1. Which esteemed American author wrote the following advert when his beloved pet cat Bambino disappeared? “Large and intensely black; thick, velvety fur; has a faint fringe of white hair across his chest; not easy to find in ordinary light.”

   1. Walt Whitman

   2. Mark Twain

   3. Edgar Allan Poe

   4. David Sedaris

2. Which English poet wrote to the Greek language scholar Hugh Stuart Boyd to inform him that her dog Flush “understands Greek excellently well”?

   1. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

   2. Pam Ayres

   3. Dora Greenwell

   4. Christina Rossetti

3. 

   “Human and cat, we try to transcend what separates us.” These are the words of the late Doris Lessing who in 1967 published a collection of essays and short fiction entitled Particularly Cats. The work, since revised and updated, reflected Lessing’s deep affection for felines. At one point Lessing owned an “alarming” – her own words – amount of Rhodesian Bush Cats. Just how many did she own?

   1. 50

   2. 30

   3. 20

   4. 40

4. Cat owners often suspect they are at the whim of their pets and may wonder who actually “owns” whom. Which author once pondered: “When I play with my cat who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me”?

   1. Montaigne

   2. Plutarch

   3. Jilly Cooper

   4. Samuel Johnson

5. 

   Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B Toklas were keen on white poodles, owning three in succession named Basket. They also owned a Mexican chihuahua named after a famous literary figure. Which writer did they choose?

   1. Byron

   2. Ernest Hemingway

   3. James Joyce

   4. Carlos Fuentes

6. Which dog-loving Romantic poet once proclaimed "All men are intrinsical rascals – and I am only sorry that not being a dog I can't bite them"?

   1. William Blake

   2. Lord Byron

   3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

   4. Mary Robinson

7. Uncle Willie was a beloved pet cat who was sadly struck by a car and terribly maimed. The distraught owner decided it was kindest to shoot him, and later wrote to a friend: “Have had to shoot people but never anyone I knew and loved for eleven years. Nor anyone that purred with two broken legs.” Which seasoned campaigner was confronted with this terrible decision?

   1. Ernest Hemingway

   2. Norman Mailer

   3. TE Lawrence

   4. Frederick Forsyth

8. According to William Burroughs, “the cat does not offer services. The cat offers itself.” But what does the final entry in Burroughs’ diary, written on the day before his death, reveal he felt for his cats “present and past”?

   1. Love

   2. Hate

   3. Indifference

   4. "Rather confused"

9. Emily Dickinson once favourably compared animals to humans by stating “they know – but do not tell”. But which of our four-legged friends was Dickinson referring to?

   1. Gerbil

   2. Dog

   3. Cat

   4. Horse

10. Which titan of French literature was once described as "the frizzle-headed Cat Woman of 20th-century French writing" ?

    1. Simone De Beauvoir

    2. Helene Cixous

    3. Colette

    4. Brigitte Bardot

Solutions

1:B, 2:A, 3:D, 4:A, 5:A, 6:B, 7:A, 8:A, 9:B, 10:C

Scores

1. 5 and above.

   Cat-astrophe! Could you spot the difference between a tiger and a tabby?

2. 8 and above.

   Not bad, maybe you're just having a ruff day.

3. 10 and above.

   Fantastic. You may now wag your tail