Ever wondered why little Tiddles never gives you a high five? Perhaps its because you’re putting out the wrong hand.
Psychologists from Queen’s University in Belfast have discovered that much like people, cats can be either right or left handed. The feline-curious researchers set cats different tasks including retrieving tuna from jars too small for their heads, pawing at a toy mouse suspended from a string or watching which hand they write with (okay I made that one up). Different sexes of cats tended to favour different paws, with females favouring the right paw and males favouring the left.
Two conclusions can be reached from these findings:
- Cats can be either right or left pawed.
- Scientists have too much time on their hands.
This is the remarkable tale of Hugo, the cat who saved his neighbour from a burning building. Hugo to the Rescue!!
There was a story in the news this week about a cat called Francine who very nearly watched one of her nine lives go down the plughole. Owner Liezel Meyer had arranged for a plumber to fix a leaky pipe in her bathroom. However once he left, she couldn’t find her persian kitty Francine anywhere.
If proof was needed about the cat’s ability to survive against the odds, Otis the Cat is it. Last July, while visiting Fair Haven, Vermont, USA a full 230 miles from her home, Kathryn Sternfels’ cat Otis scampered from her car into the woods (possibly in search of forest tuna).
Statistically, it is almost impossible for a male tortoiseshell cat to be born. This is because male cats have only one X chromosome in their DNA, and since the X chromosome inherits the cat’s colour, it means it is impossible for them to inherit multiple colours (as is the case with tortoiseshell cats).
