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134 free Cat trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
50 free Cat trivia questions with answers. Cat trivia lives in two places on BrainPickle. This page is the shorter set; the main quiz is Cats trivia, with our deepest question pool on the topic and a source behind every answer.
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Q 01What is the primary function of a cat's whiskers, also known as vibrissae?
Sensing and navigation
Sensing and navigation: a cat's whiskers are touch sensors rooted in nerve-rich follicles, and when prey is too close to see the whiskers swing forward to locate it by touch.
Q 02Besides contentment, in which of these situations have cats been recorded purring?
While ill or giving birth
While ill or giving birth: cats often purr through labour and when chronically ill or in pain, so the sound is thought to soothe the cat itself as well as signal contentment.
Q 03The earliest known evidence of a tamed cat, from about 7500 BCE, was found on which island?
Cyprus
Cyprus: at Shillourokambos a cat was buried beside a human about 7500 BCE, thousands of years before Egypt's cat cult. Cats are not native to the island, so settlers must have brought them by boat.
Q 04When a cat rubs its cheeks against furniture or your legs, what is it mainly doing?
Depositing scent from facial glands
Depositing scent from facial glands: cheek rubbing leaves a pheromone on furniture and on favourite people alike, and rubbing against humans is thought to be a form of social bonding.
Q 05About how long is a cat pregnant before her kittens are born?
Two months
Two months: gestation averages about 65 days, short enough that a female cat can raise more than one litter in a single year.
Q 06A black cat with a white chest, paws and face markings is popularly known as what kind of cat?
Tuxedo
Tuxedo cats look dressed for dinner, yet the outfit is no breed: it is a low grade of white spotting that turns up in pedigree cats and alley cats alike.
Q 07Which cat breed was developed by crossing Siamese and Burmese cats?
Tonkinese
Tonkinese: the cross was older than anyone knew, because a cat imported decades before the breed had a name was later judged to be a Tonkinese herself.
Q 08In English folklore, which poor boy rose to be Lord Mayor of London thanks to his rat-catching cat?
Dick Whittington
Dick Whittington makes his fortune in the tale by selling his cat to a rat-plagued land; the real Richard Whittington was high-born, rich and probably never owned a cat.
Q 09What genetic factor is primarily responsible for tortoiseshell and calico coats in cats?
A gene on the X chromosome
A gene on the X chromosome decides orange or black, so only a cat with two X chromosomes can wear both in patches; the rare tortoiseshell male usually carries an extra X and is sterile.
Q 10Cats see well in dim light, but which aspect of their eyesight is far weaker than a human's?
Sharpness of detail
Sharpness of detail: the rod-packed retina that serves cats so well at dusk costs them resolution, so a cat must be within about six metres to make out what we see clearly from much farther off.
Q 11Rather than nocturnal, cats are most active at dawn and dusk, a pattern known as what?
Crepuscular
Crepuscular: cats doze through 13 to 14 hours of the day and save their energy for the low light of dawn and dusk, the hours their eyes are built for.
Q 12Adult cats direct which vocalization almost entirely at humans rather than at other cats?
Meow
The meow is for us: adult cats rarely meow at each other, so it is thought to extend the mewing kittens aim at their mothers, and pets meow far more than ferals.
Q 13What is the fifth digit set high on a cat's front leg called?
Dewclaw
Dewclaw: it sits where a thumb would and stays clear of the ground, which is why most cats have five toes on each front paw but only four behind, 18 in all.
Q 21Cats are digitigrade, one reason they move so quietly; what does that mean they walk on?
Their toes
Their toes: a cat's heel never touches down, so the long bones of the foot form what looks like the lower leg, and the padded toes land almost silently.
Q 22Roughly how many taste buds does a cat have, compared with more than 9,000 on a human tongue?
About 470
About 470 taste buds, against more than 9,000 on a human tongue, leave smell to do most of the work: a cat with a blocked nose may simply stop eating.
Q 23What common household plant is highly toxic to cats and can cause kidney failure?
Lily
Lily is the one to fear: even licking a few pollen grains off its fur, or drinking water from the vase, can bring on kidney failure, so vets treat any exposure as an emergency.
Q 14What does a cat signal when it approaches with its tail held straight up?
A friendly greeting
A friendly greeting: a tail carried straight up shows a calm, confident cat coming over to say hello, whereas a tail tucked between the hind legs signals fear or submission.
Q 15Which dietary classification describes cats?
Obligate carnivore
Obligate carnivore: cats can nibble grains and greens but must have meat, because they depend on nutrients found only in animal tissue, such as ready-made vitamin A, which they cannot build from plant pigments.
Q 16What is it called when a cat rhythmically pushes its paws into a soft surface, often while purring?
Kneading
Kneading, or 'making biscuits', is thought to be a remnant of kittenhood, when kittens knead their mother to stimulate milk flow, and in adult cats it often signals contentment.
Q 17Which protein in cat saliva and skin is the primary allergen behind most human cat allergies?
Fel d 1
Fel d 1 is made chiefly in the skin's sebaceous glands and also in saliva; males make more of it than females, but every cat produces some, so no cat is truly allergen-free.
Q 18What is the scientific name for the domestic cat?
Felis catus
Felis catus, as Linnaeus named it in 1758, has changed so little under domestication that it can still survive in the wild, and some experts call it not fully domesticated.
Q 19What is the innate reflex called that lets a falling cat twist in mid-air to land on its feet?
Righting reflex
The righting reflex relies on the inner ear and a very flexible spine: the cat bends in the middle so its front half can swing round first and its hind half follow.
Q 20Which of these cat breeds is known for its distinctive 'smushed' or 'flat' face?
Persian
The Persian's flat face was exaggerated by selective breeding and brings breathing difficulties, so some breeders keep up the older, longer-nosed type as the Traditional Persian.
Q 24What is the collective term for a group of adult cats?
A clowder
A clowder: the word is a variant of 'clodder', an old dialect term for a clotted mass, and the same gathering may also be called a clutter or a glaring.
Q 25Which of the five basic tastes can no cat, wild or domestic, detect at all?
Sweet
Sweet is lost on cats: a shared mutation in a taste-receptor gene stops the receptor binding sugar, so they detect acids, bitterness and umami but never sugar.
Q 26What distinctive physical trait is characteristic of the Manx cat breed?
A stub or missing tail
A stub or missing tail: the dominant gene behind it spread through the Isle of Man's small, isolated cat population, though an old tale blames Noah for shutting the Ark door on a latecomer.
Q 27Which internet-famous cat's real name was Tardar Sauce?
Grumpy Cat
Grumpy Cat, whose real name was Tardar Sauce, became a worldwide internet sensation due to her distinctive underbite and feline dwarfism that gave her a permanently 'grumpy' facial expression.
Q 28What was unusual about Prune, the 1966 Toronto kitten who started the first Sphynx breeding programme?
Almost no fur at all
Almost no fur at all: Prune was born hairless to an ordinary shorthair in 1966, yet most Sphynx today descend from other hairless kittens found in Minnesota and Toronto in the 1970s.
Q 29Why is a saucer of cow's milk a poor treat for most adult cats?
They are lactose intolerant
They are lactose intolerant: most cats lose the enzyme that digests milk sugar as they mature, so a saucer of milk is likelier to bring an upset stomach than a treat.
Q 30A cat delivers its killing bite with which teeth?
Canines
Canines: the long fangs stab between the prey's vertebrae and sever the spinal cord, while a cat's cheek teeth slice meat instead of chewing it.