Myths and superstitions about our pets

There's plenty of myths and superstitions out there, and superstitions about pets go way back, yet only very few have any sound reasoning behind them.

They are both very different things - a myth is a widely held but false belief or idea, or misrepresentation of the truth. Whereas a superstition is a belief that is not based on fact or scientific knowledge, but draws connections between events and the supernatural, nature, or even religion.

PDSA Vet Nurse Nina Downing unpacks some of the dog and cat myths and superstitions you may or may not believe:

Dogs can sense if you're a good or bad person

"Many people might be guilty of not trusting people their dog doesn't seem to like, but the reality is, our dogs can't tell if a person is fundamentally 'good' or 'bad' – they can only go by what they see. Dogs have an amazing ability to read human body language and facial expressions, so if someone is uncomfortable around dogs or doesn't like them, your dog might recognise that and not get so excited to see them. Does this make them a bad person? Not necessarily!

If a cat cleans their ears, or a dog eats grass - it's going to rain

"Our pets cannot predict the weather. Generally, cats are very clean animals and like to groom themselves, so unless it's going to rain every day, this superstition is untrue. If your cat is cleaning their ears, it's just because they're keeping themselves clean.

"There are a number of reasons our dogs might take a little nibble of grass every now and again – one of the most common being they just happen to like the taste or texture! This is a normal behaviour for dogs and isn't usually linked to any health concerns. There's also no proof that your dog eating grass means it's going to rain.

One dog year equates to seven human years

"This isn't totally far from the truth, as our dogs have much shorter lifespans than humans, so it makes sense that we think they age a lot faster than people. The idea of 'dog years' and 'human years' is to more easily assess what stage of life your dog is in, whether that be: puppy, junior, adult, mature, or a senior. But the seven human years to one dog year isn't a good rule to follow. This is based on the notion that dogs live about 10 years and humans live to about 70, but this of course isn't true for every human let alone every dog, which can vary greatly. Different breeds live for different amounts of time, so they'll all be ageing at different speeds. Smaller dogs tend to live longer than larger breeds, so they'll age slower. 

Cats have nine lives

"Cats might seem lucky and lots of us have witnessed that they often land on their feet, but they definitely don't have nine lives! As much as cat owners might wish their feline friends have a spare eight lives to play around with, and our cats are definitely tough! Unfortunately, like the rest of us, they aren't invincible, and don't have nine chances at life!

Dogs and cats have a sixth sense

"All cat owners have probably experienced their feline friend running crazily from room to room, or dog owners might have seen their pooch barking at apparently nothing. 

"Cats and dogs can sense things we can't (for example their hearing is much more sensitive than ours) but this doesn't mean they're sensing anything paranormal. They're just picking up on things that are happening around us that might be too quiet for us to hear.

"If your cat is frantically running around, the likelihood is that they're having a funny five minutes to get rid of the excess energy they might otherwise burn when hunting (in this case, some extra playtime is probably needed to satisfy your cats mental and physical stimulation needs). And sometimes our dogs will bark at something we can't hear or maybe they're just trying to get our attention!

"There's many more myths and superstitions that factor in our pets, and some have been around for hundreds of years. No matter what you believe, as long as you and your pet are happy and healthy, that's the main thing!"

For information and advice on how to take care of your pets, head to PDSA's website: www.pdsa.org.uk/phh