10 FUN FACTS ABOUT CATS AND DOGS:
1) Dogs have fur whereas cats have hair. Fur is coarser and much thicker in diameter than hair.
2) It’s more important to clip a dog’s nails than a cat’s because cats have retractable claws. Since dogs do not have retractable claws, there is more risk of infection due to claw damage from overgrowth.
3) Dogs have a component in their saliva that heals wounds. Their saliva contains proteins such as histatin, lysozsyme and thiocyanate which help to prevent infections. Dog saliva also contains a protein called Nerve Growth Factor which grows and maintains cells. The latter allows for skin re-growth around a wound to have a dramatic increase in healing time.
4) Dogs can subsist on a vegetarian diet whereas cats cannot. Genetically, cats originated in the deserts of Africa where they maintained a diet of raw meat and blood. Even drinking water has become a learned practice by domesticated cats as in their origin of the desert, water was scarce.
5) Cats do not meow to each other; they only meow to get their person’s attention or the attention of other humans. They may hiss and growl at each other but this is a warning mechanism as opposed to regular communication.
6) Whereas dogs, horses and humans can digest grains, cats cannot. As opposed to the initial three on this list, cats lack a digestive enzyme called amylase that is responsible for the breakdown of grains in the body. Most dry cat food contains a high amount of grains in its ingredients. When cats eat grains on a regular basis, they cannot metabolize them appropriately and they get metabolized as sugar. This poor metabolic absorption will create insulin spikes due to the sugars that are unprocessed in the cat’s body. After prolonged exposure to these grain sugars and insulin spikes, feline diabetes is almost always to follow.
7) Cats purr for an array of reasons; not just because they are happy of hungry. Their purr registers in the Hertz scale in a range that has been studied to facilitate bone and muscle tissue growth in both the cats themselves as well as humans.
8) Petting a cat or dog has been shown to increase the levels of oxytocin (the love hormone) in the human brain. In turn, this activity has a notable healing effect on depression, PTSD and other mood disorders.
9) Almost all Calico cats are female; almost all completely orange cats are male. Their markings are gender-specific; they exist on the y and x chromosomes respectively.
10) When dogs walk, their front left leg moves forward with their back right and their right front leg moves forward with their left. In essence, their arms walk forward in tandem with their opposite leg. When cats walk forward, they walk same arm, same leg. Right front moves forward with right back, left front moves forward with left hind.
How many of these did you know about? Can you think of any others?
SOULSTICE SPIRIT 