Celebrate Yorkshire Day with our fun pet quiz!

At Burgess Pet Care, which is located on the edge of the North York Moors, the 1^st of August is a special day on the calendar as it’s Yorkshire Day! Join in the fun with our quick quiz all about our favourite pets...

How much do you know about your favourite furry friends?

Test your knowledge of dogs and cats, rabbits and rats, guinea pigs and gerbils – as well as ferrets and all sorts of fascinating small furries...

Answers at the bottom – but no peeking!

Q1: Dogs have the ability to smell separately with each nostril.

True or false?

Q2: What’s the main way cats communicate?

1. A) Via scent B) With their eyes C) By miaowing

Q3: Chinchillas ‘see’ using their whiskers

True or false?

Q4: Hamster mums look after their offspring carefully until the babies are what age?

1. A) Four days old B) Four weeks old C) Four months old

Q5: When a pet rat is given a choice between receiving a treat just for themselves or having a friend receive a tasty treat too, they'll choose the option that also enables their friend to get a treat.

True or false?

Q6: Rabbits use their ears like radar, to tune in to what’s going around them.

True or false?

Q7: Male ferrets are called hobs, and females are called jills. A neutered male is a gib, but what is a neutered female ferret called?

1. A) A lilt B) A sprite C) A fanta

Q8: Baby guinea pigs are born fully formed with hair, their eyes and ears open and able to eat solid food from the day they are born.

True or false?

Q9: Where do degus originate from?

1. A) China B) Cyprus C) Chile

Q10: Gerbils work in teams to carry their food back and forth to their underground store as quickly as possible.

True or false?

Q11: How do mice reveal their social status?

1. A) By squeaking the loudest B) By climbing up as high as possible C) By leaving special odour patterns that only other mice can understand

Q12: And finally – the origins of Burgess Pet Care can be traced to the watermill at Fountains Abbey (now owned by the National Trust) back in which year?

1. A) 1649 B) 1749 C) 1849

THE ANSWERS

Q1 ANSWER: True. Unlike humans, dogs smell ‘in stereo’ – that is, they smell separately with each nostril, which helps them work out lots of information about interesting whiffs.

Q2 ANSWER: A) Scent. While cats may miaow at their human to announce that it’s dinnertime, and show that they love us by slow blinking, the main way that cats communicate is via scent – no wonder we humans find it so difficult to understand them sometimes!

Q3 ANSWER: True. Nocturnal chinchillas have very poor eyesight and tend to rely on their whiskers in order to ‘see’ or sense their surroundings and navigate the world around them. That’s why you should always approach them slowly so they can use their other senses to work out it’s their friendly human, not a predator out to get them!

Q4 ANSWER: B) Four weeks. Hamster babies are dutifully cared for by their hamster mother until they reach about four weeks. After this time, she’s had quite enough of motherhood  and is likely to try and drive her offspring away, just as she would in the wild.

Q5 ANSWER: True. Rats show amazing levels of understanding towards others of their own species. If one rat receives help from another, he or she will remember and return the favour in the future – and the more help the rat received, the more they'll give!

Q6 ANSWER: True. With rabbits, both ears forward mean: ‘Something has caught my attention’, one ear forward and one back can be interpreted as: ‘I’ve noticed something, but it doesn’t yet require my full attention’, both ears back suggest your rabbit is saying: ‘It’s all good and I can give my radar a rest’.

Q7 ANSWER: B) Sprite. Baby ferrets (less than one year old) are kits and a group of these intelligent little animals is known as a ‘business of ferrets’.

Q8 ANSWER: True. Unlike puppies, kittens and baby rabbits, baby guinea pigs are born fully formed and eat solid food almost straight away. The way that guinea pigs develop is one of the reasons they don’t need life stage foods. These small rodents have very specific nutritional requirements that remain the same throughout their whole life.

Q9 ANSWER: C) Chile. Degus originate from Chile in South America and, in the wild, live from coastal plains to the Andes mountains in groups of up to 100, where they dig complex burrows to hide from predators, complete with highly organised nests and food stores.

Q10 ANSWER: True. Whether they’re worried about supplies running low, or if it’s simply the case that such hardwired behaviour is impossible for even the best fed gerbils to shake off, these little rodents will hoard much more food than they need. They don’t have cheek pouches like hamsters but can carry food back and forth to their underground store very quickly to stock up, often working together to speed the process up.

Q11 ANSWER: C) Scent marking territory is super important to mice. They use odour patterns of urine and secretions from other body glands to identify individuals and their social status. When regularly cleaning out your mice to keep their home healthy and hygienic, keep back a handful of bedding that’s been used but isn’t wet or dirty and, once cleaning is completed, put this back so the cage so it still smells like home to your mice.

Q12 ANSWER: A) 1649. One of the UK’s leading pet food manufacturers, Burgess Pet Care is a British, family-owned company with a story that goes back more than 300 years. From its original operations at Fountain Abbey, by 1790 the flour milling business moved to the mill at Kirkby Fleetham. In 1922 the business moved to Thornton-le-Dale on the edge of the North York Moors, and this remains the Burgess HQ today, while production has been focused at Cherry Tree Mill in East Yorkshire since 1987.

HOW DID YOU SCORE?

10-12 – Best in show

7-9 – Award of merit

6 or less – Work in progress

BURGESS PET CARE’S YORKSHIRE ROOTS

Burgess in-house vet, Dr Suzanne Moyes, uses her nutritional expertise to nurture happy, healthy dogs, cats and small animals.

She says: “Because Burgess Pet Care began in and remains in Yorkshire, we have developed strong working relationships with the local agricultural communities over the years. With a heritage of more than 300 years of working in the agricultural and food business, we know all our suppliers personally. We use locally sourced ingredients wherever possible and deliveries to Cherry Tree Mill are often made by tractor!”

Using the expertise and experience built over the centuries, today Burgess produces high-quality, award-winning pet foods – such as food specially created to support neutered cats – and has launched many innovations. These include the UK’s first single component nugget for rabbits to prevent selective feeding, and the world’s first food specifically formulated for indoor rabbits.

Dr Moyes adds: “We continually work with leaders in small animal welfare, behaviour and health to ensure we are at the forefront of small animal health and nutrition. This is why experts, from vets to rescue centres to animal behaviourists, recommend and trust our food.”

CARE MORE: Helping you to help your pets live their best lives

• Got a question about caring for your pets or about the best way of feeding them? Ask our vet >>
• Looking for helpful advice for your pets? We’ve lots of great tips to help you give your animals the best life on our pet care pages >>
• Want to stay up to date with the latest news, trends and pet care advice? Head over to our Pet Talk blog >>

Is your dog a Burgess dog? Your cat a Burgess cat? Your small pets Burgess small pets? Join the Burgess Pet Club for exclusive offers and rewards.

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