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How many times have you heard or used the expression "cats have 7 lives"? There are several theories that explain this well-known myth. In addition to being esoteric and ancient, they are very interesting. However, we all know that, despite the frank strength and agility of felines, just like any other animal, cats have only one life.
The belief that cats have 7 lives is popular virtually all over the world. In fact, in Anglo-Saxon countries like England, cats are known to have 9 lives. After all, not popular saying do cats have 7 or 9 lives?
In this PeritoAnimal article we explain where these expressions come from, the different hypotheses, and we reveal the mystery of why they say that cats have 7 lives or 9. Happy reading!
How Many Lives Does a Cat Have: An Ancestral Belief
The belief that cats have 7 lives is as old as the egyptian civilization. In Egypt the first theory related to the oriental and spiritual concept of reincarnation was born. Reincarnation is a spiritual belief that when a person dies, their soul passes to another body in a new life and that this can happen on several occasions. That is, what dies is only the body, the spirit, in turn, remains.
The ancient Egyptians were convinced that the cat was the animal that shared this ability with man and that at the end of its sixth life, in the seventh, it would pass to reincarnate in human form.
So how many lives does a cat have? According to the ancient Egyptians, 7. However, according to the English, there are 9 lives. But there are other legends that say they are 6. That is, it depends on the belief and the country. In Brazil, we usually say that there are 7 lives, something that was passed on to us hundreds of years ago through the colonization of Portugal, where cats are also said to have 7 lives.
And since we're talking about the lives of a cat, you can't miss this video about the story of Sam/Oskar, the cat who survived three shipwrecks:
Cats as magic symbols
Some people believe that cats are magical creatures that are spiritually elevated and use the phrase "cats have 7 lives" figuratively to express a certain ability that cats have, at the sensory level, to perceive vibrational changes on seven levels or to say that they have seven levels of consciousness, a capacity that human beings do not have. A little complicated theory, isn't it?
Another hypothesis has to do with the number 7. In many cultures, numbers are believed to have their own particular meaning. 7 is considered to be the lucky number and as felines are sacred animals, they were assigned this digit to represent them within numerology.
Cats are like Superman
We also have the theory that all cats are "supercats". These fantastic cats have almost supernatural abilities to survive extreme falls and dramatic situations that other creatures didn't live to tell. They have exceptional strength, agility and endurance.
Interesting scientific data explain that cats can fall on their feet almost 100% of the time. This is due to a special reflex they have which is called the "straightening reflex" which allows them to turn very quickly and prepare for the fall.
Another study by veterinarians in New York in 1987 showed that 90% of cats that fell from significant heights, up to 30 stories, managed to survive. When cats fall, their bodies are completely rigid, which helps to cushion the shock of the fall. It looks like they have seven chances to live, but in real life, they only have one.
Now that you know how many lives a cat has - just one - but according to popular belief, 7.9 or even less, you might be interested in this other article by PeritoAnimal about a super cat who saved a newborn in Russia.
