Raining dogs and cats

Do you know the origin/history of this phrase?

One supposed origin is that the phrase derives from mythology. Dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the god of storms, and sailors associated them with rain. Witches, who often took the form of their familiars - cats, are supposed to have ridden the wind. Well, some evidence would be nice. There doesn't appear to be any to support this notion.

It has also been suggested that cats and dogs were washed from roofs during heavy weather. This is a widely repeated tale. It got a new lease of life with the e-mail message "Life in the 1500s", which began circulating on the Internet in 1999. Here's the relevant part of that:

I'll describe their houses a little. You've heard of thatch roofs, well that's all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, "it's raining cats and dogs."

Quite funny!!!

Snowy

We adopted snowy when he was a month old. He looked like a small ball of snow (he used to curl and cuddle himself in to a ball) so I named him snowy.

The name Snowy might sound girly… that’s because when he was a pup I did not even know if he is a he or she (Call me lame...no probs...lol)

When I first took him to my home he felt so lonely he won’t even come near me… I too did not know how to handle him and stuff. But slowly I learned it and still learning what to do and what not to do.

He used to cry all the time and I used to wonder “Is he asking for his mom?” “Is he scared?” I did not find the exact answer but he slowly learned that we are his family, my mom is his mom and I am his sis!

Snowy is naughty, bratty, witty (when it comes to stealing food from the kitchen), and my cutie J

P.S: Snowy had a pair of weak hind limbs when he was a month old. With the vets advice we gave him a lot of physiotherapy exercises and by the time he was 3 or 4 months old he was jumping and running like the rest of his friends J

Love Snowy because he is small yet strong. He has got a lot of will power and he loves us unconditionally. He talks with us through his cute expressions and sweet mulling barks…

He is my baby bro and the angel of our house… the only medicine that takes away all the stress and worries of my family.