Furry Pussycats Trivia Quiz

Answer: Almost always female

Approximately only one in 3000 tortoiseshell cats is male. This is because the orange colour featured in their coats is passed on through the female chromosome X. With XX chromosomes one is inactivated in every cell which results in the orange and another colour being present.

In male cats with chromosome XY there is no inactivation which results in the fur being either entirely orange or having no orange pigment at all. Occasionally there is a male with XXY chromosomes which is tortoiseshell but these are mostly sterile.

Answer: Iran

The first documented evidence of Persian cats is around 1620 when some were imported to Italy from Iran (then called Persia). The cats are distinctive for their long silky fur and their round faces and short muzzle. In the English speaking middle east they are known as Iranian cats, whilst in Iran they are Known as Shirazi cats.

They are extremely popular for their beautiful long fur which may be pure white, golden or grey.

Answer: True

The Norwegian forest cat is one of the fluffiest and furriest breeds you will ever see. This is because they are adapted to a very cold climate with an outer coat of long fur and an under layer of short hair for insulation. It is thought that they were introduced into Norway by the Vikings in around 1000AD.

This breed became nearly extinct during World War II, but in 1970 the Norwegian Forest Cat Club started an official breeding programme. They are now a very popular pet in Norway, Sweden, France and Iceland.

Answer: False

Cats need to eat meat to stay fit and healthy. It is also vital that they have a constant supply of fresh water, as cats can become very ill if they do not have enough water to drink. If you provide a litter tray for your pet the food and water bowls need to be well away from it.

Some cats will not eat or drink if the food is too near to the litter tray. Cats normally know how much to eat to stay healthy, but if they overeat they become fat, and if they under eat they become thin, so the amount of food must be tailored to the individual needs of the cat. If problems are encountered with feeding a cat a vet will be able to give advice.

Answer: Bengal cat

Bengal cats were developed by selective breeding from hybrids of the Asian leopard cat with the domestic cat, backcrossed to domestic cats, to create a confident, healthy, and friendly cat with a coat similar to an exotic wild cat. Once separated by four generations from the original Asian leopard cat they become gentle friendly cats suitable to keep as household pets.

Their fur is usually bright orange to light brown and they may exhibit stripes, spots or rosettes, with a light coloured belly.

Their physique is similar to an Asian leopard cat. One of the advantages of such a cat is that they shed very little hair, although it is still advisable to groom them once a week to keep their coats healthy.

Answer: Siamese

Misty Malarky Ying Yang! was Amy Carter's beloved pet. Because it had such an unusual name Gabor Szabo composed a song about it and featured it on his album 'Faces'. Misty has been described as a typical Siamese active, playful and intelligent. Often as Amy practised playing her violin, Misty would join in with her meowing along.

When during a visit by Carter grandson James Earl Carter IV, James would join them, he would clap and Misty would meow. It must have been terrible cacophony, and it was a wonder that Amy managed to practise her violin playing at all. Misty was devoted to Amy, loved to play with her and be petted and cuddled.

He slept in a doll's house in her room. Yes, that's right he did for despite the feminine name he was a male.

Answer: True

They can also hear better than us and see better than humans in a dim light or darkness. This helps them with hunting because they can hear the high pitched frequencies of sound made by small rodents Their whiskers are highly sensitive to vibrations, helping them to detect prey.

In the wild cats can spend six to eight hours a day hunting, and domestic cats also hunt which shows that they do it for pleasure as well as for the food.

Answer: Isle of Man

It is a genetic mutation which has caused many Manx cats to have no tail, although there is a legend that it was late running to Noah's ark and Noah slammed the door and severed its tail. However Manx cats can be born with a full tail, a stub or no tail at all.

They have both the gene for a tail and the one for no tail so a Manx cat can give birth to a kitten with a full length tail. However, if the kitten inherits the tailless gene from both parents it will normally die before birth. Manx cats come in many different colours and are characterised by their long muscular back legs. Koko the Gorilla who can sign over one thousand words of American sign language, was allowed to chose a kitten from a litter for her 12th birthday.

She chose a small grey and white Manx cat which she named All Ball. Koko cuddled and played with All Ball regularly and was devastated when the kitten was killed in a road accident a few months later.

Answer: Tabby and Dixie

When Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois and moved to the White House he felt that it would not be a suitable environment for his beloved dog Fido. He left Fido with his barber and the dog was reportedly well cared for, and was seen snoozing in the barbershop for many years after he was parted from Lincoln. Five months after taking office, and just as the Civil War began, the Secretary of State, William Seward, gave the President the gift of two kittens which he named Tabby and Dixie.

He became extremely fond of the two cats. During the civil war Lincoln was heard to remark "Dixie is smarter than my whole cabinet! and further more she doesn't talk back". During a formal dinner, Mrs. Lincoln was embarrassed to see her husband feeding Tabby with a gold fork.

When she remonstrated with him he said that "If the gold fork was good enough for ex President James Buchanan it was good enough for Tabby".

Answer: Ragdoll

The ragdoll cat is an American breed. They are large muscular cats but well known for their extreme docility, and were given the name ragdoll because of their tendency to go limp when they are picked up. Some British breeders have been working towards making the cats less docile, as it is thought that it may not be in the best interest of the cats to be as meek as they are. Ragdoll cats have blue eyes and semi long hair which is very soft and silky.

They get their full colour by the time they are approximately two years old, but their base colour is known by the time they are around 8 weeks old.

They are usually born pure white and gain their points as they grow older. There are no standard colours, but they come in a wide range of pointed colours.