why do people say cats have 9 lives?

Question

what is its speciality?

Answer 1

"Ever Wondered Why Cats Are Said To Have Nine Lives?

Or how they always seem to land on their feet after a fall?

The proverbial curiosity doesn't usually kill cats. The inquisitive feline has a knack of dodging death by a whisker. Cats are intrepid explorers and fearless acrobats. After all, a creature with nine lives can afford to take risks. According to Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase & Fable, a cat is said to have nine lives because it is "more tenacious of life than many animals."

The clumsy biped is understandably impressed by the feline arts of stealth, poise and athletic prowess. But why nine? Nine, a trinity of trinities, is a mystical number often invoked in religion and folklore. The cat was once revered in Egypt, and this is probably where its nine lives began. The priesthood in On - known to the Greeks as Heliopolis and now a suburb of Cairo - worshipped Atum-Ra, a sun god who gave life to the gods of air, moisture, earth and sky, who, in turn, produced Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. These gods are collectively known as the Ennead, or the Nine. Atum-Ra, who took the form of a cat for visits to the underworld, embodied nine lives in one creator. A hymn from the fourth century BC says, "O sacred cat! Your mouth is the mouth of the god Atum, the lord of life who has saved you from all taint."

Vestiges of this ancient, cat-worshipping religion lingered in Europe until at least the middle ages. The cat was no longer divine but was still regarded as magical and otherworldly. The ailuromorphic gods are long forgotten, but the cat's resilience still inspires fascination, which is why the myth of the cat's nine lives has endured for so long.

Medieval Europe was a tough place to be a cat, and they were sometimes thrown from high towers. The origin of these rituals is obscure but the cats often survived the ordeal and seemed to walk away unscathed, much to the amazement of spectators.

Legend has it that Baldwin III, Count of Ypres, threw some cats from a tower in AD962. The Belgian town still marks the event with an annual cat festival. A procession celebrates cat history and cats are thrown from the 70-metre Cloth Hall tower. But there is no need to write to your MEP, only toy cats are used these days. Live cats were used until 1817, when the keeper of the town recorded that, "in spite of the height of the fall, the animal ran off quickly so that it might never be caught again in a similar ceremony."

The miracles of the middle ages became the science of the 19th century, when the cat's remarkable ability to survive a fall was finally explained. In 1894, the French physiologist Etienne-Jules Marey held a cat upside down by its legs and dropped it. The resultant film, captured by a camera that took 60 images a second, demonstrates how a cat lands on its feet. As the cat falls, an automatic twisting reaction begins and the cat manoeuvres its head, back, legs and tail to lessen the impact. Cats, it seems, have an instinct for physics.

Don't try this at home, though. Cats aren't all that tough; they don't always land the right way up, which is why your average ***** cat jumping from the garden fence will occasionally come home limping, bruised or fractured because of a badly timed fall. Still, studies on cats falling from skyscrapers suggest that up to 90% survive, albeit with broken bones and sore paws. The distance is crucial. Too much and the cat will splat, just as we non-feline mortals would. Too little and the cat doesn't have time to correct itself. There is much to admire in the cat's grace and agility. But don't forget to close the upstairs window, just in case."

Answer 2

Cat's are incredibly agile but sometimes they make a mistake that seems like it should kill the cat i.e. on a Discovery channel years ago there was a story about how a cat fell from a fourth story window and landed on it's feet without any physical ramifications. While it seemed this cat should have died- we rationalize the incident by saying it used up one of it's lives. Why 9? Not sure of that. Maybe the first person to come up with it had a cat that survived 9 instances when the cat should have been killed.
Anyway- the cat that fell from the fourth floor window had enough time to adjust for the impact and applied the right amount of give in it's legs to be able to survive the fall. Staying flexible is the key--which is probably why human babies can fall down a flight of stairs and not get broken bones like adults. Adults tense up making it easier to get a broken bone.
So a cat that survives a seemingly 'CATastrophic' event (pun intended) is considered as using up one of it's nine lives.
Hope this helps- sorry I rambled a bit.
Have a great day!!!

Answer 3

probably to do with the fact that they normally land on their feet after a fall even from great heights. I watched a program which advised this is because, as the cat falls, its body relaxes, so as it lands it doesnt go stiff and snap bones etc. Apparently thats how skydivers can survive a fall out of a plane (it has been done!) weird eh?!
cats are also very nimble and smart, they can get into and out of tiny spaces, using their whiskers as a guide to see if they can get through a gap.

Answer 4

The number 9 derives from ancient times were nine was considered a particularly lucky number because it was the “trinitiy of trinities” (3 x 3) and therefore idealy suited for the 'lucky' cat.

Answer 5

this is due to the old "cat of nine tails" which was a whip with nine strands used for punishmsent in medievil times up until the 30 s

Answer 6

I had a cat in my workshop it helped get rid of the mice, one day it fell asleep on the engine of the forklift, it lost all nine lifes when someone didnt realize and started the engine.

Answer 7

Hi UK, God save the queen....
here in Brazil, the people say that cats have 7 lives.

I think that is because it is very resistent to the life's adventures.

Answer 8

Because cats seem to be able to get out of situations that most other animals and people would die if they were in.

Answer 9

Cats are really good at falling from heights because they will usually land on their feet. They're also very adaptable and flexible so they can get run over and they'd squeeze their way out of it.

Answer 10

Cats have this remarkable way of falling from great heights, dodging cars and avoiding my shot gun!

This has led to the premise that they have 9 lives.

But if that same ginger tom comes into my garden one more time I've got him! Shot at him 8 times this week already!!!!!

Answer 11

Maybe because cats are quite resistant! They are agile and survive easily!! To be honest I am not sure... Probably is just an expression