We scoured the internet for the most interesting and odd superstitions surrounding pets. Many of these sayings came from ancient times when superstition, rather than science, ruled belief, but we decided to do a little fun myth busting.
Cats have nine lives.
Yes, this is a myth, but take it from us, veterinary types, cats ARE very tough and resilient. In fact, we see cats will horrific dental disease and they are so tough that no one even noticed. Cats can fall from high places and right themselves, but they do sustain injury in falls, so it is wise not to test this myth.
Dogs can see ghosts.
We are not sure about the ghost part, but dogs are able to accurately identify certain types of cancers in their humans and predict when epileptics are nearing a seizure. If that is not a gift of “special sight”, we don’t know what is! Animals can hear and smell so much better than we can that our best guess about why dogs stare at walls or doorways is because they hear or smell something, not necessarily other worldly apparitions.
Black animals are bad luck.
This myth especially maligns black cats, but we know that all animals bring good luck. A cat’s purr is a frequency associated with healing, even if she is black, so that would be GOOD. We also know that petting a black cat (or dog) in black pants is luckier than in white pants! We do believe that a witch’s preference for black clothing stems from the fact that she is tired of rolling the black cat hair off all the other colors!
A dog howling at night means something bad is about to happen.
Seriously, dogs (and other canids) sometimes howl when they hear sirens. We all know that sirens mean someone has requested emergency assistance, so who is to say that our dogs can’t know that too? Or maybe the high-pitched noise hurts their ears? We are not sure, but we do know that dogs are able to hear things we cannot, maybe even other dogs howling far away.
A strange dog following you home is good luck.
As dog lovers, we think that a strange dog following us is A OK, as long as we can scan his microchip and get him home safely. In fact, at Applebrook Animal Hospital, we often have treats in our pockets and smell like pheromones and peanut butter, so strange dogs and cats LIKE to follow us! Are we trying to make our own good luck? We will never tell!
We hope that you have enjoyed our animal superstitions. Check out our other social media, our mobile app and all the other places we can help animals and make you smile!