Cats have their own social networking scheme… mainly revolving around food. They wander from house to house and sit on people’s doorsteps, with the sort of lean and hungry look few humans can resist. Cats seldom go hungry.

One wandering cat had been doing so well from the neighbours that his owner had to tie a label round neck saying: ‘Please don’t feed me I’m getting fussy at home.’

And yes they are fussy eaters. They don’t tuck into cow dung or rotten garbage as dogs tend to do. They don’t roll in fox urine and don’t expect humans to pick up their droppings.

Okay, so dogs problems are rather different to those of cats. When they jump up and slobber all over you they’re only trying to be affectionate. They can’t help it if they have bad breath and suffer from the most malodorous flatulence. So, cats versus dogs… which are the cleanest?

Cats get our vote because they are always washing themselves.