Cat

The cat is a small, furry, carnivorous mammal kept by humans, or which keeps humans, depending on the source. Unlike most mammals, cats cannot taste sweetness: the gene for the sweet-taste receptor does not work in cats. Cake, honey and biscuits taste of nothing in particular to a cat, which goes some way to explaining the expression it wears around people eating them.^[1]

Sleep

Cats sleep for around two-thirds of the day. They prefer warm places, such as a sunny windowsill, a laptop or the exact spot a person was about to sit. Studies have failed to establish whether the cat chooses the spot because it is warm, or because it is about to be wanted.^[2]

Behaviour

Cats purr when content, and sometimes when stressed or unwell, so a purring cat is either happy or not, a finding that took researchers some time to publish with a straight face.

Cats find climbing up trees much easier than climbing down, because their claws curve backwards. Coming down head-first is not possible, so a cat must reverse down like a ladder user, and does so with great dignity and no eye contact.

• Things a cat will push off a table: most of them.
• Things a cat will push off a table while looking at you: the important ones.

See also

• Window – a preferred sleeping area
• Pillow – another
• Ladder – how it comes down a tree

References

1. Whisker, W. (1999). Who Owns Whom. Basket Press.
2. Nap, N. (2010). “Two-Thirds: A Sleep Study”. Domestic Animal Review 3: 16.
3. Purr, P. (2006). “Happy, or Not”. Retracted and resubmitted.