Tesh Tuesday- Pet Edition

Interesting Facts About Dogs and Cats

If you’re one of the millions of North American pet owners, here are some things you may not know about your animal, courtesy of WebMD.com.

First, let’s look at dogs.

• Did you know they can smell diabetes? Dogs are now being trained to sniff out low blood sugar in their diabetic owners. A dog’s nose is so accurate, it can diagnose hypoglycemia 90% of the time. When they detect a dangerous drop in blood sugar, they’ll alert their owner by pawing, licking, whining, or barking.
• Next, did you know that dogs don’t wag their tails when they’re alone? Why not? Because it’s a form of sign language. Wagging for dogs is like gesturing for humans – you wouldn’t wave hello or make a fist if no one was there to see it right? Newborn puppies don’t wag their tails at all. Dogs usually start wagging sometime between their third and seventh week. As they become more alert, tail wagging starts as a way to make peace with other dogs.
• Here’s something else you probably didn’t know about dogs – a limp could mean lung trouble.Lung cancer in dogs can cause leg bones to grow new tissue, causing swelling and pain in the legs. Once the lung is treated, the limp goes away. Another sign of lung cancer in dogs is a cough. So if your dog has an incessant cough, a limp, or both, get him to the vet for a chest x-ray.
  
  

Now here are some interesting facts about cats:

• For one, they don’t always land on their feet. They do have a very flexible backbone that allows them to land feet first when falling from short distances, but any fall from higher than two stories, they won’t be able to right themselves. In fact, there’s something called “high rise syndrome” – where a cat will become so focused on catching a bird that they’ll fall out of windows or off balconies and really injure themselves.
• Also, contrary to popular belief, cats don’t need milk. Kittens drink their mother’s milk, but adult cats are lactose-intolerant, and drinking milk can make them vomit or have diarrhea.
• Finally, did you know that white cats are often deaf, especially if they have blue eyes? If only one eye is blue, they’ll typically be deaf in the ear on the same side.75% of white coated, blue eyed cats are deaf. Why? It’s hereditary – and there is no treatment for it.