Fun facts you never knew about cats

Everybody knows that cats are mysterious creatures. They're inexplicably esoteric. They're cunning. They're furtive and sly. And when they look at you all cockeyed, whiskers twitching, with a curious look on their face you just know they must be thinking something secret.

Exactly what are they hiding? The world may never know. But we do know this - cats are pretty cool. And there's a lot about them you may not know - like these fun facts I found while perusing various feline focused websites this past weekend:

The nose pad of a cat is ridged in a pattern that is unique, just like the fingerprint of a human. So next time you find upturned flower pots on the porch, or catnip in your kitchen drawers you can simply dust for nose impressions.

A cat can be either right-pawed or left-pawed. Sort of brings new meaning to the word "Southpaw," doesn't it?

Cats have 473 taste buds. None of them can taste sweet. Good thing Purina makes these.

A cat can jump between 5 & 7 times as high as her tail. That would be like me jumping 38 ½ feet high - if I managed to hit the tippy top of that threshold, and you assume that my tail is as long as I am tall (go ahead, do the math, you know you want to). The mystery of the paw prints on top of the fridge has finally been solved!

Cats don't meow at other cats, just at their people. Mainly, they do this when they want attention… or food. I have a theory that it's some sort of human training technique. Oh yeah, and that thing they do when they want to attract a mate? That's not meowing. Experts call that unholy noise a "yowl."

Sir Isaac Newton is credited for inventing the cat door. Ok, so this is more of a "weird things you didn't know about guys you studied in middle school" fact, but still. You never know what might come in handy for that next big game of Trivial Pursuit.

Besides, I have to save the other fun cat facts I found for a later installment.

Know any fun cat facts, want to share a fun fact about your feline or finally figured out how tall I am? Leave a comment below!