The more scientists study house cats, the more incredible abilities they discover. Sometimes, they even verge on SupurrPowers!
Here are some amazing cat abilities that leave us in wonder. And, be sure to check out the fun video at the end by Cole and Marmalade.
Super Marmalade via YouTube
A Cat’s Healing SupurrPowers
For cat lovers, there’s nothing more soothing than when your house cat gets the purr motor going along with a biscuit-making massage.
Many people don’t realize that those purrs are scientifically shown to have healing effects for you and the cat. As it turns out, the health benefits could be incredible! Thus, cats have built-in healing frequencies, which are only now becoming better understood by science. While we mainly associate purring with a happy cat, they also do it to help heal themselves when they’re in pain.
There’s a stress reduction as cats purr in the 20-140 hertz range of sound frequencies. The more stress you lose, the more your health and well-being can improve.
Health Benefits of SupurrPower Purrs:
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Purrs could promote healing in soft tissues, muscles, and bones.
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They may reduce swelling and pain.
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You may experience better breathing without shortness of breath (dyspnea).
Calypso and Bond snuggling and purring. Image via Facebook/Cole and Marmalade
Even more astounding, living with cats could lower your risk for death from cardiovascular diseases, myocardial infarction, and stroke, according to a study from the University of Minnesota.
“Conclusions: A decreased risk for death due to MI and all cardiovascular diseases (including stroke) was observed among persons with cats. Acquisition of cats as domestic pets may represent a novel strategy for reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases in high-risk individuals,” the study states.
In this study, those who never lived with a cat had much higher risks, as high as 40 percent greater risk for serious heart problems.
Meanwhile, another UK study found cats may help many people sleep better. It must be all those soothing purrs because we know it’s not their nighttime antics zooming through the hallway.
Video by Cole and Marmalade about Purring, the “Best Sound in the World”:
Liquid Form SupurrPowers
We often see hilarious memes of cats with the question, “Are cats liquid?” The answer is technically yes, according to one researcher.
A published paper, “On the Rheology of Cats,” by French physicist Marc-Antoine Fardin, determined that cats are a liquid under certain circumstances.
Marmalade in his favorite SUPER Bowl via Facebook/Cole and Marmalade
As a cat fills a container like a sink or bowl, they alter their shape without changing their volume, like a liquid. Moving downstairs or sliding from their bed, they sometimes flow like a slinky with gravity. It’s their liquid cat SupurrPower!
Video via TEDx Talks about Cats as a Liquid with Marc-Antoine Fardin (Click on closed captions for English.)
Blind Cats with Astounding Abilities
Cats have incredible senses, such as their spectacular sense of smell rivaling the best lab equipment, long-range enhanced night vision and the sharpest hearing of domesticated animals. If cats are born blind or lose their vision, they can adapt with navigational abilities that seem to border on echolocation superpowers.
For example, two blind cat brothers, George and Hamilton, chirp to each other and have no problems climbing to their favorite cat tree. They navigate throughout the house by chattering with one another and only have difficulty if a room is empty.
Image via Instagram/nicolemeowfosters
All cats’ ability to navigate is partly powered by their long, independently moving whiskers, which can detect even the slightest change in airflow.
Calypso’s pretty whiskers via Facebook/Cole and Marmalade
Below the skin, the whiskers have sensitive roots that extend three times deeper than other hairs, sending information to the brain to instantly detect movements. Their brains can process the movement much faster than ours can.
How Cats Use Their Whiskers by BBC Earth:
Cats also have carpal whiskers on the backs of their forelegs to help them climb trees and hunt. While a cat’s close-range vision isn’t as sharp as ours, their whiskers are a secret weapon to compensate as they snatch fast-moving prey.
Since they are so sensitive and important, one should never trim a cat’s whiskers, but they do shed them. Such naturally shedded whiskers are even turned into beautiful tributes to cats that have crossed the rainbow bridge.
So, there you have three incredible cat superpowers, and that’s just a taste. Maybe, cats can see into other dimensions too? We wouldn’t be surprised. See the Top 10 Cat Superpowers from Cole and Marmalade below:
