agree to two bailiwick , the answer is yes : Just like world are usually right- or left - handed , cats and dogs are typically mighty pawed or leave pawed .
Thefirst study , performed by researcher at Turkey ’s Ataturk University in 1991 , demo the majority of domestic kat are right pawed ( 50 percent ) , 10 percent are ambidextrous , and the remaining 40 percentage favor their left mitt . But andiron , harmonise to a 2006 studyby the University of Manchester , incline to be more evenly split up — around 50 pct of dogs are will paw and 50 percent are right pawed , with a statistically undistinguished number being ambidextrous .
ascertain if your cat or domestic dog is left or right pawed or ambidextrous is n’t as simple as holding a plaything just out of reach and seeing which hand they attain with . This is because their paw orientation is often weakly expressed , unlike with humans . So in social club to accurately determine your favourite ’s paw preference , you postulate torun tests several dozen times to see the drift . Just a few mental testing let in : What paw does your dog most often stir with ? If your heel or cat is play on its back and you put your hand just out of their compass , which mitt do they reach for your hired man with ? you could also prove putting a treat or a toy dog under a piece of furniture to see which paw they usually reach for the delicacy or fiddle with . If your darling wants to come inside , which hand does it typically apply to scratch at the door ?
In all these cases , record book which paw is used and once you ’ve done several dozen ( at least ) such test , hold in to see if there is a clear dominant paw . If not , continue on until one emerge . If you ’ve done 100 to 200 or so such tests and there is no obtrusive manus preference , your fauna is probably two-handed .
Why does it matter if your brute favors one paw over another ? Stefanie Schwartz , a vet at the Veterinary Neurology Center in Tustin , California , assure theDaily Mailthat determining dominance — or what part of the mind is dominant over the other — could one day avail breeders figure outwhich puppies are best suited to be military , Robert William Service , or therapy dog .
