# why say cats have 9 lives? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563 "2006-08-28T19:13:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shizaru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@shizaru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shizaru)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563/1 "2006-08-28T19:13:17Z")
How did the belief and saying that cats have 9 lives come about? This question popped into my mind only because I playfully told my cat Jet Jaguar that I would kill him if he kept waking me up in the morning and my wife laughed saying I’d have to do it nine times because he has 9 lives. (Maybe he’s a time lord?) ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563/2 "2006-08-28T19:39:11Z")
possibly because of a cat’s ability to often come out of dicey situations unscathed (or only mildly wounded). Plus there’s the “always” (yes, we’ve all seen or read about the experiment) landing on its feet. And the centuries of mysticism surrounding felines. Superstitious people have often attributed paranormal qualities to kitties ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563/3 "2006-08-28T19:41:54Z")
Googling gave me [coolquiz.com - contact with domain owner | Epik.com](http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/cats2.asp) which is more or less what I would have answered off the top of my head (they are natural acrobats). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563/4 "2006-08-28T19:46:38Z")
I think the general idea is that cats, like all wild and semi-wild creatures, have a knack for surviving. If a cat jumps off the roof, or stays out all night with the coyotes, or takes a nap in the middle of the road, you’d expect any other animal to take it badly, but the cat just goes on. The only reason we notice it more with cats is that they’re the only semi-wild animal that most people have any contact with. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563/5 "2006-08-28T19:49:54Z")
Other Google results: - It’s the ‘Trinity of trinities’ and therefore reflects their extraordinary good luck. Hmm. - It’s vaguely connected to the _cat o’nine tales_ (also the origin of ‘has the cat got your tongue?’) - Nobody really knows. I’m going with the third option 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563/6 "2006-08-28T20:28:44Z")
Yes, but why _nine_ lives, specifically, as opposed to, say, eight or ten lives? I’d guessed that it had to do with cats’ survival abilities–that was intuitively obvious to me. That’s the real question. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563/7 "2006-08-28T20:33:54Z")
I found some possibilities [here](http://www.wyrdology.com/cats/nine-lives.html): > [@](#): > > One theory is that the nine lives originated from the ancient Egyptian reverence of cats. The god Atum-Ra - who took the form of a cat when visiting the underworld - gave birth to eight other major gods. As such, Atum incorporated nine lives in one. > > Another suggestion is that the nine lives theory might have originated in China. The number nine is considered lucky in China and featured heavily in the mythology of Chinese dragons. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563/8 "2006-08-28T23:43:59Z")
_And the cat came back, they thought he was a goner, but the cat came back…_ tum de tum tum… ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-say-cats-have-9-lives/370563/9 "2006-08-29T01:55:19Z")
First you need to find out just when the first idea of cats/nine lives came about. Then, decide what the significance of that number was. The OED first cites it in print in English from 1562. I think the number nine, whether in China or other countries, has always had a mystical importance. Can’t say why.