Riddle: Is This Animal A Dog Or A Cat?
Every day, the Internet offers us a lot of weird and funny things. If we talk about animals, the list of pages, articles and videos dedicated to dogs and cats becomes almost endless. Well, we too have decided to do our part. This time we present the curious story of Atchoum.
What is special about this animal? Well, you will understand that simply by looking at his photos. So we ask you (without reading at the bottom): are you able to determine if it is a dog or a cat?
A strange long-haired animal
Our protagonist, who is called Atchoum, suffers from a particular disease. We are talking about congenital hypertrichosis, better known among humans, as the ‘ wolf man syndrome ‘. A type of hormonal imbalance that does not cause particular health problems for this cute specimen.
Except that the incredible increase in hair makes us doubt its nature. In practice, hair grows at an unusually fast rate every day in Atchoum. Furthermore, as the nails were also becoming too large, the owners were forced to have them extracted permanently.
On the contrary, the dentition is underdeveloped. Fortunately, this is not something that affects his diet.
Owl, dog or cat… Will you solve the riddle?
If you still don’t know what kind of animal Atchoum is, don’t worry. On his official webpage, fans of our hero even launched a poll with the question ” What is Atchoum ?”.
Now try to guess, choosing between these 7 different alternatives :
- A dog
- An owl
- A mad scientist
- The Grinch, the terrible goblin played by Jim Carrey
- Sir Didymus, one of the characters from Inside the Labyrinth
- Lorax, from the book and film of the same name
- An ewok escaped from the Star Wars set
Unfortunately we have to disappoint you. In fact, this cute furry dog is nothing more than a particular example of Persian Cat. Maybe not too lucky, since in addition to belonging to a notoriously hairy breed, he also suffers from hypertrichosis. God sees and provides , they say: thank goodness his mistress has a hairdresser for animals ! A real plus for this cute kitty.
Atchoum, a new viral phenomenon of the network
The little feline was born in 2014 and lives in Quebec, Canada, along with his family and two other cats. Its owners have been able to exploit its nice and particular appearance and, in a short time, Atchoum has become an Internet star.
In addition to his official website, even in two languages (English and French), there is an online store and a series of social networks, on which his daily adventures are published. Today, you can follow this special kitty on:
- Tumblr
- YouTube
The media have also dealt with the subject. Blogs and online magazines of the level of People or Buzzfeed have published several articles dedicated to Atchoum.
A normal cat, happy and with many fans
Atchoum owes its name to the particular sound it makes when sneezing. He is the only feline diagnosed with hypertrichosis. For this reason, the consequences and possible problems that the disease could cause in the future are not yet known. In any case, if we consider the effects on the human organism, for our friend, life will flow smoothly.
Up to now, thanks to constant veterinarian supervision, the cat has not shown any problems. He is approaching three years of age, weighs almost 4 kilograms and is in excellent health. We can certainly say that, due to the way it is cared for, it is certainly a lucky animal.
Also because he is not in the least touched by the enormous media buzz generated by the thousands of photos, memes and animated gifs that portray him in strange poses, dressed and disguised as a comic book character. He doesn’t care about any of that, and probably does n’t even care if anyone mistook him for a dog or an owl. Fame hasn’t gone to his head, for now …
Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/AtchoumsFan/
