Cats purr when they are happy, even while they eat. A cat can also purr when it is hurt, hungry or nervous, so a purr does not always mean a happy cat. A mother cat purrs to her kittens, which is thought to help them feel calm.
People and cats have lived together for thousands of years. Wildcats probably came to early farming villages because grain stores drew mice and other rodents, and cats hunted them. Cats traveled the world on ships, where they helped keep rodents away. Most ancient cats had stripes, and spotted cats were uncommon until the Middle Ages.
A 2013 estimate said roughly 114 million cats live in the contiguous United States, 84 million of them pets. In 2013 a Smithsonian scientist estimated that cats in the United States kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds a year, though other scientists think the number is too high.
People began deliberately breeding cats only in the past few centuries, much later than dogs. Cat breeds look very different, yet the smallest and largest breeds weigh only about 5 to 10 pounds apart.
Kittens learn to hunt by copying their mother. Their play is practice for hunting: they stalk, chase, pounce and bite. Kittens are weaned, which means they finish drinking their mother's milk, by about 8 weeks old. Kittens learn to be comfortable with people and other animals most easily between 2 and 7 weeks of age.
Cats can see well when there is only a little light. Their eyes glow in dim light because a mirror-like layer behind the retina bounces light back. But a cat's eyesight is not as sharp as a person's, and cats have trouble focusing on things very close up.
A cat's whiskers are special thick hairs that help it feel its way around. They are more sensitive than regular hairs. Whiskers help a cat tell whether it can squeeze through a narrow space. Cats also have a strong sense of smell. They hear very high sounds that people cannot hear.
Many cats are most active at dawn and dusk. Pet cats live about 12 to 14 years on average, as of November 2026. Some cats live 20 years or more if they are well cared for.
Words to know
- purr: soft cat hum
- weaned: done nursing
- rodents: mice and rats
- breeding: choosing parents
- retina: inside the eye
