Dog (& Cat) Days of Summer 2004

Dog Days Trivia

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2. Because of their great intelligence, Border Collies make excellent pets for most people.

6. Most short-tailed dogs, like Cocker Spaniels, Doberman Pinschers, Jack Russell Terriers and Rottweilers, are born with short tails.

7. In the United States, most dogs turned in to animal shelters and pounds are adopted.

8. In many areas of the United States, dogs from animal shelters are sold to research laboratories for experimentation.

11. Female dogs have better personalities if they are allowed to have a litter before being spayed.

13. The jaws of pit bulls are anatomically different from those of other dogs so that they can lock shut when they fight.

15. The Chinese Crested and other hairless dogs have higher body temperatures than dogs with hair.

19. Some drug-detecting dogs are trained by addicting them to the drug that they are supposed to find.

20. If your dog makes a mess on the carpet, you should rub his nose in it to teach him not to go in the house.

22. Puppies should not be brought home until they are at least seven weeks old.

26. When a cat won't use the litter box, it’s because he/she is rebellious and wants to make his/her owner mad.

27. A cat scratches the furniture to stretch muscles, mark territory and shed nail sheaths.

29. A cat leaves objects such as his/her toys in his/her food or water bowls just to drive his/her owner crazy.

30. When a cat suddenly bites in an aggressive manner when being petted, it means he/she doesn’t want to be petted anymore.

33. Cats may insist on playing and ransacking the house at night because they are nocturnal creatures.

34. A cat may scratch the floor around it’s food and water bowls after eating as if to cover it up in order to hide it.

35. An indoor cat that attacks its owner (or another indoor cat) when it sees an unknown cat outdoors is showing displaced fear.

43. Cats use their whiskers to detect whether they'll be able to pass through an opening or not.

1. False – it was bred to fight other dogs. Because the owners were in the pit along with the dogs, handling them, human-aggressive animals were not tolerated.

2. False – these bright and active dogs MUST have a job to do or they will become neurotic and obsessive. They need a lot of work every day to be happy. Most are miserable if they just “hang around the house.”

3. True – over 80% of adult dogs have noticeable dental disease.
4. False – it’s actually gum inflammation caused by tartar accumulation. The infected gums can send bacteria into the bloodstream, causing many problems.

5. True – they were originally bred as water retrievers. Given a chance, they can still do their original job.
6. False – the tails are actually cut off of the very young puppies. This practice, known as “docking”, is illegal in some European countries.

8. True – this practice, called “pound seizure”, is detested by most shelter workers. Even many scientists oppose the practice because the background of the pound animals is unknown and can affect experimental results.
9. False – different tail positions signify different meanings for the wag. A nervous dog will hold the tail low and wag just the tip. An aggressive dog will have a high-standing, slowly-wagging tail.

11. False – studies have shown this to be false. Many of the health benefits of spaying occur only if it occurs before the first litter.

12. True – Caring breeders never send their pups off to a pet store to be sold to anyone who has the cash to buy them. Most pet store pups come from horrible puppy mills.

13. False – they are jaws like any other jaws, and they have no special “locking” device.

14. False – this is obviously untrue. Some mixed breed dogs do suffer from genetic diseases like dysplasia, epilepsy, hypothyroidism and PRA, and many purebreds are perfectly healthy throughout their lives.

16. False – it’s actually a German breed. Its name comes from the old German word “pudel”, meaning to splash in puddles. It was originally a retrieving breed.

19. False – in fact, they are trained by associating the smell of the drug with a special toy or treat.

20. False – all this does is train your dog to go on the carpet without letting you see him!

21. False – many dominant females also raise a leg – just not as high as the males.

22. True – they need this time to learn how to be dogs, from their littermates and from their moms.

23. False – obedience-trained dogs can really be your companions! Many dogs have gone in airplanes, stores, schools, hospitals and on vacation – untrained dogs can’t share these experiences.

24. False – if someone else trains your dog, the dog will listen to THAT person, not you.

25. True – sorry, cat fans! Dogs are far superior at problem-solving, puzzle boxes, learning commands, etc. (But I sure couldn’t find a verifiable source for this one!)

26. False – this is a very common, misunderstood problem with cats. There are numerous reasons cats eliminate outside the litter box. One may be your cat giving a sign that something may be medically wrong. Other reasons include: 1) a marking of territory (mostly common in unaltered cats); 2) the litter box isn’t clean enough (contrary to many beliefs, cats are very clean creatures); 3) maybe the cat doesn’t like the litter type, or the cat may prefer a box with or without a hood; 4) the cat doesn’t like the location of the litter box.

28. False – kneading has been linked as a sign of affection because it’s thought that the cat is portraying signs of wellness as they did in kittenhood with their mothers. As kittens, they knead on their mothers to increase the milk flow; so when they continue kneading into adulthood, it’s believed to be a way of showing they feel loved and cared for.

29. False – females are known to do this more than males. It’s a hunting trait of the female that’s supposed to represent them bringing food back to their young when they’re in the wild. With our cats being mostly domesticated now, they exhibit this hunting behavior with objects such as their toys to represent a kill that has been taken to a safe spot for their young to eat.

31. False – although cats do purr when happy and relaxed, some cats have also been known to purr even when they’re feeling ill, in pain or anxious. The theory for this is, it’s supposedly a form of self-comforting vocalization which can provide for faster healing.

32. True – it’s normal as long as the cat doesn’t exhibit those same type of movements (like seizures) while awake! When in doubt, contact your vet.

33. True – cats are nocturnal, so it’s perfectly normal for them to want to play and carry on with activities as night while we humans are trying to sleep.

34. True – some cats have a natural instinct to hide their food and cover up the scent of it to keep predators form finding it.

35. False – the cat is showing displaced aggression. Since the cat can’t get to the intruding outdoor cat, it turns its aggression toward the closest person, animal or object.

36. False – most experts believe that cats see in color. Cats seem to respond to the colors purple, blue, green and yellow, with blue and green being the strongest colors they perceive. Red, orange and brown colors appear to fall outside a cat’s color range and are believed to be seen as shades of gray or purple.

37. True – cats are classified as true carnivores because they MUST consume meat in order to survive.

38. True – they’re not too far above the paw pads, and they’re shorter than the ones around the face. Whiskers are twice as thick as a cat’s ordinary hair and have deep roots that are surrounded by nerves and blood vessels. A cat’s whiskers are very sensitive and should never be trimmed.

39. True – the cat's sense of smell is its primary resource for identifying the individuals and objects in its environment. They have 200 million odor-sensitive cells in their noses compared to only 5 million for humans. Cats live in a sensory world completely apart from ours. The sense of smell plays a very insignificant role in human relationships and in our response to our environment, while for cats, it is all-important and may result in some puzzling and disturbing behaviors.

40. False – while cats may sometimes breathe through their mouths (i.e., after playing or running), normal breathing is through their noses. Mouth breathing many indicate respiratory distress, such as asthma.

41. True - cats' hearing evolved to enable them to be better hunters. Cats hunt by lurking in ambush and listening very closely for the slightest squeak or rustle of their prey. Their incredibly sensitive hearing allows them to be very effective at this task.

42. True - chocolate contains a lethal ingredient, a methylxanthine called theobromine, and that baking chocolate contains 10 times more of this lethal ingredient than milk chocolate.

Theobromine acts on four areas of your pet's body: It increases the rate and force of contractions of the heart; it acts as a diuretic, causing your pet to lose body fluids; it affects the gastrointestinal system, causing vomiting and diarrhea and it may cause stomach ulcers; it acts on the nervous system, causing convulsions, seizures and sometimes, death.

43. True - cats can use their whiskers for several things and one of them is to detect sizes of openings. A cat's whiskers grow accordingly to accommodate the cat in perceiving whether or not it can easily pass through something such as a passageway, or if it may become stuck. Other uses of the whiskers are a cat's way to indicate their mood and for the catching of prey.

44. True – cats do not have enough necessary enzymes in the liver to allow normal metobolization of aspirin; therefore, resulting in a very slow break down process of the aspirin which can lead to toxicity levels and possibly even death when given more frequently than once every 48 hours at a dosage of more than 81 mg.

45. False – stud tail is an infection on a cat's tail caused from overproducing sebacceous glands. It's seen more often in unaltered males and the tail appears dirty and greasy and gives off an odor. Treatment for this condition can include washing the tail in a medically prescribed shampoo on a regular basis. Also, antibiotics or even surgery may be required if there's inflammation, and neutering of the intact cat is recommended.

46. True - feline acne is most commonly found on the cat's chin appearing as blackheads or pimples. There seem to be many beliefs about the causes of feline acne which vary from food allergies, contact allergies, and some experts even believe stress may play a part. This condition is also believed to be caused by lack of grooming to the chin where dirt and oil can accumulate and cause the hair follicles to become clogged. The most common belief, however, is that cats who eat and drink out of plastic bowls may be more prone to this condition simply because plastic is supposedly more difficult to keep clean.

47. False - feline AIDS, also known as Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), has similarities to that of the human AIDS virus but is not the same virus. From my research, I found that most viruses are species specific, meaning that the AIDS virus only affects humans and the FIV only affects cats. Well, I hope you liked the quiz and possibly learned some new facts concerning cats, I know that I sure did when creating it.