The ancestor of all domestic cats is the African Wild Cat which still exists today.

In ancient Egypt, killing a cat was a crime punishable by death.

In ancient Egypt, mummies were made of cats, and embalmed mice were placed with them in their tombs. In one ancient city, over 300,000 cat mummies were found.

In the Middle Ages, during the Festival of Saint John, cats were burned alive in town squares.

The first cat show was in 1871 at the Crystal Palace in London.

Today there are about 100 distinct breeds of the domestic cat.

Cats can't taste sweets.

The color of the points in Siamese cats is heat related. Cool areas are darker.

Siamese kittens are born white because of the heat inside the mother's uterus before birth. This heat keeps the kittens' hair from darkening on the points.

Cats have an average of 24 whiskers, arranged in four horizontal rows on each side.

Cats have individual preferences for scratching surfaces and angles.