Like many others I believed that all cats were female and all dogs were male, but the rest of my animal education as a child was quite impressive. I knew that dogs and cats couldn't mate, therefore they would soon become extinct! I worried about that for months.

A Child Zoologist

There is a lady in our church, aged 80, who STILL believes that cats and kittens are female and dogs and puppies are male. About 15 years ago, I tried to tell her otherwise and she became very angry, saying that I was deliberately making fun of her.

Diawe

I can't begin to tell you how relieved I was to find that I was not the only child that thought that dogs were male and cats were female. My mom has been teasing me about that for years. My husband believed that Tigers were girls and Lions were boys. Sounds logical to me.

Dani.

Until I was 10, I thought that cats were girls and dogs were the boys. Cats are aloof and standoff-ish, while dogs will do anything for food. I wonder why I was confused?

Big Mozza

When I was little I believed that dogs and cats were the same species, but that dogs were the daddies and cats were the mummies.

Anon

When I was three, I used to believe that dogs were boys and cats were girls. And I also thought that forks and knives were boys and spoons were girls.

L.

until i was about 10 years old, i believed that all dogs were male and all cats were female. when a dog and a cat got married they would have little girl kittens and boy puppies.

Anon

It appears unusual, but I never believed all cats to be female and all dogs to be male (even though I'm German, and you neutrally say "die Katze" (f) and "der Hund" (m) in German). I was half convinced our dog could talk, though. I distinctly remember imagining he did on one occasion.

magic tarpit

Growing up, my exboyfriend used to believe that cats and dogs were of the same species and the cat was the female and the dog was the male. Hense, there could be no male cats and visa versa. Well, it wasnt untill he hit the age of 14 that he learned he was wrong... he say two dogs humping and asked his dad if his dogs were gay!!! I guess some kids are slower than others... :0)

Jessica

I used to believe that cats were all female and dogs were all male.

Rachel

I believed that all cats were female and all dogs were male.

Biologically confused

I used to think all cats were MALE and all dogs were FEMALE, because we had a male cat and a female dog when I was a little tyke.

Kdees

I used to believe that cats and dogs could 'get married'. The cat was the girl, the dog the boy. Cats & Dogs just sounded like they went together...

Holly the Dolly

i used to think that dogs were males and cats were females. i only recently discovered that someone else used to think that too when they were a kid. whew!

alex k

I'm not sure how or why I came to believe this, but when I was young I was convinced that all cats were female and all dogs were male. Imagine my surprise when my grandfather's dog had puppies! I guess I figured that cats and dogs mated together, and the cats were the ones to birth both kittens and puppies!

Anon

i used to believe a dog was the male version of a cat.

Anon

like loads of other people, cats were female and dogs were male, this was because at the pet shop they sold good girl treats for cats and we fed our dog mr. dog dog food.

adrian

that cats were only girls and dogs were only boys. I definetly didn't get the whole reproducing thing yet.

Jamie

I used to think that all cats were girls and all dogs were boys. This seemed logical because when we were kids, I always wanted a cat and my brother always wanted a dog. I was very confused when ever I came across a female dog or a male cat. I still called them he/she as I thought they should be.

Emma

Cats and dogs are the same species.

I certainly believed, and not without a lot of independent reasoning. To me, cats were unmistakedly feminine and dogs very macho. They also vary wildly in size, with a shitsu dog looking much closer to a kitten that a great dane. So I believed that dogs and cats were the males and females respectively of the same species. I can't tell you how disappointed I was to find out I was wrong.

Bruno Bowden