Myths about cats and dogs

We think that we know everything about our four-legged pets. However, in fact, much of our knowledge of them is just myths and misconceptions. What is it necessary to know the owners about our smaller brothers in order not only to better understand their cats and dogs, but to protect them from incorrect conclusions about their behavior, thereby preserving their health? Let's dispel the most common stereotypes.
Myth 1. Before you can sterilize a cat or dog, you must give it at least once to give birth .
Many of those who are so reasoning are guided by considerations of humanism. Meanwhile, animals do not produce offspring consciously - their maternal instinct is due solely to hormones. Cats and dogs are best sterilized at 6-8 months after puberty comes. You can carry out the operation either directly in estrus, or during a rest period. For a doctor, on the one hand, it is easier to do this in estrus, because at this time the ligaments and tissues are the most elastic. However, in the case of dogs of large breeds, there is a risk of bleeding. Therefore, sterilization before and immediately after sterilization will be optimal.

Myth 2. To find out how much a cat or dog years in terms of human years, you need to multiply their actual age by seven.
If you follow this theory, puberty in tailed and mustached should only come to two years. But in fact they grow up much earlier. So, most cats who have not yet turned a year (in the translation to "human age" - seven years) are already able to have offspring. As for dogs, the maturation of their maturity depends on the breed: for example, chihuahua become "uncles" and "aunts" as early as 10-12 months, whereas sheepdogs are only three years old.

Myth 3. You can not keep a cat and a dog in one house - they can not tolerate each other .
On the contrary, they usually get along very well. The ideal option - to take just two small four-legged: a kitten and a puppy. Then, according to experts, animals will do everything together: both play and eat from a common bowl - in a word, behave like members of one family, and not as enemies. However, most often the owners decide to buy a second pet when there is already one. Heterogeneous animals get along better, although a dog with a cat of different sex can get along, especially if the second animal is taken into the house by a young child. The first meeting should be neat, the animals must first remember the smell of a new neighbor, get used to it. You can not force events, pushing one pet to another - animals can react negatively and even fight. Usually, if the first animal is a dog, then it gets used to a beginner easier and faster than a cat. She starts waving her tail, thereby demonstrating her sympathy. Such a playful manifestation of feelings to cats is unusual. If a mushroom does not behave aggressively, the dog does not hisses and does not hit with the paw, it's already good. So, someday they will definitely make friends. At first it is important to pay more attention to the pet, who lives at home longer, so that he does not feel abandoned and abandoned and not jealous of the "newcomer". And then, after a while, try to pay attention and give love to both four-footed friends.

Myth 4. The best food and goodies for dogs are bones .
Neither a puppy, nor an adult, veterinary doctors recommend giving bones, and especially tubular ones - with their sharp edges they can easily damage the internal organs of your four-legged pet. In addition, any bone quickly grinds the teeth of the animal. But a large moss (femur) serves as a toy for the dog, it brings joy and at the same time strengthens and develops the chewing muscles of the animal.

Myth 5. A cat purrs when she is happy .
Not always! According to biologists, initially the ability to publish purring sounds was needed in order for the kittens to inform mom-cat that they are doing well. A kitten can purr just two days after birth. As the kitten grows, the purring function changes. It happens that cats purring not only when experiencing pleasure, but also when very scared or unwell, and even when giving birth. Often, cats emit murky sounds before an imminent death. This final purring is explained by extreme excitement or it can be a feeling of euphoria - a condition that was fixed in people who are at death. Specialists who study the habits of cats say that these fluffy pets purr under strong stress in order to calm themselves and distract, just as some people mutter to themselves under the nose when they are nervous.

Myth 6. The thicker and larger the cat, the more beautiful it is . In fact, the beauty of an animal is determined, first of all, by its health. And fullness is a close path to obesity and further disease of the heart and blood vessels, diabetes, permanent constipation, etc. Determine if your pet is addicted to excess weight. Try to touch your abdomen area of ​​the abdomen, located between the hind legs - as a rule, here begins the deposition of excess fat. Well, if he switched to the ribs, and the body of a fluffy friend began to turn into a ball, you must already beat all the bells and eradicate the problem. By the way, in England, the law on the protection of animals provides for punishment for owners of obese dogs and cats: violators are threatened with a ban on further maintenance of animals, a fine of 10 thousand pounds or even imprisonment for up to 50 weeks.

Myth 7. A warm nose in an animal is a sign of a disease.
But this is a very popular myth among animal owners. Because of ignorance, the owners are tormented and plagued by their pet. They often panic to the vet. But if your dog just has a warm nose, then most likely, he just woke up recently - when the animal is asleep, the temperature of the tip of the nose increases slightly. But if the nose is not just warm, but dry, or a white coating or crust appeared on it, and even more so, if all this happens against the background of behavior changes (the animal does not eat, does not drink, does not play, etc.), then this is already a serious reason to still go to the doctor.

Myth 8. Dogs have black-and-white eyesight .
This statement is completely untrue! Recent experiments have shown that dogs see the world as colored. The only thing they see is still somewhat different than we are with you. All due to the fact that the dog's eye contains a smaller number of cones (cells responsible for color recognition). In particular, they do not have cones that capture a red tint, but there are those that allow you to see blue, yellow and green colors. The dog cones differ from human and in structure, so our smaller brothers can not distinguish, for example, the green and red color between themselves. And the color that we see as the color of the sea wave, the dog can be represented as white. But she compares to a man much more gray tones and sees much better in the dark.