Every now and then a Japanese animal lover asks me, in English, "Do you feed a dog?"
If I were in a sarcastic mood I suppose I could snap in reply, ワンチャンに餌をやらないと、餓死するんじゃないの？ (Wanchan ni esa o yaranai to, gashi suru-n ja nai no?; If I didn't feed the doggie, it would starve to death, no?). But that would only compound the confusion, because I was just being asked if I have a pet.
Even when asked in Japanese, however, the question is still a bit confusing, because "Inu o katte-imasu ka?" sounds almost exactly like 犬を買っていますか？ ("Are you [in the act of] buying a dog?"). The listener must differentiate between the verbs 飼う (kau, to feed or raise) and 買う (kau, to buy) by the context.
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