# Cat's lives



## Tatzingo

Hi,

This might already have been answered in a Superstitions thread but i've not had a good look through all of them. My question is, "*How many lives do cats have in your country?*"

Obviously i'm referring to superstitious beliefs as i have heard that this number changes from one country to another.

In the UK, they have 9.

Tatz.


----------



## lizzeymac

In America (a generalization) they have 9 lives.


----------



## Mei

Hi,

Here in Spain cats has 7 lives.

Cheers

Mei


----------



## maxiogee

In Ireland we afford them nine also, *but* there are a few around our new abode which keep xyz-ing in our garden and I'd like to carry out some intensive in-depth research with some carefully chosen implements!


----------



## natasha2000

I think that in Serbia they have 9 lives, but i am not so sure....


----------



## DearPrudence

Complete lack of originality, in *France*, cats have *9* lives as well. I think ...


----------



## coconutpalm

9 in China.
But we are not afraid of cats.


----------



## Etcetera

Nine lives in Russia.


----------



## Inés06

Now I'm wondering... why Spanish cats live less than the others????


----------



## Krümelmonster

Perhaps they don't need that many because spanish dogs are not that agressive...


----------



## Mei

Inés06 said:
			
		

> Now I'm wondering... why Spanish cats live less than the others????



I don't know...  poor them! 

Mei


----------



## MariBR

brazilian cats have "only" 7 lives too


----------



## Inés06

Foreign cats in Spain or Brazil have an advantage... I think it's not fair!


----------



## daoxunchang

Why do cats have virtually the same number of lives all over the world? Can anyone give a convincing answer? I think this is quite surprising.
And why Brazilian and Spanish cats have fewer lives is also an interesing thing to ask for an answer, I think...


----------



## ceci '79

Italian cats have seven like their Mediterranean Spanish cousins! 

... Although I heard some other Italians say "cats have nine lives."

Maybe we have two different classes of cats?!


----------



## mjscott

It's probably a factor of how certainly they "die" in the first place! The ones with 9 lives learned from previous passings how to outsmart death. But, alas! Death wins out in the end!


----------



## natasha2000

MariBR said:
			
		

> 9 lives if you're not a latin cat


Well, but French cats have 9 lives, too...


----------



## Cereth

hahaha MariBR that was funny!

Mexican cats have also 7 lives...(i´m believing is Spain´s fault)
buaaaa that´s not fair! i love them so much, i´ll think i´ll go to Ireland and build my cat farm there.


----------



## Dr. Quizá

Spanish cats need two less lives because they're smarter and don't die so easily  



			
				daoxunchang said:
			
		

> Why do cats have virtually the same number of lives all over the world? Can anyone give a convincing answer? I think this is quite surprising.



Furthermore, why are cats supposed to have several lives everywhere? Pretty weird, isn't it?


----------



## french4beth

Found on yahooligans (here):



> The old proverb that a cat has nine lives may date back to ancient times, when nine was considered a lucky number because it was a trinity of trinities (three threes). In Arab and Turkish proverbs, cats have only seven lives. Perhaps because seven is a lucky number in those areas?


 


Here's another one (found here):


> 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.


----------



## Dr. Quizá

Uhm, seven is also the "lucky number" here... Maybe because the Iberian peninsula was (not completely) muslim for 800 years... I wasn't surprised to see cats "have" several lives in Germany or in Brazil, but I was when I saw this is also true in such a different country as China.


----------



## Fernando

Eight, I guess?



			
				Dr. Quizá said:
			
		

> Furthermore, why are cats supposed to have several lives everywhere? Pretty weird, isn't it?



I think their reason is their ability to survive after severe falls.


----------



## Lancel0t

Here in the Philippines they have 9 lives also and it seems cats from spanish speaking areas only have 7 lives based on the previous posts.


----------



## daoxunchang

Oh, my heavens! I missed your "off-topic". Sorry. 
To make my two off-topic posts up, I searched on the Internet and found out that the secrecy for cats' resistence to Dead is more than their body structure. According to some American researchers, the cat family, only with the tiger as an exception, have the ability to heal their wounds with their sound waves! Those "huruhuru..." you hear when they cuddle themselves on the ground. Isn't it amazing?


----------



## GenJen54

*Mod Note:*  If anyone wishes to thoroughly research and analyze the origins of how many lives cats have, that would be more in keeping with what Culture and WR in general are all about.  As of now, this is really nothing more than a simple *list* without much discussion.

Please see the GUIDELINES about our policy on lists.


----------

