Strange AnimalsTopic
Pets
Breed profiles, health, feeding and the science behind the animals that share our homes, from rare six-toed dogs to two-faced cats.
194articles
6subtopics
900Mdogs worldwide
200+recognised dog breeds
70+recognised cat breeds
38 yearsCreme Puff, the oldest cat
72 km/hGreyhound, the fastest dog
Pet superpowers
The most extreme abilities in our pets articles, each one has a full story behind it.
EXTRA TOES 6 per footNorwegian Lundehund A puffin-hunting dog built to climb sea cliffs. OLDEST CAT 38 yearsCreme Puff The oldest verified cat on record, from Texas. SWIMMING CAT Loves waterTurkish Van An ancient breed from Lake Van known as the swimming cat. WILD HERITAGE Jungle catChausie An athletic hybrid descended from the jungle cat. TWO FACES DiprosopusJanus cats Rare kittens born with two faces. GROOMING TIME 30–50%Cats Of their waking hours spent on self-grooming. DENTAL RISK 80%Dogs Show periodontal disease by age three. MOST POPULAR 900MDogs Estimated dogs living alongside humans worldwide.
Pets, ranked
Pick a stat and see who comes out on top across popular dog breeds.
Typical adult male weight, kg.
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6 subtopics · 194 articlesDog Breeds70 In-depth profiles of 60+ breeds with health and temperament data Cat Breeds46 Maine Coon, Persian, Ragdoll, Siamese, Bengal, Sphynx and more Dogs30 Behaviour, training, health, lifespan and intelligence Cats20 Communication, health, training and feline science Feeding15 Safe and toxic foods, portions, raw diets and life stages Health & Care13 Dental care, grooming, neutering and enrichment
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All breeds →Norwegian LundehundSix toes per footRARE
Khao ManeeThe diamond-eyed catRARE
LykoiThe werewolf catRARE
Pet questions
Quick answers to what readers ask us most.
1
What is the most popular dog breed? The Labrador Retriever has been among the most popular worldwide for decades; the French Bulldog tops recent US charts.
2
How long do cats live? Typically 12–18 years; indoor cats live longer. The oldest verified, Creme Puff, reached 38.
3
What foods are toxic to dogs? Grapes and raisins, xylitol, chocolate, onions and garlic, macadamia nuts, alcohol and caffeine.
4
Do dogs or cats make better pets? Neither, dogs need daily exercise and training; cats are more independent but still need enrichment.
5
When should you take a pet to the vet? At least yearly for adults, more often for young and senior pets, and immediately for breathing trouble, collapse or poisoning.
6
What is the best diet for a pet? A complete diet that meets AAFCO standards for their life stage, fed in the right amount.
All pets articles
Showing 12 of 30 Health & Care · 9 min Pet Tracking Systems: GPS, Microchips and Bluetooth Tags How microchips, GPS trackers and Bluetooth tags really work, what each can and cannot do, and the step-by-step plan for finding a lost dog or cat. dog-breeds · 5 min Norwegian Lundehund: The Six-Toed Dog Built to Climb Cliffs Discover the Norwegian Lundehund, a rare puffin-hunting dog with six toes and amazing flexibility. Learn about its anatomy, temperament and care needs. cat-breeds · 6 min Chausie Cat: The Athletic Hybrid With a Wild Heritage Meet the Chausie, an athletic hybrid cat descended from the jungle cat. Learn about its wild look, affectionate personality, care needs and temperament. Pet Health Care · 15 min Janus Cats: The Truth About Two-Faced Kittens Discover the science, history and care of Janus cats, two-faced kittens with diprosopus. Explore genetics, health challenges, ethics and famous cases. Pet Health Care · 13 min Cyclopia in Animals: The One-Eyed Kitten Discover the science behind cyclopia in animals, the causes of one-eyed kittens and why this rare birth defect occurs. Learn about genetics, risks and animal welfare. pet-health-care · 11 min Pet Exercise and Enrichment: Keeping Pets Active Exercise is a physical necessity for dogs and cats, not an optional extra. Lack of exercise is a primary contributor to obesity, and insufficient activity and enrichment are associated with behavioural problems, anxiety and destructive behaviour. Equally important, and more often overlooked, is cognitive enrichment. pet-health-care · 9 min Microchipping Pets: Benefits and How It Works Microchipping is the most reliable permanent identification method available for dogs and cats. Unlike collars, which break or fall off and tattoos, which fade and become illegible, a microchip is a passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) device that lasts the lifetime of the animal and can b pet-health-care · 14 min Spaying or Neutering Your Pet: What to Expect Spaying and neutering are the most commonly performed elective surgical procedures in veterinary medicine. The procedures, ovariohysterectomy (spay) for females and orchiectomy (neuter) for males, involve removing reproductive organs under general anaesthesia. pet-health-care · 10 min Trimming Dog Nails Safely: Techniques and Tips Nail trimming is among the most commonly avoided dog care tasks. Yet overgrown nails cause real physical problems: altered gait, joint stress, curling into the paw pad and increased risk of nail splits and tears. pet-health-care · 10 min Keeping Your Cat Indoors: Safety and Enrichment Tips The indoor vs. outdoor cat debate is not evenly balanced by evidence. Outdoor cats face mortality rates dramatically higher than indoor cats. A widely cited 2013 study in Nature Communications by Loss et al. estimated that free-roaming cats kill between 1.3 and 4 billion birds annually in the United pet-health-care · 14 min Grooming Your Dog at Home: Techniques Professional grooming is a recurring cost for dog owners. Beyond cost, many dogs experience stress at grooming facilities, particularly if they have not been acclimated from puppyhood. pet-health-care · 11 min Grooming Your Cat at Home: Techniques Cats are self-grooming animals that spend a large part of their waking hours on self-maintenance. Their barbed tongues remove loose fur, debris and external parasites with remarkable efficiency. This natural behaviour leads many owners to assume cats need no help, an assumption that fails long-haired cats and older cats. pet-health-care · 9 min Deworming Pets: Types and Treatments Intestinal parasites are among the most common health problems in dogs and cats worldwide. Cats and dogs acquire parasitic infections through contaminated soil, prey animals, flea ingestion, or maternal transmission. pet-health-care · 11 min Dog Dental Care: Techniques and Disease Prevention Periodontal disease is among the most common health conditions in dogs. Despite its prevalence, it is largely preventable with consistent home care, and when present, it is treatable, but treatment under general anaesthesia is expensive, invasive and stressful compared to prevention. pet-health-care · 9 min Cat Dental Care: Techniques and Disease Prevention Dental disease is the most common health problem in adult cats, and prevalence increases with age. Unlike many conditions that require diagnostic testing to detect, early dental disease is visible to any attentive owner, and preventable with consistent home care. pet-feeding · 15 min Dog Foods: Safe and Unsafe Options Dogs are natural scavengers, and their digestive systems can tolerate a wider range of foods than many other domestic animals. However, "wider range" does not mean "anything a human eats." Several common human foods are genuinely dangerous to dogs, some can cause acute kidney failure, neurological pet-feeding · 13 min Cat Foods: Safe and Unsafe Options Understanding what cats can and cannot eat requires understanding something fundamental about their biology: cats are obligate carnivores. Unlike dogs, which are omnivores capable of meeting many nutritional needs from plant sources, cats have evolved as strict meat-eaters. Over millions of years of pet-feeding · 10 min Wet vs Dry Dog Food: Nutritional Comparison Of all the companion animal nutrition questions asked most often, the wet food versus dry food debate ranks at the top. The straightforward answer is that neither format dominates universally. Both provide complete, balanced nutrition. Both come with meaningful advantages and real limitations. pet-feeding · 11 min Wet vs Dry Cat Food: Which Is the Best Choice? The question of wet versus dry food is more consequential for cats than for dogs, and the answer leans more clearly in one direction. While both formats can provide complete and balanced nutrition, the unique physiology of cats, particularly their evolutionarily adapted low thirst drive, creates a pet-feeding · 11 min Senior Dog Nutrition Every dog ages, but the rate of ageing and its nutritional implications vary enormously by body size. A Great Dane may be geriatric at seven, while a Chihuahua may not reach senior status until nine or ten. This guide covers what changes, what to feed and how to judge a senior food. pet-feeding · 10 min Senior Cat Nutrition Cats age differently from most mammals. A cat at seven years old looks and behaves much like a cat at two. A cat at thirteen may show no obvious signs of the complex physiological changes occurring inside its body. This deceptive vitality is part of what makes senior cat nutrition so challenging: th pet-feeding · 14 min Raw Diet for Dogs: Pros and Cons Few topics in canine nutrition generate more passionate debate than the raw diet. Proponents argue that feeding dogs uncooked meat, bones and organs is the most natural and biologically appropriate choice available. Critics, including most veterinary medical organisations, point to real documented pet-feeding · 11 min Raw Diet for Cats: Pros and Cons Cats occupy a biologically unique position among domestic animals. Unlike dogs, which are classified as omnivores capable of meeting their nutritional needs from plant and animal sources alike, cats are obligate carnivores. This means that several nutrients critical to feline health, taurine, arach pet-feeding · 10 min Puppy Feeding Schedule by Age Getting a puppy's feeding schedule right is one of the most consequential things a new dog owner can do. A puppy's first year of life involves the most rapid growth and development it will ever experience. The nutritional foundation laid during this period directly influences skeletal density, muscl pet-feeding · 10 min Kitten Feeding Schedule by Age Kittens are born completely dependent on their mother and grow into self-sufficient predators capable of eating whole prey within weeks. This rapid developmental arc places enormous nutritional demands on the young cat's body. A kitten needs approximately twice the calories per kilogram of body weig pet-feeding · 10 min How Much to Feed a Dog by Weight One of the most common mistakes dog owners make is feeding the wrong amount, and most of the time, that means feeding too much. Obesity is the most prevalent nutritional disease in companion dogs in the United States. pet-feeding · 10 min How Much to Feed a Cat by Weight Obesity is the single most common nutritional disease in pet cats in the United States. This guide explains how to calculate how much to feed a cat by weight, age and activity level and how to use body condition scoring. pet-feeding · 10 min Grain-Free Dog Food Grain-free dog food has been a significant commercial trend in pet nutrition. Marketing positioned these products as more natural, closer to a dog's ancestral diet and superior for dogs with allergies or sensitivities. Then, in July 2018, the FDA began looking at a possible link with heart disease in dogs. pet-feeding · 13 min Foods Toxic to Dogs: List with Safety Guidance Emergency contacts, save these now: - ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center: 888-426-4435 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, per-incident fee may apply) - Pet Poison Helpline: 855-764-7661 (24/7, fee may apply) - Your local emergency veterinary hospital (find it before an emergency) If your dog has eaten pet-feeding · 12 min Foods Toxic to Cats: Emergency Reference Emergency contacts, save these now: - ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center: 888-426-4435 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, per-incident fee may apply) - Pet Poison Helpline: 855-764-7661 (24/7, fee may apply) - Your local emergency veterinary hospital Do not wait for symptoms before calling. Many cat t