Cats
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179 free Cats trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
135 free Cats trivia questions with answers. Cats have captivated humans for over 10,000 years, from the temples of ancient Egypt to millions of modern homes worldwide. Whether you are a lifelong cat owner or simply fascinated by these enigmatic creatures, this quiz will test your knowledge across breeds, behavior, biology, and history. How many of these 179 questions can you get right?
30 of 179 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Shakespeare play is the hot-headed Tybalt mocked as the 'King of Cats'?
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet has Mercutio goad Tybalt as 'Good King of Cats', a jab at his name: Tibert, or Tybalt, is the Prince of Cats in the old Reynard the Fox tales.
Q 02Which children's author wrote The Cat in the Hat?
Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss published the book in 1957 after a publisher challenged him to write a first reader that children would not find boring; he managed it with just 236 different words.
Q 03What is a group of cats called?
A clowder
A clowder is the usual word for a group of cats, also called a glaring; the animals may live together in colonies, yet each one hunts alone.
Q 04The Savannah breed was created by crossing domestic cats with which wild species?
Serval
Serval blood gives the Savannah its height and spots; the first kitten was born to a domestic cat in 1986, and that wild ancestry keeps the breed banned or restricted in some US states and countries.
Q 05The Bengal breed was created by crossing domestic cats with which wild species?
Asian leopard cat
The Bengal descends from crosses between domestic cats and the Asian leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis, whose species name gave the breed its name.
Q 06What is a baby cat called?
A kitten
A baby cat is called a kitten. The term comes from the Middle English word 'kitoun,' which was derived from Old French 'chitoun' or 'cheton.'
Q 07When a cat laps, how does its tongue lift liquid into its mouth?
Pulling up a column
Pulling up a column is the trick: the tongue tip just touches the surface and darts back, drawing liquid up behind it, and the jaws close before gravity breaks the column, about four times a second.
Q 08In 1890 thousands of Egyptian cat mummies were shipped to which English port and sold as fertilizer?
Liverpool
Liverpool took delivery of the mummies, most of them cats, soon after a vast animal cemetery was dug up at Beni Hasan; a large part went to fertilize fields, and a city museum bought a few.
Q 09Young kittens' eyes are blue because their irises still lack which pigment?
Melanin
Melanin builds up in the iris over a kitten's first couple of months and brings in the adult eye color; cats whose irises never make much of it keep their blue eyes for life.
Q 10What is the high-set inner toe on a cat's front leg called?
Dewclaw
Dewclaw is the name; it sits clear of the ground and bears no weight when a cat walks, but wild cats use it in the hunt to help catch and hold prey, and the hind legs have none.
Q 11What is the scientific name for a cat's whiskers?
Vibrissae
Vibrissae are no ordinary hairs: each is more than twice as thick, rooted three times deeper and ringed with nerve endings, which lets a cat judge the width of a gap in the dark.
Q 12What is a female cat called?
A queen
A queen is a female cat, strictly one kept for breeding; queens living in a colony share the work of motherhood and will feed one another's young.
Q 13CC, a kitten born at Texas A&M University in 2001, was the first pet produced by which technique?
Cloning
Cloning produced CC, short for CopyCat, yet she was no carbon copy: her coat looked quite unlike that of Rainbow, the cat she was copied from, because fur pattern is not fixed by DNA alone.
Q 21What is a 'polydactyl' cat?
A cat with extra toes
A cat with extra toes is called polydactyl, a trait passed on by a dominant gene; sailors thought such cats lucky and took them to sea, spreading them along North America's east coast.
Q 22What is the term for a cat with two different colored eyes?
Heterochromia
Heterochromia in cats usually pairs one blue eye with a green, yellow or brown one; a gene for white fur keeps pigment from developing in the blue eye.
Q 23Which wild species, first tamed in the Near East some 10,000 years ago, is the domestic cat's ancestor?
African wildcat
Q 14Which retinal cells help cats see in one-sixth the light humans need?
Rods
Rods, the retina's dim-light receptors, are far more numerous in a cat's eye than in ours; the trade-off is color, because cats have far fewer cones and see a duller range of hues.
Q 15A sleeping cat's twitching limbs are a sign of which sleep stage?
REM sleep
REM sleep is when a cat's muscles twitch, a hint that it may be dreaming; most cats sleep 12 hours a day or more, a habit that conserves their energy.
Q 16What is the term for a cat with three distinct fur colors (black, orange, and white)?
Calico
Calico cats mix white with patches of black and orange; Maryland made the calico its state cat in 2001 because those colors match its state bird, the Baltimore oriole.
Q 17What is the name of the reflective layer behind a cat's retina that enhances night vision?
Tapetum lucidum
The tapetum lucidum is a reflective layer of tissue behind the retina that bounces light back through the eye, giving photoreceptors a second chance to detect it. This is what causes cats' eyes to glow in the dark.
Q 18Which cat breed is known for looking almost completely hairless?
Sphynx
Sphynx cats are not always completely bald, as some carry fine hairs; with no coat to absorb the skin's oils, they have to be bathed regularly.
Q 19Which compound in catnip triggers the plant's famous effect on cats?
Nepetalactone
Nepetalactone is the catnip oil that sets cats rolling; the plant makes it to repel insects, and a 2021 study found that cats coated in such compounds are bitten less by mosquitoes.
Q 20Tama, a cat credited with saving a rural Japanese railway line from closure, held which official job title?
Stationmaster
Stationmaster of Kishi Station from 2007, Tama greeted passengers in a specially made cap and was paid in cat food; the publicity lifted passenger numbers and helped keep the line open.
African wildcats are the ancestors of every house cat; they were drawn to the rodents that thrived around the first farming villages and settled in beside people.
Q 24Why are adult cats thought to knead soft surfaces with their paws?
A holdover from nursing as kittens
A holdover from nursing as kittens is one common explanation: kittens knead the teat to bring on milk, and some adult cats still suckle a blanket as they knead.
Q 25Which cat breed is known for its flat face and long, luxurious fur?
Persian
Persian cats pair a long coat with a flat face; breeders pushed the short nose to an extreme during the 20th century, and the flattest-faced cats can struggle to breathe.
Q 26Toxoplasmosis, the reason pregnant women are told to avoid cat litter, is caused by which kind of organism?
A parasite
A parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, causes it; infected cats shed it in their droppings, though people also catch it from undercooked meat and contaminated soil.
Q 27Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office from 2011, took up residence at which address?
10 Downing Street
Larry arrived at 10 Downing Street from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in February 2011 and was kept as a civil-service cat rather than any prime minister's personal pet.
Q 28The Egyptian Mau, the fastest domestic breed, has been clocked running at about what speed?
30 mph (48 km/h)
30 mph (48 km/h) is about the Egyptian Mau's top speed, helped by a loose flap of skin between flank and hind leg that lets the back legs stretch further with each stride.
Q 29In which country did the Siamese cat breed originate?
Thailand
Thailand, formerly Siam, is where the breed appears in centuries-old cat poems; the first one known in America, named Siam, was sent from Bangkok in 1878 as a gift to President Hayes.
Q 30What does a cat's tail mainly help with?
Balance
Balance: the tail's vertebrae act as a counterweight to the body when a cat moves quickly; a human's own tail has shrunk to the three to five small bones of the tailbone.