Snoops: Did you know that this time of year has a special name around here? It’s called the “Dog Days”
Kommando: Why? I haven’t seen any extra dogs wandering around.
Snoops: Nope. It doesn’t have anything to do with real dogs.
Kommando: Is it because it’s so hot that the humans lie around panting like dogs?
Snoops: It’s because of a star called Sirius, the Dog Star. It’s easy to see this time of year.
Kommando: Why do dogs get a star? What about cats?
Snoops: We have Leo. It’s a bunch of stars named after a lion.
Kommando: OK. That works. So how long do these “dog days” last? It’s really hot.
Snoops: Yeah. Lying under these fans all the time is hard on my fur.
Kommando: And I’m tired of shedding so much.
Snoops: Luckily, they’re almost over. They generally run from July 3 to August 11 in the northern part of the world.
Kommando: So, after tomorrow it won’t be so hot anymore?
Snoops: Afraid not. It can still be hot and sticky for a long time.
Kommando: Rats. But that part about cats and dogs in the sky is pretty interesting. Are there other animals up there?
Snoops: I don’t know. Let’s look it up on the Internet.
Kommando: We can talk to Mr. Google, so we don’t have to worry about typing.
Snoops: Wow! Look at this. There are 88 constellations and 42 are named after animals.*
Kommando: Some of those aren’t animals. Like birds. And fish. Seriously? They consider a fly an animal?
Snoops: Some of them aren’t real animals either; they’re make-believe.
Kommando: Let’s see what some of them look like.
Leo (Lion)
Ursa Major (Big Bear)
Taurus (Bull)
Vulpecula (Fox)
Kommando: Those stars don’t look anything like the animals. Humans are crazy.
Snoops: I guess it was nice of them to think of us.
Kommando: At least they have opposable thumbs.
All pictures courtesy of Google Images (except us)
* https://starinastar.com/how-many-animal-constellations/
Sorry I’m late – I accidentally scheduled it for tomorrow
Adventures in Cheeseland 
That’s really interesting about about all those constellations named for animals! Franklin the cat and I are feeling the heat from the Dog Days too!
We feel it’s appropriate that dogs are responsible for this miserable sticky weather. Purrs, Snoops and Kommando Kitty
I enjoyed the constellations.
Katie Isabella
Thank you. We had no idea there was a whole zoo out there. Purrs, Snoops and Kommando Kitty
Great Astronomy lesson. And I never knew that was why it was called the dog days of summer 🙂 XO
Thank you. We aim to be helpful. After all, we are cats. Purrs, Snoops and Kommando Kitty
Miaowzel and barky-barkkbark! (It’s in the stars….) 😉
🙂
guyz….we iz waitin for de dawg dayz ta bee over; sew we can fuzz bout how cold it iz !!! 🙂 ♥♥
we iz gonna hafta look up google N chek out who else iz out ther bee sidez leo….may bee
therz a panther anda tiger N a houz cat !! 🙂
♥♥
At least we can cuddle in the cold.
Our favorite fotos are of ya’ll of course. We totally agree, none of those animals stars really look much like the animal they’re s’posed to be. Big hugs
Luv ya’
Dezi and Raena
Thank you! We’re blushing under our fur. We don’t know where they got the idea those look like animals.
We loved the star info and who knew that The Tribe of Five would have to suffer the presence of a D-O-G during the “dog days of summer”. We definitely going to have clarity about this before next summer!
Purrs & Head Bonks.
Alberto
That’s exactly what we thought when we found out