The Cats and Dogs Trivia Challenge.

Hi everyone and thanks for joining me on this episode of Val Talk’s Pets. Today’s episode is all about fun, and your knowledge of cats and dogs.  Of which, I’m betting you know more than you think you do.  So get those thinking caps on and keep score if you like as we do The Cats and Dogs Trivia Challenge.

Okay, so here we go:

What is a group of adult dogs called?

Our first instinct is to obviously call them a pack and that is true, but they can also be called a kennel. 

What about a group of puppies? 

Well just like we probably thought the answer is a litter. But there is actually a different name for one thing to do with dogs. 

What do you think is the name for a group of hounds? 

The answer is a cry.  That’s pretty interesting.  Well according to historyextra.com, the name may derive from the “hunting cry that instructs the hounds on their pursuit.” 

All right, same type of questions but with cats. 

What is a group of cats called?  

The answer is a Clowder.  They can also be referred to as a clutter or a glaring.  Apparently a Glaring is more used if the cats are unsure of each other so maybe if they are new to each other.  As for a Clowder the word is English and may originate from the word “clotern”.  A “clotern” refers to “bits of things coming together, lying around”.  I suppose cats could fit into that category so hence the word Clowder.  

If puppies are considered a litter what are a bunch of kittens called? 

I love this name.  A group of kittens is called a Kindle. Also acceptable is litter, but as well an intrigue.  That’s rather “intriguing” isn’t it? The most used term is usually a Kindle which according to haggardhawks.com simply meant “young of any animal”.  Very cool. 

Okay, moving on to the next category.  

How many teeth does an adult dog have?  

The answer is 42.  Adult dogs have, upper teeth, incisors, canine molars, lower teeth, molars, canines and incisors. How many teeth does a puppy have?  A puppy has 28 deciduous teeth or primary teeth.  Those little teeth are razor sharp as anyone who has had a puppy knows.  They will begin to lose those baby teeth around five to six months of age when their permanent teeth start coming in.  I get a lot of puppy people coming in saying their puppy is teething.  When I ask how old the puppy is they will say, 12 or 16 weeks.  I’m sorry my friend, they are not teething.  A puppy will get their baby teeth beginning about two weeks of age.  By eight to ten weeks of age they have all their baby teeth.  Then around 5 months, they will go into full blown teething losing the baby teeth and getting their permanent teeth.  

How many teeth does an adult cat have?  

The answer is 30.  They have 16 on the top and 14 on the bottom.  A kitten will have 26 baby or milk teeth.  The baby teeth will come in around 2 – 4 weeks of age.  A kittens permanent teeth will come in around 3 ½ – 4 months.  

Next question.  

How does a dog sweat?

The answer is through their paw pads.  Those toe beans that often smell like Fritos, is a minor way for a dog to sweat.  However, most of a dog’s way to release heat is through panting.  

What then, is the ideal body temperature for a dog? 

The answer is between 101 and 102.5 Fahrenheit. 

So what about cats?  

How do cats sweat?  

According to seniorcatwellness.com, cats have eccrine sweat glands in the hairless areas of their body.  This would be their paw pads, lips, chin and bum.  Although these areas seem small, the evaporation does have a cooling effect for cats.  So the answer as to how cats sweat, is through small hairless areas of their body.  

What then is the ideal body temperature for a cat? 

A cat’s temperature should be between 100.5 and 102.5 Fahrenheit.  A cat that has its tongue out and is panting is not the same as a dog.  This cat is in distress demonstrating signs of heat stroke. 

Next question and this is one that fools a lot of people. 

Do dogs see only in black and white or are they colour blind?

The answer is that dogs can see multiple colours but they are more muted or muddy.  According to spca.bc.ca, “dogs have less cones in their eyes” so they do not see the whole spectrum of colour.  What they see is more like the old sepia.  “For example, red appears as a dark brownish gray hue or even black”.  “Additionally, shades of yellow, orange, and green all appear as a type of yellowish shade”. “The colour that stands out most for your dog is blue! (Although purple looks blue to him, too)” Yellow is also a good choice.  So, no dogs do not only see black and white and yes, they are somewhat colour blind. 

Now what do cats see?  

Do cats see all the colours?  

This is going to surprise you.  According to animaleyegroup.com, “Because cats have a mere fifth the cone cells humans do, they mostly see in black and white.  They can also see blue and yellow, but they don’t see saturated colours. Cats identify things by motion, so the ability to spot movement is very important.”  What about the idea that we all consider normal that cats can see at night or have very good night vision?  Well according to animaleyegroup.com, in order to be able to hunt at night, cats have evolved to “let in lots of light, which means their pupils can dilate far beyond what ours can.”  “Their eyes actually capture and build up light within their eyes by bouncing it against a reflective layer under the retina.  This layer is called the “tapetum” and it’s responsible for the eerie flash/glow of cats’ eyes in the dark”.  So yes, cats can see at night but they do not see colour very well.  Can dogs see in the dark?  It turns out they can.  Dogs have pretty good night vision but they are more nearsighted and as mentioned they have fewer shades of colours.  

Next question.  

How long does a dog gestate puppies?  

Or how long are dog’s pregnant?  The answer is, dogs are pregnant for anywhere from 57 to 65 days or 58 to 68 days.  Basically breeders count on 63 days.  9 weeks – ish. 

How long are cats pregnant? 

A typical cat pregnancy will last 65 days or 9 weeks.   And, according to catster.com, a cat or kitten can get pregnant as young as four months and a cat can get into heat every 2 to 3 weeks in spring and early fall.  We often call this kitten time as unfixed, roaming cats are creating more cats or unfixed barn cats are doing the same as are feral cats.  

The next is a two part question.  

Do dogs understand words and what size of vocabulary can they have?  

According to VCA Canada “many scientists agree that dogs understand specific words, some believe they don’t comprehend full sentences. They feel that saying trees, birds, grass, walk, invokes the same meaning as, “let’s go for a walk”.   The dog is therefore picking out the word walk from the sentence.  Of course as we all know that as pet parents, we never say, just walk or let’s go for a walk in a monotone.  We always show enthusiasm with, “want to go for a walk??!! So, as VCA states, “Body language, tone and words are all involved in effective canine communication.”  However, having said that “some scientists believe that dogs understand the actual meaning of many words unrelated to the tone in which they are delivered.”  If we think about the button dogs, then we know that dogs can associate a word to an action or a request for something like, a treat or food.  I have explored button dogs in another episode, so check that out.  There are lots of studies being done about dog communication so we definitely know that there is a possibility that dogs do understand human language in a far more cognitive way than originally thought.  As for actual vocabulary, according to apa.org “the average dog can learn 165 words, including signals and the “super dogs” those in the top 20 percent of dog intelligence can learn 250 words.”  And just as an added trivia point, the most learned cue for a dog is, sit. 

Okay, do cats understand words and have a vocabulary?  

According to cats.com “it is thought that cats can understand around 20 – 40 human words and some might recognize up to 50.” However, they do qualify that “it’s perhaps more appropriate to say that cats are able to associate and distinguish words rather than understand their meaning.”   So, basically a cat can understand stop but not be able to associate it to stop scratching the chair. However, there are button cats too that have learned to press certain buttons to communicate with their human. That puts a wrench into a lot of perceived notions about cat cognitive ability when it comes to understanding words. If animal communication interests you, check out my episode called, How do animals communicate?  

And just to size things up, what is the largest dog and cat breed?  

Well in terms of height it is the Great Dane.  Irish Wolfhounds and English Mastiffs are also contenders.   And the largest cat breed is the Maine Coon.  Maine Coons can weigh up to 35 pounds and are considered the dogs of the cat world.  If Maine Coons interest you, check out my spotlight episode on Maine Coons.  

To finish up, what is the smallest dog and cat breed?  

If you said, Chihuahua or Yorkie or Maltese you are in the right place.  Just remember, “teacup” size is not recognized and is created through skeptical breeding practices. 

And the smallest cat breed? 

It is the Singapura.  I admit, I have never heard of this cat.  It is considered the smallest cat breed in the world.  Ranging between 4 and 6 pounds this rare cat features a silky, smooth coat and muscular physique.”  Who knew?

Well there you have it, for trivia 101.  How did you do?  Let’s do this again because it’s always fun to test our knowledge and see how we fair because as I say, knowing is caring. 

All photographs have been obtained from Canva

Tagged as: Cat Info,  Dog info,  Pet Quiz.