CatFacts™

The cat is not the dog: it does not give itself. It lends, it rents, it negotiates.

Dogs and horses are our slaves; cats never. This does not prove them without affection, as some people seem to think; on the contrary, it proves their peculiar and characteristic dignity and self-respect.

The better bred a cat is the more easily it takes offence.

The cat is an animal of naturally a very strong will, being most impatient of control, and the kitten that is allowed quietly to enjoy unmolested freedom of purpose in its queer little ways and freaks will develop, under good treatment, into a noble spirited and well behaved cat.

A cat has more of what the average Briton calls “self-respect,” a quality he likes far better in himself than in others.

The cat’s tail is not an appendage of communication, as some lesser zoologists have proposed. It is principally an instrument for knocking things from tables.

They seemed to have an idea that we should answer to them and come when we were called, but mother told us on no account ever to do so, it would be false to every tradition of our class.

A cat does not ignore its master. It merely declines to acknowledge the premise upon which the relationship was founded.

In the one I admired the manifestations of its inborn nature, and would on no account check or discourage such signs of high blood. Towards the other I felt there was a mutual and spiritual bond of affection, which I can better conceive than describe.

It looks rude, I think, to see a cat, the moment it has been kindly stroked, turn round and begin to lick the stain away.

Our observations indicate that the average cat can distinguish between an important document and an unimportant document with remarkable accuracy, and will sit upon the former without hesitation.

The domestic cat... is the only animal which has caught the flavor of our fireside comfort, and yet has retained its wild independence.

Unlike the dog, the cat has never been tamed by the savage races of mankind.

The average Englishman prefers to have his knowledge well formulated… “that the cat, though eminently domestic, is selfish, egotistic, and luxurious; whereas the dog is generous, affectionate, and faithful”; that “cats care for places and not for people.”

A cat confronted with a closed door will invariably conclude that the door is at fault.

The nocturnal activities of the household cat remain poorly understood, chiefly because the cat refuses to participate in interviews.

We have measured the lap. We have measured the cat. The numbers do not reconcile.

CAT, n. A soft, indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong in the domestic circle. This is a dog, This is a cat. This is a frog, This is a rat. Run, dog, mew, cat. Jump, frog, gnaw, rat.

...it possesses at the same time an innate malice and perverse disposition, which increases as it grows up, and which education learns it to conceal, but never to subdue.