The Real Reason Why Cats Purr And Other Feline Facts

Cats, as the old saying goes, were once worshiped as gods and have never allowed the world to forget it. And why not? They're adorable, and who cares if they show a little sociopathic behavior every so often? Cuteness will get you out of a lot, but their standoffish nature and refusal to participate in behavioral studies (like their canine counterparts often do) means that we know surprisingly little about what's going on inside a kitty's mind. We do think that there's quite a lot happening in there, though, because they're just fascinating little heart-stealers. Here's why cats purr, along with other fun feline facts.

We know you talk to your cat, and we know she talks back. (You don't? You're a heathen or a liar.) It turns out that language is another way cats display the brilliance they all know they possess, and we take for granted. Cats have a whole bunch of ways to communicate with us, and it's up to humans to pay enough attention to facial and body cues, like "crazy face" and "STFU ears," to be able to understand what they're saying.

They've also developed a super-top-secret language that adult cats only use to communicate with humans: meowing. While kittens meow at their mothers, adult cats that live together don't usually meow at each other, and studies of feral cat colonies find that adult cats in feline company are pretty quiet. It's only humans that they meow to and, if you pay any attention to your cat at all, you can probably tell what they're saying. Things like, "Put those opposable thumbs to good use and open the cat food now, Human!" might sound pretty different from something that means, "Please sit and give me cuddles, and I will allow you to bask in my sleepy, adorable glory."

In 2003, Cornell University researchers tested whether or not we could understand our cats or if we just take environmental cues to figure out what they're saying. They had people listen to recordings of cats and try to tell what they wanted. The listeners could, but only when the sounds were coming from their own cat. Okay, so there probably isn't some universal cat-language that they're teaching us. They are, however, each teaching us their own commands, which might be even more worrying? That's strictly a skill that's been developed by domestic cats, and we tend to interpret wild cats as sounding just angry, no matter what they're saying. The moral of the story is that your cat has learned how to sweet-talk you to get what he wants.

Do you ever feel like a crack dealer when your cat sees you getting out the catnip? For about 50% of the cat population, catnip is like happiness in herbal form, while the other half (and kittens) have no response to it whatsoever. What gives?

The gene that makes cats sensitive to catnip is hereditary, and it's an inherited response to a chemical called nepetalactone. The scent bonds to receptors in the cat's nasal passages, which then stimulate the sensory receptors in the brain. If your cat's acting like they're on a complete sensory overload, that's because they absolutely are. And they're loving it. Some cats have a ... specific set of responses they exhibit when they're exposed to catnip, and it's akin to a cat in heat. That's because the senses that are being overloaded are the same ones triggered by cat pheromones, so when you give your cat some of the nip? Give them some alone time, too. They deserve it, and expect it.

Right. Since we all need a little recovery time after realizing Snuggles probably wants to conquer the world, here's a fun bit of trivia that's made us realize we should have been scientists. Specifically, we should have been the kind of scientists that get this kind of funding. Psychologists at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland asked themselves whether cats were right-pawed or left-pawed, and you've wondered it, too. We certainly have. They wanted to see which paw cats favored, so they gave 42 different cats a jar with a bit of tuna in it. The only way they could get it out was to reach in and, well, fish it out — when they did, they'd show which paw was dominant.

There were 21 males and 21 females in the test, and 20 of the males were left-handed, with one ambidextrous over-achiever. Twenty of the females were right-handed, and one girl, in true cat spirit, refused to conform to any human societal expectations.

We feel like we have to make it up to you for all the sadness and oh, have we ever, with just one incredibly awesome fact that'll make you forget all about senile cats forgetting who you are. What about the fact that some cats are heat-sensitive, and can change their color based on their environment? We know, right? You're welcome.

So, how the hey does that work? A helluva cool bit of science, that's how, and here's the short version. There are eight different sets of genes in each cat that governs what color they're going to be. Siamese cats (and their close cousins) have a gene modifier called a Siamese allele. That particular allele blocks color from getting to the cat's fur, which should, in theory, make them albinos. But it doesn't, because it's only activated by heat. Once the temperature gets up to around 100 degrees, the color stops. That's why the cooler parts of a Siamese cat's body (nose, ears, paws) are usually dark, while the rest of their fur stays light. That's also why they're born white. When they're still inside Mom, the temperature's obviously pretty warm and keeps their color gene from activating. It's only when they hit the cool air that they start to color.

We're not done yet. It doesn't just happen once — these cats can change color any time when the temperature of their environment changes. There's also two different forms of the Siamese allele, one that creates the incredibly dark, distinctive markings of a Siamese, and another that's found in Burmese and Tonkinese cats that does the same thing with a lesser effect. And you thought Siamese cats just looked awesome. They're all awesome in the most 1980s, color-change t-shirt way a cat can be.

Cats have just a bit of a reputation for being insufferably lazy, and they are. Most of the time. But if you've ever known an outdoor cat, you'll know they also have a tendency to disappear for a good long while whenever they feel like it. So, what gives?

The University of Illinois headed up a two-year research study that fit 42 cats with radio trackers that monitored their every move. That was literal with some, as 23 of them were fitted with trackers that included vibration sensors that gave a glimpse not just into where they were, but what they were doing. The cats were a mix of ferals and free-roaming cats that did, technically, have a home.

The cat with the biggest patch of kingdom was a male feral who wasn't named in the study, but who we'll call Stewie because why not. Stewie's "home territory" covered a whooping 1,351 acres that included everything from city streets and a college campus to fields. As far as researchers could tell, no one made an active effort to feed Stewie, and he was left to his own devices to not just find food, but navigate his way through busy city streets and rural areas with dangers like coyotes. He even seemed to know what stoplights meant, using them to cross streets before bedding down at wherever was convenient for the night. Holy crap, Stewie, we know people who couldn't do that.

Stewie was a special case, but even cats that technically had homes wandered about 4.9 acres over the course of the study. All the cats favored being close to buildings, and surprisingly, the study also found that housecats allowed to roam had a greater impact on local wildlife than ferals, who relied on hunting for survival. The moral of the story? Don't be hating on Stewie.

If there's one thing cats have in common with toddlers, it's their obsession with boxes. Even big cats love boxes, and while it's impossible to tell exactly what's going on in all those feline brains, Wired has some suggestions.

A box provides cats with a place to hide and potentially ambush passing ankles, and the security of being in an enclosed space. When researchers in the Netherlands measured the stress levels in cats and studied the benefits of giving them boxes to hide in, they found the cats with boxes adjusted much more easily to new surroundings and weren't nearly as stressed as cats who weren't given boxes.

Essentially, it's a way of resolving conflict. It's much more efficient for them to hide from their problems (like a visiting grabby toddler) than it is to fight. Boxes are safe spaces free from sticky hands.

But it's not all about stress. What about a cat's tendency to sit in other weird places, like the bathroom sink or in bowls? There's actually a physical explanation for that. Cats have a comfortable temperature range of between 86 and 97 degrees Fahrenheit, much warmer than mere humans prefer. That means cats tend to seek out not just the sunny spots on the floor, but confined spaces that will be warmer than the open air. It'll help them conserve body heat and energy, and that means when your cat gets stuck in a flower vase, they're actually just being super efficient.

Cats don't just sleep a lot — they sleep all over the place. You might find Captain Fuzzy-Butt in a window, in a chair upstairs, in a different chair upstairs, in your bed, and so on. Why do they feel the need to switch it up?

According to experts at Catster, part of the reason is likely seasonal. The windowsill Fuzzy-Butt loves in the summertime isn't as nice in the winter months, so he goes elsewhere until the long, sunny afternoons come back.

Others say (via Petful) part of it is likely instinctual. Wild cats tend to sleep in different places for safety, varying their routine to help make sure they aren't easy targets. When there's more than one cat in the house, it's likely a territorial thing, too. Since cats like to be up high, the highest perch in the cat tree is the domain of the dominant or oldest cat. Sometimes they share, sometimes not so much.

And sometimes, Senior Cat Wellness adds, it might be about the humans. Sleeping with a human is a way of bonding, and they might just want to bond with everyone a little bit. It's also possible they decide to move because of changes in the mood or family dynamic, whether human or cat. Anything from chaos in the household to grief over the loss of a friend (and yes, cats feel grief) might make them withdraw from old, favorite places. Cats are complicated.

We're sorry. We said there would be no dark facts anymore, but we lied. This here might be the darkest of them all, and we apologize in advance.

First, the happy. Even the most marginal of cat people know that cats purr when they're happy. They make the noise by some sort of respiratory magic that happens in their diaphragm and larynx, and just how they do it remains one of the best mysteries of modern science. (It's one that we think we need a grant to be able to study in-depth.) It turns out that the idea of purring at happiness might be a bit of a misunderstanding, and they're actually asking us to keep petting them or keep providing a comfortable lap for them to sleep on. It's more like a polite and dignified request.

Now, the not-so-happy. Cats also purr when they're injured or scared, and researchers think that it has something to do with the healing power of the purr. You absolutely read that right. Cats purr at a frequency of 26 hertz (for most domestic cats), and that just happens to be the same frequency that's been found to promote healing in bone and other body tissues. Crazy, right? But that's the deal, and when cats are injured, they're likely trying to help themselves heal or comfort themselves by the reverberation of their own purr. It's why cats will often curl up with an injured cat (or non-cat) and purr. They're trying to help.

And now, the even worse part. Since cats purr to comfort themselves, it's also something that dying cats have been observed doing. They do it to console themselves and maybe, just maybe, to console you a little bit. Go on, wipe away that tear. That's what we need to do.