IF we test cats and dogs using petri dishes, THEN  the cat will be more hygienic [or cleaner] than a dog. This is BECAUSE cats groom and take care of themselves, while dogs rely on humans to take care of them.

DOGS

Dogs are not really like cats when it comes to grooming they are more dependable than cats. Dogs have to rely on human because they don't have an amazing tongue like them but they have humans that can give very good bathes. They need help with things like bathing, grooming, and dental care to live a healthy life. Unfortunately, not all humans take care of their dogs.

CATS

Cats love grooming all the time, so they don't need much care like dogs do. Cats are also very intelligent and independent creatures. Their tongues are like a built in brush that can take out stuff like parasites, excess fur, dead skin and much more! This also gives them an advantage of being more hygienic because they have a helpful tongue but dogs rely on humans.

BACTERA

A single bacteria is impossible to see with the naked eye, but when there is a colony of bacteria, then it is clear to see without using a microscope. When testing with petri dishes, the wait should be at least 7 days for the results. Doing the analysis too early [even by 1 day] , won't lead to proper results since bacterial growth is rapid. Bacteria can grow in many different sizes, shapes, and colors. However, for this experiment we are just observing the numbers of colonies.

Controlled:

No showers for all the animals before the tests were made.

Using the same type of petri dishes for all the animals.

Storing all the petri dishes in same temperature. ( between 35-40°C)

Same areas will be tested on the pets using fresh materials (like gloves, Q-tips and petri dishes).

Manipulated:

We will change the animals species we are testing.

We will change our gloves, Q-tips and petri dishes for each test.

Responded:

Which animal has the least amount of bacteria

1. First buy 10 petri dishes
2. Then take one petri dish out from the package, flip it upside down and use a sharpie to make 4 quarters
3. Write in the first quarter with sharpie, BACK, the second quarter TONGUE, third quarter LEFT HIND PAW, and the last quarter EAR
4. Next take that petri dish for the animal you are testing and open it up, when you have swabbed the animal on the following areas…
   1. Tongue: Gently open mouth (if you can't open the mouth, try using a treat) while carefully holding the Q-tip. Swab the tongue, and then rub the sample on its designated quarter
   2. Back: Swab the skin gently with a Q-tip while holding back the fur. Then, wipe the petri dish with the Q-tip in its quarter.
   3. Left hind paw: Swab the crevasse of the paw gently with a Q-tip and wipe it on the petri dish.
   4. Ears: gently swab the ears of the animal, if they are uncomfortable stop and come back to it later.
5. Close the petri dish once done and tape it with masking tape. never open it again!!!
6. Stick the labels of the animal and its number on the petri dish for data collection.
7. Repeat steps 2-6 until you finish all the animals.

AND THAT'S ABOUT IT!

Our observations were that dogs had more bacterial colonies than cats. We think it's because some owners don't give their dogs bathes that often while cats can clean themselves anytime without having to wait for someone to give them a bath. We also think that this is because we did not let dogs or cats bathe before testing but cats can basically clean themselves whenever they want. We also that dogs "won" over cats on their backs because two of the cats had lice.Also we discovered that the dirtiest dog was animal 2.

We noticed that the cats were repeatedly getting less colonies than the dogs. Cats were the cleanest until it came to their back, they slacked off on that one. We think that cats lost the cleanliness battle on their back, because two cats have lice. We think the cats were cleaner than the dogs on most of the samples, because of the cats tongue (remember it's like a built in brush that can take out bad things) but lost on there backs because there tongue cant take out lice.

Our conclusion is that cats are cleaner than dogs. Shown on the petri dishes, dogs had more bacterial colonies than the cats.

We were right about our hypothesis because the cat samples showed less bacterial growth. The cats had a total of 298 bacterial colonies while the dogs on the other hand had a total of 353 colonies. Therefore, cats have bragging rights over dogs for eternity!!!

We think that veterinarians and groomers would like these results so they can know that dogs need more care than cats with medicines and grooming. We also think pet owners would need this info so that they know they'll need to clean and take care of their dogs more than their cats but not ignoring their cats for both animals to live a healthy life.

Some things that we could improve are that we could give dogs a rinse before tests because, cats can clean themselves any time they want to with their tongue. Also, we could buy more petri dishes and have separate columns for every body part we test so that the mold does not intersect into the other columns, but that would be VERY EXPENSIVE.

CAT + DOG https://www.thedoorbuddy.com/blogs/door-buddy/are-dogs-cleaner-than-cats?srsltid=AfmBOorc7ZWQnvquVqAOyrZQ-BWg2g4_iM3tNK5xUzIqIlV5AqdxOXNp

CAT + DOG https://mylovelyfeline.com/en-ca/blogs/content/the-cleanliness-debate-cats-vs-dogs?srsltid=AfmBOoonsSFK7mO3giAx2ijjPLRL67IIkykUsb0JyG_gTpsQUQUNssV7

CAT https://www.petfinder.com/cats-and-kittens/health-wellness/grooming/are-cats-clean/

DOG https://www.google.com/search?q=dogs+and+how+clean+they+are&rlz=1CAEAQE_enCA1147&oq=dogs+and+how+clean+they+are+&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i10i160l2.15174j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on

Bacterial colony video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JZAFUPckUg

We acknowledge:

• Amanda for lending us one dog and organizing the project for us ( printing out sci fair pages and help us coordinate the days of testing the animals).
• Amira for lending us one dog, two cats, ten petri dishes and also for helping coordinate our sci fair.
• Yolanda for lending us two dogs and two cats.
• Pippa, Rosy, Ivory, Jersey, Hazel, Juney, Basbosa, and Karcora for being our test subjects.

• And last but not least Mrs. Rushton for teaching us about sci fair, encouraging us, brainstorming ideas, learning about the scientific method and if she wasn't here none of this would have happened.

  Overall, we thank the pets parents and teachers who supported us through this journey.