path, it might have been a witch!
However, anxiety over anticipating that something bad might happen on a Friday might actually prompt an accident, so do be careful!
Purrs!
Permalink
10.07.06
Posted in Cat Trivia at 10:06 am by pawpathblog
Here’s some fun cat trivia, hosted by Bambi!
1. In relation to their body size, cats have the biggest eyes of any mammal.
My big eyes get me treats and kisses!
2. Most cats do not have eyelashes
…but I do!
3. Recent studies have shown that cats can see blue and green. There is disagreement as to whether they can see red.
click to enlarge the photo of Bambi at the MOMCA, aka the famous Museum of Modern Cat Art
Permalink
08.31.06
Posted in Cat Trivia at 1:44 pm by pawpathblog
We haven’t done the cat trivia posts in a while. So here are two, illustrated by Leo & Bambi:
1. Cats are capable of about 100 different vocalizations, compared to about 10 for dogs
I’m making a small sound here, which is not the norm. When this was taken, I think I was being asked to say something for the camera, and I said “Not now.”
Here, I’m belting out my full vocal range in all its glory! Here, I was saying, “Moooooommmmmmeeeeee, give me a huuuuuuug!”
2. A cat can also express happiness by slightly closing its eyes or slowly blinking
I’m very content on my perch. Leo can’t get to me here and he’s just really loud sometimes.
I can’t remember if I was really happy here, or just sleepy, or both. Probably both, because I’m not complaining, and I usually have something or other to complain about.
Permalink
08.11.06
Posted in Cat Trivia at 11:26 pm by pawpathblog
Most Expensive Pet Wedding
In September 1996, two rare “diamond-eyed” cats, Phet and Ploy, were married in matching pink outfits at a ceremony in Thailand’s biggest discotheque. It cost Phet’s owner, Wichan Jaratarcha, 410,979 Thai Bhat ($16,241).source: Guinness World Records
Leo’s commentary: Wow, this is just silly. Everyone knows that cats are not normally monogamous. And duh, most of us HATE wearing any human clothes of any kind, nor does a ”discotheque” sound like fun, whatever that is. It sounds really unpleasant! I’m just speaking for myself, but that $16,241 could have been better spent on, say, (1) treats (2) catnip and (3) toys. Now THAT would have been a party!
Permalink
07.24.06
Posted in Cat Trivia at 4:56 pm by pawpathblog
The cats’ tongue is quite amazing…here are some interesting facts…
To help us with grooming, holding food, and struggle with prey, we have numerous knobs called papillae on the surface of our tongues that form backward-facing hooks containing large amounts of keratin, the same material found in human fingernails. These hooks provide the abrasiveness a cat needs for self-grooming.
Studies have shown that we have better taste buds than dogs, specialized to detect amino acids in meats, and our tongues are very sensitive to temperature. Room temperature food only, please!
When we drink water, we form our tongues into a spoon-like shape. And we also lick ourselves to cool off, since we don’t sweat like humans do.
-Bambi
Go to Yahoo! Pets to learn more about our tongues.
Or go to Cats International to read more facts about the amazing feline tongue.
Permalink
07.12.06
Posted in Cat Trivia at 11:02 pm by pawpathblog
Cats on average will sleep 16-18 hours a day. We spend about 2/3rd of our lives asleep! We say it’s worth it. We know how to nap better than any animal on the planet.
“Go away….give me another 5 minutes….” Leo
———–
It’s a well known fact that cats snooze a lot. Cats sleep more than most mammals. Giraffes only sleep 2 hours a day! Cats are also one of the only mammals that split their sleeping time evenly throughout the day. It is not known exactly why cats need so much sleep. One common theory is that it was a survival tactic to conserve their energy in the wild. Wild cats hunt for short periods during the day and conserve their energy for the rest of the day.
———
To read more about our sleeping patterns, there’s a great article on The Sleep Behavior of Cats on petplace.com.
- Bambi
Permalink
07.07.06
Posted in Cat Trivia at 4:05 am by pawpathblog
Cats eyes shine at night because of the light reflected by the tapetum lucidum, a layer of glittering cells forming a large part of the inner eye behind the retina. Below is a picture of my eyes reflecting the light of the camera flash. When we’re in the dark, and some light hits our eyes, it seems as if our eyes are glowing!
Would you like to learn more?
Read a short excerpt about the tapetum lucidum in cats on science.enotes.com….or check out the wikipedia article.
Or for an in-depth scientific article on the tapetum lucidum, see Comparative morphology of the tapetum lucidum (among selected species).
Here’s a quote from the article: “The phenomenon of ‘eye-shine’ is seen in a variety of animal species, and is generally thought to be related to the presence of an intraocular reflecting structure, the tapetum lucidum…The tapetum lucidum is a biologic reflector system that is a common feature in the eyes of vertebrates.” Read the entire thing >>
Permalink
« Previous entries ·
