It's actually called Eight out of Ten Cats Does Countdown!
Yes, you are correct. It is usually abbreviated to Cats Do Countdown. And has been referred to as that on the show. Basically, the British took the comedians on the panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats, and put them on game show Countdown. Countdown was created by Marcel Stellman, from a French game show...
But even if I were totally wrong, and it were dogs rather than cats, still 5 of Stellman's siblings were killed in the Holocaust, which was very real.