I can’t reveal details now, as they’re not public, but in a while I’ll be engaged in a debate with three other people—FAMOUS ONES!—on the relative merits of cats versus dogs*. It will be awesome—a highlight of my career. I have my own ideas, of course, but thought I’d crowdsource the topic to stimulate my thinking. The debate will be both lighthearted and serious, and therefore difficult.
So, I’m asking readers to help out by answering two questions
1. For those who love cats and dogs: what is it about cats that make them especially appealing or endearing to you?
2. For those (like me) who favor cats over dogs? Why do you prefer the moggies over the doggies? Dissing of dogs is permitted here.
This is a serious request, and if you’re a cat owner or simply a cat lover, I’d appreciate your feedback. If you know of any references—I already have some—on research on the appeal of cats (yes, I know that studies show they disdain their owners more than do dogs, but that’s one reason I like them), you’re welcome to add them.
More information as the time grows nearer. . .
_____
Note: I have temporarily abandoned the usage of “d*gs” for purposes of clarity.
Moggies domesticated us not the other way round ! 🙂
1. What is it about cats that make them especially appealing or endearing to you?
They’re cute, soft, furry and they purr. What more do you want?
2. Why do you prefer the moggies over the doggies?
Dogs smell, they’re higher-maintenance (walks in the snow, picking up warm poop), they’re not as soft or cute as cats, and they’re too clingy!
My cats are more clingy than my Golden Retriever. If I get up to go to the bathroom, one or both follow me there and wait at my feet. If I go downstairs to the kitchen, one or both follow me there. The retriever would only come to where I am if I’ve been there for an unusually long time. Both cats sleep most of the night with either me or my wife – under my arms, around my wife’s neck or between our legs.
Therefore, in my house, the cats are more clingy than the dog.
British Shorthairs?
I’m unfamiliar with British Shorthairs. My cats are Oriental Shorthairs.
I asked because your description of their temperament fits British Shorthairs to a T:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Shorthair#Temperament
My cat is a Silver Tabby (which is one of the varieties of British Shorthairs) and she also follows me wherever I go. When I go for a pee, she follows me and also has a pee, same for when I go for a crap. She is always sitting close to me or on my lap, but is very friendly with my husband without the clinging. She is sociable and curious of any visitors, not the least bit shy.
Ditto. There’s a reason my cat’s nickname is “Puppy”.
In the 8 years he’s lived me, there was this one time when I was able to use the toilet without him jumping onto my lap while I was sitting, however briefly, but I may be imagining it.
Or take when I’m working, when he appropriates three quarters of my desk, stirring himself infrequently to hump my arm.
Or eating, where he watches me lift and put down my fork as though mesmerized, taking the occasional swat at my hand.
And don’t get me started on our nocturnal squabbles.
Who are these people who have emotionally detached cats?
Wait! After serious thinking about it, I’ve remembered one thing I can do without Evil’s supervision: I can almost take a shower. While he does stand on the side of the bathtub between the shower curtains, meowing piteously about the horror of being denied access to my attention, those 10 minutes are almost mine, all mine!
Just to clarify: I didn’t say cats *weren’t* clingy, just that I find dogs too in-your-face about it. My late cat (died 3 years ago last months, after 17.5 years together – my longest relationship, btw) followed me around at home and would cuddle up with me when I was working at my desk or when I went to bed (or even if I just lay down on the bed to read) but otherwise didn’t like to be picked up or petted for any length of time.
“picking up warm poop”
Cats crap too, of course, and it’s not really fun picking up cold poop either which is what the neighbours’ cats leave in my garden and flower pots.
Having said that, I like both cats and dogs. Just have to recognise that as well as all their positive attributes both can sometimes be annoying. Not too different from people in that respect!
P.S. what’s not to like about walks in the snow?
Ha,ha! Reminds me of what a friend once said. “Spring–when the snow melts, and you realize just how much dog you really have.”
“I know that studies show they disdain their owners more than do dogs”
Relationships with cats make for better country music lyrics.
😉
I’m confused now. Is that supposed to be a plus for cats?
Cats can be “cute” and that’s where it begins and ends.
Dogs are deeply complex and fascinating and really help the blind, the ill, the police etc. etc. They are intellectually superior and infinitely beguiling.
In my experience, dogs and cats are equal in their complexity. They are also roughly equal in intellectual vigor but in different ways. Dogs do have a higher emotional intelligence – they are better at reading human emotions because they have heritage and I think that prompts people to assume greater intelligence.
This is a correction to my above reply:
In my experience, dogs and cats are equal in their complexity. They are also roughly equal in intellectual vigor but in different ways. Dogs do have a higher emotional intelligence – they are better at reading human emotions because they have social heritage and I think that prompts people to assume greater intelligence.
Dogs are more social, and that’s why it’s easier for humans, the most social animals, to understand and appreciate them. With cats you have to look deeper. Cats are solitary hunters, and they are strikingly good at it, perhaps the best in the animal kingdom.
I wish this myth about cats not being social animals would go away. Cats regularly form colonies of dozens of individuals with division of labor, communal care for kittens, codes of conduct, social hierarchies, the works. Yes, some of the felid species are much more solitary, but F. catus isn’t one of them. And, yes, there are other even more social species like naked mole rats, but that’s not relevant, either.
Cheers,
b&
I have two cats who are litter mates. On several occasions I have watched them hunt, and on others, squabble with neighboring cats. I have never seen them take any interest in cooperating with each other. However, they do regularly play and clean each other.
On that note, I believe cooperative hunting and fighting is inherently challenging, and probably requires some sophisticated, dedicated neural structures.
Lionesses and “batchelor” lions (usually siblings or cousins who have to leave their pride past a certain age), and to a lesser degree cheetahs, do cooperate in hunting. Lionesses hunting together show a remarkable degree of cooperation and variety of strategies.
bachelor
One who submits batch jobs?
For some strange reason I’ve been typing phonetically today and am having a slight loss of motor control in my fingers – and I’m not catchomg all my typos and phonetic words before submitting. Hopefully, this is just a short transient thing.
Cats are already such effective hunters that they don’t need to cooperate on the hunt. And, as you indicate, they do cooperate in all sorts of other parts of their lives.
b&
Among small populations with individual humans that they supervise, and individual home bases, cats are maybe not obviously social toward each other. They are then attached to humans. But denser populations of feral cats are, I have heard, very social toward other cats in their group. The parallels were similar to that of a lion pride.
Cats are the right size. Most dogs are too big, and the smaller ones have been over-bred to make them small enough to be lap-dogs so they have weird medical issues and yappy little personalities.
Cats don’t bark, or otherwise harass guests.
Indeed.
As a teenager I practised my ethology skills on the cat colony that inhabited my back yard. A small one, about half a dozen adult females and a few males (always on the move, not sure how many). Hierarchy was following the matriarchal line, as far as I could tell (over the years) the whole group of females shared an original mother.
They most definitely shared nursery duties, with the younger females clocking-in most work. As I was also letting the dog exercise in the area, I can confirm that they had quite sophisticated collaborative defence strategies. More precisely, I should say that they were very good at using numbers and architecture to humiliate my dog in the most numerous and imaginative ways. The poor bugger never learnt his lesson.
All the cats were regularly fed by a local cat-lady, so I can say nothing about hunting (never witnessed any collaborative efforts).
The males just minded their own business, I never witnessed any collaboration. As they were sharing more or less the same patch, they showed impressive skills in avoiding to bump in one-another, always making sure that it looked like they couldn’t care less, fights were very rare and never with serious consequences.
I miss the lot (and the nice times when I could spend entire afternoons looking at cats). In the same period the first proper studies of cat colonies (at the time, in Italy, it was about large colonies in Rome) surfaced into the public sphere, I was puzzled and somewhat disappointed because they described a very different social structure. I then realised how fascinating it is to see that cats seem to independently “discover” social organisations that fit their peculiar needs.
I’ve spent much time, and shared living space, with both cats and dogs. I have to agree with Ben on this one. Just as with dogs I have known, the first thing all cats I have had would do when suddenly aware of my presence, or startled by something, was/is to look directly at my face to read me. If I am calm or happy, no sweat. If I am anxious or mad, uh oh. In my experience cats can read humans very well indeed, though they might not be as impressed with you as the typical dog would be.
My current cat is so sensitive to our moods that you can tell when someone is upset just by watching the cats body language.
She intently waits for you to make eye contact with her, and the moment you do she immediately communicates her mood, needs and wishes to you.
Yeah, Baihu definitely checks me whenever there’s some startling, unexpected sound outside. He doesn’t necessarily always agree with my assessment of the situation, but I have no doubt that if I ever lost my calm, so would he.
b&
I don’t know if this has ever been posted on this site before but it sort of backs up your idea – the cats all take signals from each other as social animals would and in this instance the results are pretty hilarious. There is a dog in it too who also takes a social signal from the one cat.
Like!
LOL!
For some reason, I’m reminded of this:
b&
That is so cool!
So … when guide horses (srsly! ; miniature horses as assistance animals), and drug sniffing bumblebees (or was it cockroaches?) get better established, the dog’s should start to get worried?
Who wouldn’t want a drug sniffing bumble bee. You could have a bunch just in case someone got cocky & then they could sting ’em all at once! 😀
“You could have a bunch” is exactly the point. The response is, apparently, as clear ; but you can have many more for the cost of keeping one sniffer dog (and dog-handler). So, for example, you can examine every item of baggage and every passenger. Which really changes the equation of risk for smugglers.
I strongly disagree:
In the matter of intelligence we find the caninites making amusing claims—amusing because they so naively measure what they conceive to be an animal’s intelligence by its degree of subservience to the human will. A dog will retrieve, a cat will not; therefore (sic!) the dog is the more intelligent. Dogs can be more elaborately trained for circus and vaudeville acts than cats, therefore (O Zeus, O Royal Mount!) they are cerebrally superior. Now of course this is all the sheerest nonsense. We would not call a weak-spirited man more intelligent than an independent citizen because we can make him vote as we wish whereas we can’t influence the independent citizen, yet countless persons apply an exactly parallel argument in appraising the grey matter of dogs and cats. Competition in servility is something to which no self-respecting Thomas or Tabitha ever stooped, and it is plain that any really effective estimate of canine and feline intelligence must proceed from a careful observation of dogs and cats in a detached state—uninfluenced by human beings—as they formulate certain objectives of their own and use their own mental equipment in achieving them. When we do this, we arrive at a very wholesome respect for our purring hearthside friend who makes so little display and ado about his wishes and business methods; for in every conception and calculation he shews a steel-cold and deliberate union of intellect, will, and sense of proportion which puts utterly to shame the emotional sloppings-over and docilely acquired artificial tricks of the “clever” and “faithful” pointer or sheep-dog. Watch a cat decide to move through a door, and see how patiently he waits for his opportunity, never losing sight of his purpose even when he finds it expedient to feign other interests in the interim. Watch him in the thick of the chase, and compare his calculating patience and quiet study of his terrain with the noisy floundering and pawing of his canine rival. It is not often that he returns empty-handed. He knows what he wants, and means to get it in the most effective way, even at the sacrifice of time—which he philosophically recognises as unimportant in the aimless cosmos. There is no turning him aside or distracting his attention—and we know that among humans this very quality of mental tenacity, this ability to carry a single thread through complex distractions, is considered a pretty good sign of intellectual vigour and maturity. Children, old crones, peasants, and dogs ramble; cats and philosophers stick to their point. In resourcefulness, too, the cat attests his superiority. Dogs can be well trained to do a single thing, but psychologists tell us that these responses to an automatic memory instilled from outside are of little worth as indices of real intelligence. To judge the abstract development of a brain, confront it with new and unfamiliar conditions and see how well its own strength enables it to achieve its object by sheer reasoning without blazed trails. Here the cat can silently devise a dozen mysterious and successful alternatives whilst poor Fido is barking in bewilderment and wondering what it is all about. Granted that Rover the retriever may make a greater bid for popular sentimental regard by going into the burning house and saving the baby in traditional cinema fashion, it remains a fact that whiskered and purring Nig is a higher-grade biological organism—something physiologically and psychologically nearer a man because of his very freedom from man’s orders, and as such entitled to a higher respect from those who judge by purely philosophic and aesthetic standards. We can respect a cat as we cannot respect a dog, no matter which personally appeals the more to our mere doting fancy; and if we be aesthetes and analysts rather than commonplace- lovers and emotionalists, the scales must inevitably turn completely in kitty’s favour. It may be added, moreover, that even the aloof and sufficient cat is by no means devoid of sentimental appeal. Once we get rid of the uncivilised ethical bias—the ‘treacherous’ and ‘horrid bird-catcher’ prejudice—we find in the ‘harmless, necessary cat’ the very apex of happy domestic symbolism; whilst small kittens become objects to adore, idealise, and celebrate in the most rhapsodic of dactyls and anapaests, iambics and trochaics. I, in my own senescent mellowness, confess to an inordinate and wholly unphilosophic predilection for tiny coal-black kitties with large yellow eyes, and could no more pass one without petting him than Dr. Johnson could pass a sidewalk post without striking it. There is, likewise, in many cats something quite analogous to the reciprocal fondness so loudly extolled in dogs, human beings, horses, and the like. Cats come to associate certain persons with acts continuously contributing to their pleasure, and acquire for them a recognition and attachment which manifests itself in pleasant excitement at their approach—whether or not bearing food and drink—and a certain pensiveness at their protracted absence. The late “Tat” of Allston and Malden, grey companion of our fellow-amateur Mrs. Miniter, reached the point of accepting food from no other hand but hers, and would actually go hungry rather than touch the least morsel from a kindly Parker source. He also had distinct affections amongst the other cats of that idyllic household; voluntarily offering food to one of his whiskered friends, whilst disputing most savagely the least glance which his coal-black rival “Snowball” would bestow upon his plate. If it be argued that these feline fondnesses are essentially ‘selfish’ and ‘practical’ in their ultimate composition, let us inquire in return how many human fondnesses, apart from those springing directly upon primitive brute instinct, have any other basis. After the returning board has brought in the grand total of zero we shall be better able to refrain from ingenuous censure of the ‘selfish’ cat.
HP Lovecraft
Because I am a slave to a cat’s purr
McComb K, Taylor AM, Wilson C, Charlton BD.
The cry embedded within the purr
Curr Biol. 2009 Jul 14;19(13):R507-8.
Dogs stink. Cats smell nice.
I agree, I often find myself needing to wash my hands after petting a dog because of the odor, particularly if I’m going to be eating. I don’t notice much, if any, odor from cats.
Cats have a smell to them, but it’s much lighter and more pleasant than a dog’s odor.
Yes, I find the scent of cats lighter and less intrusive..Also I like playing with string (usually by knitting) so I like cats because they also play with string..
The stink of dogs is a major reason I prefer cats.
That depends mainly on the breed. Some dog breeds put out more oil, and that changes the way that their fur feels when you pet them, and it increases the smell. Labradors are very oily, for example.
Is that a comment on their coats, or their culinary qualities?
There has got to be a “101 recipes for dogs” book somewhere. But since I’ve very little idea about cookery terminology, I’ll go no further than referring to http://www.cookyourpet.com ; it may be a spoof, but it looks the right sort of stuff.
Oh, ProfCC said DISSing d*gs was OK ; I thought he said DICing them was in order.
Labradors were bred to have a waterproof coat, and I think that is why petting them is best followed with a moist towelette. My dog, on the other hand, is very pleasant to pet, and his coat is reasonably odor free. Can’t say the same for his breath, though.
Sorry, I meant d*g. I will now do penance.
Recite ten Hail Kitties and seven Felix Nosters.
I’d forgotten about the Labrador history as a hunting dog. Retrieving, wasn’t it?
I wonder (this is for the Paris Hilton’s of the world) if the Aztecs really bred Chihuahua dogs as bed warmers, or was it for the taste? Field reports, anyone?
To the best of my knowledge, it is not the Chihuahua but the Xoloitzcuintli, or Xolo for short, a.k.a. the Mexican Hairless Dog, that was bred by the Aztecs as “bed warmers”, and especially for relief of the pain caused by rheumatism.
More than I know about dogs.
Until you clean the litter box…ugh.
Dog poop&pee vs. Cat poop&pee. I think dogs win that one.
Not if you’ve got one of these:
http://www.litter-robot.com/
Cheers,
b&
That looks like someone has been watching too many Star Wars “TIE fighters”. In “dog fights”, perhaps?
I’m most happy to let the Force clean up after Baihu for me, if that’s what you’re suggesting. I mean, isn’t that the best possible use of hokey old religions?
b&
Use cat litter that forms solid clumps with the urine, and use one of those scoops with holes in them to scoop out the clumps and poop every day (and not once a week or every two weeks), and lo and behold, no smell!
Alternatively, you can also train your cat to use the toilet: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Litter-Kwitter-Toilet-Training-System/dp/B00EIG8JC8/ref=sr_1_33?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1398980053&sr=1-33&keywords=cat+litter
Sadly, there are no customer reviews, as yet. 🙂
It is relatively easy to train a cat to use the toilet. Another plus for cats.
Not my cats! Maybe if they were younger.
Well, everyone’s sh*t stinks but I disagree, dig sh*t is one I the worst substances in the world.
Especially left like little land mines all over the city.
Oh I don’t know, I have IBS.
Cat pee has a stronger odor than dog pee, I’ll grant, but dog poop is several orders worse than cat poop.
More to the point, though, is that cats cover up their pee and poop. You don’t smell it unless you neglect to change the liter. Outdoors you don’t often encounter exposed cat poop. Dog poop on the other hand is a blight in many cities. Even if you don’t own a dog you’ve almost certainly stepped in dog poop and had to clean it off of your shoes and had that awful smell follow you around. If you’re like me this has happened to you many many many times. Cat poop, not so much.
Although it’s no fun stepping on a fresh hairball (especially when barefoot, which happens on nocturnal trips to the loo), that’s nowhere near as bad as stepping on a dogpile. Next to a fresh Spaniel Steamer, a hairball is as nothing.
Funny, people at the front door used to ask if we had cats because all the strays fed next door used our garden for their loo, creating a lovely stench. While the neighbour came to their senses, we still get to scoop cat crap up in the alley on the other side of the house.
Cats & dogs are endlessly fascinating to observe and play with. We have a Shi Tzu and the Basement Cat has a man-familiar keeping him comfy. Their Highnesses observe an uneasy detente.
Shi Tzu have hair, not fur. Ours sheds like humans, slower than mine actually. The Siamese sheds like a machine.
Cookie doesn’t smell too bad and we give her a breath freshening biscuit after her meals which seems to handle doggy breath.
She’s snoring away in my lap as I tap, cute as the wee pup Mrs. K brought home.
Shi Tzu were bred for companionship and display affection and loyalty. They are playful and make good bed warmers.
One not long ago bit a woman’s nose in a Home Depot.
Those last two paragraphs are crying out to be made into a haiku.
Unusual wares
Home Depot has doggie treats
Shi-Tzu bit lady
In companionship
Affection and loyalty
Shi Tzu bit her nose
Companionship bred
Playful Shi-Tzu, good in bed
Bit nose and she bled
Read the Roolz for this post. Jerry said that “dogs” is fine for just this once :-))
Y’all need to stop smelling things you know are going to be bad. 😉
I have a Golden Retriever and a pair of Oriental Shorthair cats. My wife and I find that they both enrich our lives in many ways.
My cats are, perhaps, more affectionate than my dog. Certainly one of them, Bamboo, is more affectionate. As I type this, he has positioned himself, as he always does, between my upper right arm and my chest. So when it comes to affection neither genus has an edge. (In my experience, certain breeds of cats are much more affectionate than the stereotypical, aloof, mixed-breed cat.)
• I find cats of any type to be more comical than dogs. They make me laugh far more frequently.
• Cats don’t require walks.
In the end, I’d rather not have to do without either. My preference is to have both dogs and cats in my life.
“So when it comes to affection neither genus has an edge.”
This may be true with your pets, but it certainly isn’t true in the larger picture. It’s pretty uncontroversial that, in general, dogs have more emotional intelligence and greater affection for humans than cats do.
It may be uncontroversial amongst dog fanatics, but it’s most emphatically not my own personal experience — nor that of any other cat person I know.
b&
Well if we just look at personal experience, I promise you if we polled the populace that dogs would be rated as more affectionate and emotionally intelligent than cats. I’ve known multiple cat lovers/owners that happily admit dogs are more affectionate – I’ve never and don’t think I ever will meet a dog lover that says the same. There’s a reason for that.
I don’t mean to deride cats – they’re fascinating creatures capable of really amazing relationships with humans. But objectively, both species are not equal in their emotional faculties. Dogs have had a unique evolution with humans and have been altered more than cats. In addition, dogs come from a more social evolutionary ancestry.
We have evolved dogs to be obsequious. There is nothing inherently wrong with Canines, just that we changed them to want to love us. Felids have a choice.
I disagree, that dogs are servile because we bred them to so be. While we’ve selectively bred them to retain that quality perhaps even enhance it, dogs always had that it. Wolves are social animals and exhibit an eagerness to please.
Dogs, in general, are servile. You are right that the essential functionality of this behavioral trait existed long ago, still they make me feel like their happiness depends on me. That does not really inspire strength of character.
It is as if we are a necessary, though not necessarily sufficient, ingredient for their happiness.
Also, they make me feel guilty if I leave them alone. As if it is my fault I can not be apart of their every experience. For this reason, I feel sadness when I learn of a dog that lives without another dog and its owner does not spend at least four hours a day with their pet.
Here is a poignant example of when humans can mess up a relationship with an animal who ends up really needing the human:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365119731/
Parrrot Confidential
Also very social animals, like Canines. I wonder if we have not, to a very small degree done harm to dogs by ignoring them as pets. I content that being inattentive to a Felid is not as detrimental since they are not as inherently social.
Depends on the dog – many terriers really don’t give a crap what the human thinks while wolf hounds may pine at the separation from their humans. Depends what we wanted to breed the dog for.
You’re both right – from what I can tell we must have taken the sociality of the ancestor canids and pointed it to ourselves as well. But this also relies on what seems to have been a very long symbiosis of sorts. I remember reading that both wolves and ravens are sort of like that to begin with – they hang around where humans are on purpose. (Rats too, but …)
“… nothing inherently wrong with Canines, just that we changed them to want to love us. Felids have a choice.”
No they don’t.;-)
Ew. Jerry please comment on this nonsense of The human mind is primed to believe in god, so why are so many people abandoning religion – and should we be worried about living in an atheist world?
No. we should NOT be worried about living in an atheist world. We should we be worried about living in a thiest world for so long!
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229670.600?cmpid=NLC%7CNSNS%7C2014-0501-GLOBAL&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS&
The topic is supposed to be on domestic cats, not ceiling cats.
Yes it’s off topic. But I would like to see the article and can’t access it. Can you send me a transcript or a pdf to my work email?
Thanks.
Now, back to cats. BTW, I am not asking people to list the virtues of d*gs.
It would be a short list.
Unless I go back to that culinary site.
1. I love both but cats’ wilder nature is what distinguishes them from dogs for me. Sure, dogs will play fight, but a cat is more serious about it. Stalking you or your fingers under a blanket just feels completely different from a dog growling as it tugs on a tug toy. I can’t quantify it, but the intensity and emotion are different.
They are also very different in personality in how they “help” you. A dog takes pride when it does something you’ve trained it to do. A cat takes pride when it does something in it’s nature to do. Now both are domesticated, so I suppose both are technically doing some behavior that humans have bred it to like over many generations. But it feels a lot more wild and animalistic when a cat proudly drops a mouse head on your floor, vs. when a retriever proudly brings you a fake duck.
Not to get too deep, but I think part of the differences is that domesticated cats don’t have the neoteny that many dog breeds have. Now everyone loves the young puppy personality. The trust, the love, the devotion. The wanting to please you. The happy-at-the-world, I-love-to-play-all-day personality. It’s wonderful. But sometimes, you want a more adult relationship. Cats give that to you; they grow up.
Stalking fingers under a blanket and pouncing is one of the wee pup’s favourite things, even 6 years later. I’ve seen her do the same with bugs in the yard.
The one thing cats have over dogs is they’re easier pets, especially if they’re outside using other yards as litter boxes while they decimate the local fauna.
Oh, and they’re not as gamey as dogs.
Gimp is a big softy Siamese who loves attention and his ass slapped. He limped away and hid when he first moved in, but now hurry hobbles over to us for some luvins. He answers my kitteh vocalizations and calls to Mrs. K – he really likes her.
You can be as social with your cat as you want, but that can depend on your cat. I have seen cats fetch. Cookie will fetch a few times and then expect you to go get Miss Piggy or Frogger.
We have found headless, eviscerated
squirrels, birds, toads etc. in our yard. Rather, Cookie has found them. Rusty, the large tabby next door (larger than the pup or Gimp) used to leave them on our stoop. Rusty is a very active hunter.
Sis had beagles that were able to proudly retrieve rubber and flesh ducks.
Are there any seeing eye cats.
I guess being adult means no more fun.
BTW, cats should be licensed and owners fined for letting them run loose. It would go a long way to offset costs incurred by cities having to deal with so many strays/colonies.
>Are there any seeing eye cats.
Are there seeing eye gorillas?
Are there round bananas?
We should be celebrating their inherent nature, not the prescribed actions we can entrain.
A few personal observations:
I’ve known great cats and great dogs and I feel very much the same way as I do about my children: mine are perfect; I’m indifferent to other peoples.
Stray cats are most often charming, stray dogs can be worrying.
Any dog encountered away from it’s “owner” is delightfully less neurotic than when in their presence. Cats are cats, always neurotic, but they hide it superbly well.
I think part of the attraction is that a cat’s affection is fickle and we yearn for the approval of these furry, baby-sized beasts. A study on a different topic claims that being rejected made people want clothes from snobby sales people more. Seems like that could be related.
http://news.ubc.ca/2014/04/29/snobby-staff-can-boost-luxury-retail-sales/
Also, cats have personality, which I say makes them people. Not human people, of course, but cat people. Granted, many of their behaviors seem to come from a hard-wired bag of tricks, so the ways cat personalities are expressed are along familiar lines, out of the behavioral vocabulary of cats. But that is likely to be the case for humans, too, but perhaps harder to see since we are on the inside of human behavior, and because we have a bit more complexity.
Reasons to like cats more than dogs? I’ll have sit this one out.
Robert Heinlein said that cats were citizens, but dogs were slaves. I love dogs—I grew up with them—but dogs like people because it is their nature to like people. We have bred them for that purpose, and they are no longer their own creatures. Cats are all wild at heart. If a cat accepts you, it is because it has made a conscious choice to do so.
I saw an experiment where dogs and wolves were taught to solve a puzzle box with a treat inside. A human was in the room. Then they were presented with a box that could not be solved. The wolf kept trying. The fog tried for a bit, but then went and made eyes and whined at the human, asking for the human to fix things.
My cat Foxbat gets upset when I won’t let her out to play. She will whine for me to let her out, but she also keeps trying to get it open on her own. She is confident she can handle things eventually, she just knows I’m faster.
Baihu, who is perched on my shoulders at this moment, has asked me to point out that the question is nearly incomprehensible. I mean, sure, dogs can be nice pets, but cats are gods. It’s like comparing a fistful of candy bars from the vending machine with a full-course meal at the finest restaurant in town. Maybe the caloric content is the same, and both are primarily CHNOPS, but that’s about where the similarity ends.
b&
Doggies are extremely emotionally dependent on their owners, they keep soliciting approval and love. They spill water all over the place when they drink. They have to be taken out for walkies for the purpose of urinating, defeating and exercise two times a day, come rain or shine, snow or frost, storms or clement weather. They eat a great deal – the larger the dog the more expensive it is to feed them. They need training and discipline. They also have the embarrassing habit of humping people’s legs (the males do), including humping children. They often bark loudly at night, keeping everyone awake. They lick people’s faces and mouths just after having licked their butts to clean them. Except for one or two breeds, they stink to high heavens when they are wet, and require regular baths and shampoos (which they hate so it is a very wet and messy business). But I do love them.
Cats have a healthy emotional relationship with their owners. If the owner(s) have to absent themselves for any length of time (weekends, holidays, business trips), when they return they are politely acknowledged in an “oh, you’re back” way, and then the cat returns to what it was doing – washing, sleeping or whatever. On the other hand, dogs are traumatized by the absence of their owners and become quite neurotic, and when the owners return, they are all over the owners, licking them frantically and do so for a long period of time, and it takes them a while to adjust and get over their neurosis. Cats accommodate themselves to doing their business in the cat litter and meticulously cover their excreta so that it won’t smell. I do love them more than I love dogs.
On the other hand, cats are hopeless at guarding one’s homes…
Only because we generally only invite the very, very small ones into our homes. Pound-for-pound only humans are more lethal than cats — and, of course, only armed humans. A Rottweiler would be ill-advised to take on a bobcat, even though the cat is half the dog’s weight. I doubt very many human burglars would survive invading a cougar’s home, and cougars are of comparable dimensions to most guard dogs. A jaguar? Not a chance; even a SWAT team would be in serious trouble against a jaguar, unless they were prepared specifically for it. And that’s before we even leave New World cats, which are smaller than their Old World cousins….
Cheers,
b&
I had demonstration of the bobcats feeding on beef at the Sonoran-Desert Museum (Tucson). Tiny little guys who sound so cute, but I could tell, as did the trainer, that just one of them could end a human if that is what they wanted.
Coyotes kill bobcats.
I’m pretty sure that’s, coyotes (plural) kill bobcats (singular). A pack of coyotes or wolves would be a serious threat to pretty much any individual animal. But note that it takes a pack of coyotes to kill a single much smaller bobcat. And a pack of coyotes or wolves isn’t going to be likely to take on an healthy cougar the same size as the canids.
b&
No, single coyotes will kill bobcats, particularly female and juveniles.
Bigger animals often win in interspecific confrontation and a male cougar is much heavier than a male wolf. Cougars will kill isolated wolves, but even a pack as small as 2 (adult) wolves will be dominant in relation to a cougar. Wolves in packs actively kill adult cougars.
Well, if we’re now talking about a ten-pound bobkitten versus a 40 pound coyote…yeah, that’s a completely different equation.
I thought it was obvious I was comparing single healthy adults to single healthy adults. A 25 pound bobcat is not going to be an easy snack for a 40 pound coyote.
b&
There are several reports of people killing leopards bare-handed. OK ; one of the smaller of the big cats, but still a big enough pussy.
Are you going to let Baihu read this, or is it too late?
Fortunately, Baihu was napping at the time I read that, so no harm done.
…that, and the reports seem to be of the “septuagenarian shaman miraculously demonstrates his manly dudeliness by besting the beast” variety….
b&
A friend of mine had a cat that came to her rescue when what had been supposed to be a dinner date turned out to be a rape attempt. The cat ‘went kung-fu-kitty crazy’ on the creep, he was arrested at the emergency room and some of the claw marks and a bite left scars.
The damage that cat did in a few minutes makes it pretty clear that when a cat resists a bath or some other struggle that shows that the little beasts are powerhouses…they are still holding back and playing nice with us.
Yes, they are certainly capable of doing serious damage but almost never do, unlike dogs, who frequently show themselves to be violent maniacs.
Violent maniacs. Funny, but harsh. Putting one of my cats in the bath is like putting him on prozak. Putting the other one in the bath is like creating a weapon of mass destruction.
Yes, I have to fight my cats to get them into carriers (to go to the vet, generally), but they are always defensive, not offensive. They are trying to get away, not to hurt me. And they know the difference. Also, my cats taught my now two year old daughter how to be gentle better than I (and my wife) could. When she got too rough, the cats would swipe her hand away, but never with claws (and they never bit), and she got the message with no scratches. They also let her get away with stuff that no adult could get away with.
Ahem, “cats are hopeless at guarding one’s homes”, nothing could be further from the truth. Our cats, vigilant and fearless hunters that they are, protect our home from marauding elephants. I offer as proof, the fact that no elephant has ever been seen in or around our house.
In addition to the elephants and the velociraptors, Baihu is very active in protecting our home from invading crickets. He must be equally adept at protecting us from all other insects because I never actually see any. Even the crickets I only know are there because I hear them chirping…and, a moment later, they’re not and Baihu is noisily chewing.
b&
Just last night, Isa rescued her daddy from an onslaught by a centipede. She tracked it, pounced, and killed it. She left the remains for daddy to clean up.
+1
You pretty much nailed it for me. Cats are far easier to take care of. I prefer demure cats, dignified, aloof ones which can take me or leave me. I respect that a lot.
Cats make excellent companions for quiet contemplation.
I admire dogs intellectually, but that’s it. I do not like it when they touch me. It’s not a phobia, but it’s a sincere disinclination. Never look them in the eye: they think you want them to come over.
I especially hate it when a dog comes bounding over to me with its big gross tongue and paws and people cheerfully call out “Don’t worry, he’s friendly!” As if that would reassure me … when that’s precisely what I’m afraid of.
Okay, I don’t dislike dogs, but the reason I tend to prefer cats is because of their independence. It’s all too easy to say that people don’t like dogs because we have to clean up after them. Fine. But I prefer cats because they aren’t demonstrably needy. I find that appealing.
Dogs are easy; they’ll love anyone who will give them food or attention. We must EARN the love of cats. And often that love is shown as merely tolerance.
But just look at their bigger cousins. Folks don’t flock to zoos to see wolves, coyotes, and jackals. People vote with their feet; displays of tigers, lions, jaguars, leopards, mountain lions etc. are much more popular.
I love both cats and dogs and my parents do have both in the same house. While dogs are certainly the more loyal companions (who contrary to cats actually do care about me) I like that cats do have their own minds. While I never could leave the dogs alone, no such problems arise with cats as they can easily entertain themselves.
There’s an inherent dignity and honesty about the cat, which may be due to the time it’s (not) been domesticated. A cat treats you as an individual, more as an equal being, so the affection feels less compromised.
Cats are like people who can endure (and even enjoy) silences; dogs are like people who can’t shut up.
Even when cats engage in territorial disputes, the yowling is limited; they don’t bark, mindlessly and incessantly.
When dogs get together they go wilding, hunting in packs, going after both farm animals and wild ones alike.
A good dog is a good dog because it has a good owner; a good cat is a good cat.
Cat videos!!!!!!!
While both lick their butts, d*gs enjoy it.
When I lived in southern Mexico for a month, working on a really tough network project among severely disadvantaged Tsotzil Mayans, one of the things I couldn’t help but notice was how all the piles inexplicably moved themselves from place to place during the night…
The Mayans notice this phenomena, too — their Tsotzil word for d*g literally translates to “it eats shit”. They are extremely practical speakers.
Dogs love to roll around in feces (among other really smelly things), spreading it all over their fur. Cats never do that.
http://puppies.about.com/od/BehaviorProblems/a/Why-Dogs-Roll.htm
Yep. Cats will use their crap and scent glands (if they haven’t been removed, which happened to poor Butter by necessity) simply as a warning to other cats to stay away from their human. Cats may bring fresh kills to one’s doorstep (and less frequently, bedroom)… a good reason to properly monitor either pet (and to play a bit of a devil’s advocate to head off the opposition’s predictable argument that cats destroy wildlife willy-nilly).
D*gs will actively seek out dead things, especially dead skunks, roll in them, and grace their owners with their smelly selves, tails a-wagging, fully expecting praise.
Neither does our dog. I’ve seen Gimp roll in the dirt…
I love both cats and dogs, but as a single person who works full-time and lives in an apartment, cats fit into my lifestyle so much better. They’re lower maintenance. I don’t need to walk them (though I did try walking my cat once). You can leave them overnight and they won’t wreck the apartment. (Sophie the cat only gets destructive when I’m home and she wants attention.)
Other reasons I prefer cats:
– Whenever I’m down, there’s nothing as therapeutic as a cat’s purr
– They *are* affectionate. And they do seek out attention. I have one cat who likes to spoon on cold mornings and another who’ll sometimes curl up next to my arm, with her chin on my shoulder.
– They have this reputation for dignity and grace, but they can be such goofballs. They make me laugh with their antics.
– They train us, and frankly, I don’t mind. I’ve read about cat vocalizations, how they modulate their tones for their people, and I find it so interesting.
– They’re intelligent. So are dogs, but it’s a different kind of intelligence.
One day, Gimp came looking for his manservant, mewling his displeasure. His serf was chatting with us.
After I had immitated his ‘where are u minion’ calls several times, Gimp issued a definite short, sharp STFU.
Laughter all around
My wife and I have two dogs and two cats. All our animals are rescues. The two dogs are a Great Pyrenees x Black Lab – he was 13 earlier this year and we’ve owned him since he was 6 months old. The second dog is an eleven-year old Short-haired German Pointer x Chocolate Lab. We adopted him in December ’13 after his
“mum” died. Our two cats are a 17 year old male tabby, in remarkable shape for his age and a 18 month-old female Tortie. All our pets sleep in our bedroom – the two dogs each on his own bed beside our bed and the two cats in our bed. I built our bed back in 1997 when we married. It
is King Plus, in case you were wondering !
I don’t know whether to answer #1 or #2. I like both cats and dogs in general, but as a pet for me, I prefer cats.
First off, many dogs can be larger than cats, which means they need (supervised) outside time for exercise. Dogs also need outside time to pee/poop. Cats are easier to exercise indoors and don’t require I let them outside to poop and clean up after them. I just have to keep their litter box clean.
But, really, I think it’s more that we had cats growing up so they’re familiar. I know how to understand cat, and how to care for one. I like dogs well enough, but not enough to learn how to take care of one when I know I can have a cat. I’d also hate to adopt a dog and find out they are more than I can handle (because I really don’t know what it takes to care for one) and have to give the poor thing up.
As for what I like about them, I find them companionable. Most cats I’ve met do ‘do their own thing’ but consider themselves fond of some people and will hang around them. Our elderly cat is usually around the family, especially when he is awake. I find their purrs comforting and them nice creatures to hold and stroke and talk to. Many cats will vocalize back when you talk to them: they’ve been domesticated enough to use vocal cues to their mood.
(I’ve also met some very clingy cats, so I don’t know if dogs are clingier. Perhaps statistically speaking, but you can get a cat that is very attached to you, or likes sitting in laps.)
Cats don’t jump up on you when you visit a friend’s house.
Cats don’t bark nonstop because your neighbour is away.
Cats do not chase you down the street because you walked by their owner’s home. I’ve never had to run from a cat and I don’t expect to.
Cats do not need to be chained up or muzzled.
All cats can fit in my lap quite nicely.
That purring and when they rub their head up against you…
Cats are not as smart as dogs but the necessity to train them is not as great.
And most cats are lovable eccentric characters.
I’ve never heard of postmen being scared of cats, but I’ve heard of a great many postmen being terrified of dogs because they’ve been attacked and bitten when delivering mail.
I was told this as a joke but I don’t get it:
You take care of a dog, pet him, feed him etc. and he thinks you’re his God.
You take care of a cat, pet him, feed him etc. and he thinks he’s your God.
Just seems plain true to me and shows how cats are actually smarter than dogs, obviously.
I think dogs are better because they really ‘get us’:
http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/how-dogs-read-human-body-language/278
My fave bit about cats & dogs:
Dog ponders: human feeds me, shelters me, pets me, takes care of me, loves me… therefore human must be god.
Cat ponders: human feeds me, shelters me, pets me, takes care of me, loves me… therefore ‘I’ must be god.
Aliens visit and determine we serve both
I’m taking this opportunity to vent, and I don’t expect this to provide you anything useful: I’m especially hostile to dogs right now. I was recently trying to date a woman who is a “dog person” to the point of insanity. Her dogs (four large ones, the most irritating of which is a dopey pit bull) are free to jump all over her and lick her when sitting on the couch. Dogs (and now I’m generalizing) think that this means they can do this to *anyone*. I dislike being licked by any animal, but especially DOGS. This was a serious issue for me as far as dating goes, but the real dealbreaker was that she is an evangelical Christian bigot who doesn’t understand or respect the philosophy of science.
I am also a runner and have been chased by more malevolent dogs than I can count. They have always been the enemy.
On the other hand, I have always had cats and have not only loved them for being the opposite of all the traits I mentioned above, but I have had a special connection with each of them, to the point where I’d almost believe there was something supernatural going on. But I guess dog people claim the same thing.
Lol, I hope you have more luck with your next date- why were you even seeing this person though?! She sounds Awful!
Just what I was wondering. 😀
The real Christian bigotry didn’t come out until later. I don’t reject a person simply because they have some religious beliefs, but when I find out their religion leads them to not only reject science but to have an arrogance that makes them think they know more than a real scientist (I earned my Ph. D in Professor Ceiling Cat’s Ecology and Evolution department, on the Ecology side) based on the Bible, out she goes. The dog thing was difficult and I knew I was going to have trouble overcoming that, but the arrogant Christian bigot problem made that unnecessary.
I just spent two weeks looking after a cat and a dog for friends. They were both of them pleasant and well behaved. But when you picked the cat up it liked it and went boneless and snuggled. The dog didn’t seem to enjoy it and squirmed..I like hugs..The cat had better hugs..
Cats are survivors. A cat can live a feral, solitary life without any help from other felids. To be successful in a feral capacity, dogs need a pack. The domestic cat is successful in every environment on earth. Cats are also (imho) perfect death machines, natures perfect hunters. The purring doesn’t hurt their case either…
🙂
With cats, I feel a calm, shared togetherness with them. When I play with my cats, it’s a quiet intensity. When I slowly, gently pet them, it feels like a calm appreciation from them and shared pleasure.
Dogs are loud and rambunctious, they knock things over with their wagging tails, and loud barking seems to be the default vocalization regardless of the situation.
So, I suppose I’m trying to say that I feel a deeper connection with cats, they feel relaxing, almost meditative, while dogs disrupt that feeling.
The ultimate pro-cat argument:
Yes! Great video!
I really agree about the introvert thing, d*g people seem generally more extrovert to me too and I think this may be part of the reason for the double standards I mentioned in my first post in this thread.
Cats are more flexible. They can jump astonishing heights, and aren’t hurt when falling. They always land on their feet. Cats can climb almost anything. You can’t contain a cat, nor can you catch one. They are their own masters. They are their own guardians. How cats have not yet taken over the world is a mystery to me.
You think cats haven’t taken over the world? Interesting.
It often astounds me if you mention cats to people who aren’t cat fans and are dog lovers (not having previously known their preferences) the vehemence with which they express their hatred for cats, rather than saying, like I normally would ‘I’m not really a dog person’ or something hopefully innocuous. I have so often experienced people unexpectedly launching into a tirade about how much they hate cats.
More recently when encountering this phenomenon I’ve changed tack and have said the last couple of times that I don’t like d*gs because they rip people’s faces off and see what they say to that…not a lot…
The statistics for dog attacks are truly horrific, some of course are fatal but it never seems to attract the attention I would expect and I always feel sure that if there was even one cat ripping face off attack that the anti-cat people would be baying for cats to all be put down and banned.
The fairly recent furore about a wild fox attack in the UK was huge yet it was a very rare incident, compared with thousands of domesticated dog attacks every single year.
Why the double standards?
I fit into the #1 category of liking both d*gs and cats, but I also like apples and oranges.
I can add that dogs are responsible for a large #s of attacks on people, and even several deaths every year. But domestic cats rarely attack people and the amount of damage is negligible in comparison.
Part of the appeal of cats is their independence. If we humans were to disappear, there are several dog breeds that would probably die out as well. But I think all domestic cat breeds would carry on just fine.
Saw a show on TV aboot this and you are in agreement.
The cats will take over the empty buildings and most dogs will perish as they are too varied with traits counter to survival – hair cuts, short legs or snouts etc.
Cats appeal to me primarily because I am a writer by profession and a cat is more suitable for someone whose work requires long periods of concentration and research without interruption for walks and feeding. The overall personality of a cat is much better for someone who needs time to himself.
Even the clingiest of cats (and I have had some who were quite demanding) are more independent than the most aloof of dogs. Some years ago, I severely injured my left arm and spent the next four years having a total of nine surgeries to repair the damage. During that time, my cats were attentive but not cloying, and, since I live alone and have no family, I credit their presence with contributing to my healing and well-being. Because I was spending months at a time in casts, I automated my cat care. I got a self-scooping litter box, a pet drinking fountain with a 4-liter capacity and an automatic feeding system that holds a month’s worth of dry food for two cats. Not only did they thrive on care without daily human intervention, but they also were able to fend for themselves when I needed to spend a day or two in the hospital. Now I know that when my cats come up to me and seek attention, I can be pretty sure that it’s not because they’re hungry or thirsty or upset at the condition of the box; maybe it’s because they truly have affection for me.
There was an old Far Side cartoon that, to me, epitomizes the personality of dogs: a woman is opening a can with an electric can opener; two dogs are sitting nearby with their tongues hanging out. The caption reads, “Oh, boy! Dog food again! There is also this cartoon on the differences between cats and dogs.
Furthermore, cats are softer and quieter than dogs. Dogs are like boisterous frat boys that never seem to outgrow their puppyhood. I could not imagine sharing my bed at night with a dog; I cannot imagine spending a night without my cats. Dog play almost invariably requires human interaction; cats are capable of amusing themselves – and I enjoy watching my cats stalking and chasing their toys and each other. Finally, cats purr.
Dogs purr too. Occasionally. Out of their arses.
I had a number of dogs growing up and as much as I liked the idea of having a dog pal like Lassie I found I never actually liked any of our dogs very much. Even as a kid I found them kind of dirty and stinky. My wife is intent on getting a dog and whenever she talks about the first thing that comes to mind is their smell. Perhaps if they took daily showers it’d be better, but after a day or two most dogs smell like a longshoreman who swore off bathing and deodorant.
Drool is another thing that I dread when I contemplate the coming of the dog. They drool almost constantly, spreading slobber over everything. And of course I don’t like having to be so involved with their poop, picking it up, managing where they urinate and defecate. It’s a bit like having a feral old man living with you. I am constantly aware of something grubbily biological about them, from the smell and the drool to skin that feels a bit too human, but thin like an old man’s skin, to the highly visible and too often active anatomy of many male dogs.
Cats are much better built to live with us, taking care of their own poop and pee (to a first approximation), smelling nice, having soft downy feel to them that doesn’t remind you of petting a old man, keeping their anatomy mostly to themselves, etc. I suppose if I lived on a farm, where the dog could live outside and roam far and wide where I didn’t have to think about it’s poop and didn’t have to have it’s smell in my house it might be more of a tossup. Dogs are more trainable and so more useful if you want an animal to be a tool of some kind for you. But as a pet, meh.
On a philosophical level, the need for an alpha dog (you) in their life reminds me of the religious need for some alpha figure in their life. It’s just not in my personality to like that sort of authoritarian mindset (and one can be an authoritarian on either end, as someone who needs to lord it over someone else or as someone who feels the need to be lorded over).
Hear hear!
Vet visits for cats are far less frequent. Health-care costs over the span of a healthy moggie’s life is considerably lower.
Cats, generally speaking, require much less of one’s focused attention. Most of their day is spent “napping.” When they do come around for pets and ear rubies, they generally don’t hang around for too long before their bitch-slappin’ you, snarlin’ and runnin’ away with a puffed-out tail.
Speakin’ of puffed-out tails, dogs can’t “inflate” their tails like cats do. Obviously, dogs are not as highly evolved! Tail puffin’ really endearing.
A cats highly evolved intelligence is not “obvious” like that of many dogs. Appreciating and understanding a cat’s intelligence requires more of one’s concerted observation. As a result, cats end up being more intellectually stimulating to humans than dogs, who require more physical exercise (walkies, throwing balls, sticks, etc.).
I love both cats and dogs dearly and have been owned by both all of my life, mostly by medium-sized, border collie type of dogs. I love having them both companions around me. But I’m a total sucker for a sweet, playful moggie with a strong sense of its own autonomy.
We currrently have 2 dogs and 4 cats. While my wife and I enjoy both types of critter, the truth is that the cats are more connected to my wife while I am more the dog person. Cats have always been a part of our lives, but started out ahead of dogs because they required less attention if we needed to travel or be gone for various reasons. It was always relatively easy to find someone to check on them. The cats are enjoyed for their appealing looks, their general friendliness towards us although they like to roam on their own and stay out at night. Because they have lived around dogs a lot, the cats have acquired a general tolerance for them and in some cases become good friends with the dogs. Our male cat, Spike, grew up with dogs and searches them out for playing when both are in the yard. Our pit bull who is black and white spends the most time with Spike who is also black and white. We joke that Spike and Lita are siblings on the scale of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Divto from the “Twins” movie of some years ago. Spike loves to show off in front of Lita by running up nearby trees while Lita is working through training in the yard. His role in the dogs training is to be a source of distraction to which the dog must remain unresponsive. Spike tries hard to mess with Lita, but the dog ‘understands’ the lesson and merely watches. Too bad she can’t applaud the cat’s climbing and balancing talents.
Dogs have served primarily as companions for me on various outdoor adventures. I wouldn’t consider it kind to invite a cat on a 7 day solo canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area near our home, but the best trained of our dogs over the years were always eager and enjoyable friends on those trips. Their ability to track where they are and where they’ve been is astounding. If they run into the woods after a red squirrel (incorrigible teasers), I know they will be able to track straight back to where they left. All I have to do is wait for them in the same spot. On a long backpacking trip with a group I once left my dog with the group (he fell asleep) while I looked for a camping spot farther up the trail and then off the trail into the woods. The dog woke up after I had left, circled the clearing where we had stopped and then tracked me up the new section of the trail to a site about 1/4 mile away based on the smell I left behind by walking down the trail and into the woods. I was out of sight and making no noise to speak of.
So, cats and dogs, we have had them both with cats being a longer tradition since we couldn’t keep a dog in the earlier years. Each has their contribution to make. Sort of ‘non-overlapping magisteria’ I suppose.
I’m skimming over the other comments, sorry if this has been said already…
I’m solidly in the cats-not-dogs camp. I love cats, can’t tolerate dogs. I’d be hard-pressed to list why I like cats since I doubt it’s an entirely rational preference. I like the sense of controlled wildness and power without being threatening to us. I like they are independent while still being affectionate or companionable, like a relationship with a close friend or an equal rather than with a child or a subordinate. I love the sense of deliberateness with their movement – every paw placed ‘just so’. I like that they feel soft, fuzzy and almost fluid, with claws or teeth coming out only when they want. And I like their curiosity and inquisitiveness especially when combined with their agility and size, so they can leap up to a counter or high shelf and watch as I make dinner, something that a dog either can’t do or can’t do well (eg: would destroy all the dishes if they made it onto a counter).
Dogs, I dunno. They move in lurches & spasms, like they don’t know where their paws are or what their body is doing. They can be suckups and subordinate, turning to humans all the time to tell how they should behave or what they should do.
A friend once said, “When a dog licks you, it’s because it doesn’t have anything better to do. When a cat licks you, you feel like you’ve earned something.”
Cats are simply more sensual than dogs. They have much more flexible bodies than dogs, and can melt into you in a way that a dog can’t. Add to that that they rarely smell, purr, and perform astonishing feats of athleticism. I’ve only found a few cats that were physically offputting–but I find a lot of dogs to be so. I really can’t understand the appeal of some breeds of dogs at all.
love them both but am allergic to cats. really ran a “scientific” experiment many years ago, and dogs are OK for the air passages, cats not. Ergo, no cats. Miss them. But would have to say dogs edge out cats by not a lot. Why? Not sure. Dogs more companionable?
I’ll bet you wouldn’t have had so many answers if you’d asked for a solution to climate change!
Hurrah dogs & cats!!
On the superiority of Felis catus …
You can buy cat poop dogs treats, but not dog poop cat treats:
http://www.incrediblethings.com/food/good-dogs-eat-kitty-poops/
You don’t have to house train a moggie ….
Just the litter box.
While my dog appreciates my love, my cat allows it. It is only with her permission that I exist in her life.
I like both d*gs and cats, and have one of each right now. They have complementary virtues.
Cats are soft and quiet and a pleasant size to curl up on me. They don’t smell as bad as d*gs often do, and you don’t have to groom and bathe them (normally, if they’re short-hairs). Cats are admirably independent, willing to play but not whiny. Most cats eat only as needed, so if you have to be away for a couple days just leave out extra food and they’ll be fine. Cats make nice desk ornaments — mine sleeps in a desktop fruit box lined with a blanket.
Attractive, independent, willing to curl up with and often play with humans — cats are fine pets.
I love my d*g for being cat-like. This is his only redeeming quality. He is after all, a chihuahua. The cat, Snickers, is affectionate with only those whom he chooses. When chosen, there is a sense of privilege and acceptance. He only allows my son and me to rub his belly (which is adorably pudgy) and will also follow the two of us around, especially if either of us are doing something interesting (drawing, making things, watching tv, reading). Snickers is 3x the d*g’s mass and when the d*g gets yappy will quickly silence him by doing a ninja-like jump & grab from behind. Snickers is awesome! Oh, purring audibly from within a 50 ft radius . . . brilliant! Refusing to stop talking until all interior doors are left open . . . stupendous! Waking only his chosen humans at precisely 5 AM with a loud meow and a poke to the face . . . utilitarian if not simply amazing! He can do no wrong. Far brighter than the d*g who waits for commands . . . Snickers actively participates in family life.
I’ve often observed that owners tend to choose a pet that reflects their personality.
Cats tend to prefer people who are independent and self-fulfilled. Those people don’t need a pet that lavishes them with affection every five minutes, but rather irregularly give and receive it, which makes the interaction much more special.
Dog-people tend to be more dependent and insecure. So they need a pet that needs them for food, exercise, etc. and boosts their ego by loving them excessively and unconditionally.
Of course the perspective of dog people is that cat people are lazy and just want a pet that they can expend the minimum amount of effort with, while dog people are looking for an easy excuse to get out and do stuff.
As for myself, I like cats because they aren’t in your face all the time, and clean up after themselves. I used to be married to a dog person and had to deal with regular intrusions into my personal space, slobber, and having to deal with doggie land mines. It also ruined a couple of cars since we often had to take it with us, which also made finding a suitable shady parking spot a challenge.
The hair on cats is also much nicer, particularly when cold (after the cat has come in from a romp in the snow).
Some of us are chosen by our owners. Baihu was a feral kitten born to a feral mother, and he was the one who picked my apartment to hang out at, and then to move in to.
b&
I’ve had three brown tabbies. All were strays who walked up to the door and demanded to come in. The black cats all required persuasion of one sort or another.
Like lots of people, while I love dogs, I don’t want to live with one. Both dogs and cats are lovely and wonderful to have a life companions, but cats are better smelling, and less destructive, and less needy. But dogs are great for kids, and I’m glad I had one growing up.
Cats are great to cuddle with, and they are soothing. They are also funny.
I have lived with, rescued, and befriended both dogs and cats. My relationships with cats have been more complex, diverse, intense, and emotional.
I also find cats more beautiful, quieter, and easier to care for.
Even the fiercest domestic cat isn’t capable of killing me.
Having met several thousand cats, I disagree that cats “disdain” humans. Although they have their own lives and need time alone, they definitely want and need human companionship. They also need the company of their own kind (see Ben’s comment on colonies under #4 above).
1) Cat do not care what you think of them, you must take them as they are. (That is a virtue.)
2) Dogs are so needy, there will even stay with someone who repeatedly abuses them. (That is stupid.)
Hi, I’m Stephen Barnard’s Border Collie, Deets. I’ve taken over the computer while he’s doing some damn thing, without me!
I really like cats. They like to play. They’re really good at catching mice and voles — much better than me. Than I? (I’m just a dog.) But most of all, I like eating cat turds in the litter box.
Most dog owners don’t seem to do the training their dogs need. So their dogs bark all time, jump up on you, sniff your parts, and generally act wild (maybe even dangerously so). All that could be fixed with training, so I blame people for most of the things I can’t stand about dogs. All our next-door neighbors have dogs and 3 of the 4 bark all the time when they are outside.
I have no real complaints about well-behaved nice dogs, but I’ve never kept one as a pet. I don’t think my house is dog-friendly, so it’s hard to imagine having a dog of any size.
But I am definitely a cat person (we have 6). I love how soft they are, their purring, and they are a great size for cuddling. They also make me laugh when they get zany and crazed. Mostly though they are serene and have a calming effect on me, which I appreciate and benefit from. Even our most excitable cat is very calm most of the time. I love to look at a sleepy or “meditating” kitty.
I have on two occasions been attacked by dogs. When I was around 11 I was chased by two large dogs for three blocks (I was on my bike) until I got to a store. It really was just in time. The other time a pit bull, on a leash being taken for a walk, pounced on me as I walked past and ripped my shirt off. He just missed biting me. The owner had a very hard time pulling the dog back from me.
I have never been attacked by a domestic cat nor been put into a state of fear by a cat.
Get a Saint Bernard (Dog!).
After living with one of these hairy people for a few years, you won’t go back to cats …. 🙂
St Bernard dogs are really lovely (the authentic ones bred by monks in the Great St Bernard Hospice situated on the Great St Bernard Pass in Switzerland), but all St Bernard dogs drool so much all the time…. yuk!
Simple:
1. The cat’s generic independence and Sophisticated Taste™ in sometimes accepting cuddles is endearing to me.
2. The d*g’s generic inbred slavery (oh, well: social aptitude but also ranking with alpha individuals) is not endearing to me.
It’s Cool and disinterested Cats vs Hot and bothered Dogs.
I like both but lean towards cats. Reduced maintenance being the primary reason.
Although I’m not sure my position counts for much as I’m horribly allergic to both. I don’t play with them anymore because the risk of sinus infection makes it not worth it.
Just admit that you’re a strident, unreconstructed caninophobe, and that this is your deeply held belief. Besides, it wasn’t cat people who rescued this fox.
Besides all the cat qualities mentioned above, I admire their inquisitiveness. Curiosity is a sign of intelligence. Put a box or paper bag on the floor and let the snooping begin! Also, many cats have a sense of humor. One of mine will hide around a corner when she hears me walking into the room. As I approach, she leaps out, as if to say “boo!”. And watching a litter of kittens is the best show on earth…guaranteed to make you giggle.
As per the general consensus above, I prefer cats because you have to earn their love and respect.
Also, because they can turn invisible.
Yesterday I spent ten minutes looking all through the house for one of mine.
Then having thought she must have gone outside, I returned to work only to have her run past a minute later.
I have not had a chance to read anyone else’s response, so doubt I’m original here.
I’m a late comer to the Gato Club, thanks to my beautiful bride of 27 years. I’ve learned to love our cats and appreciate many of their fine qualities. I love that they don’t have a bottomless pit for attention or food. I love that they love to relax at the same time we choose to relax. A nice cat in your lap during “Cosmos” is one of life’s finest pleasures, as is a night long cat blanket during the colder months. I love it especially when they’re playful because they simply crack me up with their nutty antics. Our cat Gunner acts as though possessed by demons when he scoots around the outside of our ottoman in rapid fashion while on his back. I love how they don’t retain too many horrible odors like their canine counterparts tend to do, and I love that they automatically use one location for waste expulsion. I don’t have to train our cats beyond the occasional shoosh off the dining table and such, so they are quite low maintenance while retaining intricate and intriguing personalities. I never thought I’d become a pet person as we didn’t have them growing up, much less become an indoor pet person, but our cats give to us a very pleasurable slice of daily life, bringing smiles, warmth, companionship, laughter, and love.
Shouldn’t you also ask the same of the dog people to see how they respond? I would suspect there’s no real difference other than some like one or the other and I’d bet some like both.
Bingo! All the attributes I’ve heard so far for either cats or dogs, I’ve seen in both cats and dogs. All depending on the personality of the animals involved on both sides of the equation.
Other than the very obvious diffs in physical abilities.
Don’t forget the sweeping generalizations of various dog or cat owners. It is interesting as another way to show how quickly people become tribal and how strongly that is built into our DNA no matter how enlightened we see ourselves.
First comment, decided to comment on this.
I very much prefer cats over d*gs. Actually, I’m afraid of d*gs.
I live with about 11 cats – 1 was rescued as a kitten and 10 were feral born and brought into our garage by their mothers. They all have very different personalities. Some are more affectionate than others, but they can be extremely affectionate (with the family, mostly).
Most cats I’ve been around have been a pleasure to be around. Not so with most d*gs, who I find 1 of 3 modes: scary, needy, and not paying attention (my favorite). Cats have never gone after me.
They’re also curious about everything and like to check everything out. For instance, some of ours have been figuring out how to open a spring-hinged door, but they’re not quite strong enough to actually get through.
I’ve had enough bad experiences with d*gs and more than enough great experiences with cats to make me very much prefer cats.
In my humble opinion the biggest turn off for me about canines is that they never seem to react while being petted whereas the lovely feline purrs, squirms, headbutts etc. Dogs just sit there like puddings until you stop and then just look at you and wagh a tail. Imagine making love to someone who reacted like a dog. Yuk. Where would be the fun in that?
You don’t know how to pet a dog.
I think often people who prefer dogs are those that like to control people, whereas cat people are often less controlling. Cat people often have a more “live and let live” attitude. Cats come and go when they please and live life as it suits them best. Dogs are more dependent and live to their owners’ directions.
I love my dog and I’d never say a thing against her but my family motto is “touch not the cat bot a glove” for a reason. 😉
Like the most annoying creationists, dogs constantly seek validation. They also stick their noses where they don’t belong.
I like dogs, but my cat has a beauty and grace that dogs lack. I find her ability to leap and balance in precarious locations quite remarkable. She is very affectionate and friendly with me and my visitors. She always comes to the door to greet my guests when they arrive.
I like that she is quiet and stealthy. She amuses me by suddenly appearing as if she were teleported. I also like that she joins me on the couch for a nap without waking me up. I like that my cat is very playful, often in unexpected and entertaining ways. She has taken a shine to my reading glasses (all of them) and once started nibbling on a pair while I was wearing them!
I like that she is light enough to easily pick up for a cuddle or to carry around. In the winter my cat kept me warm by lying on top of me on the couch which I much appreciated!
I like that my cat’s behaviour is often unpredictable and I enjoy watching her and trying to figure out what she is up to. Definitely very good company!
I love both; they fill different niches in our household/lives, and I’d hate to be without either.
I do hate it when cats play with their prey; this still happens here even though we have only indoor cats now–we live in the country and mice do get in. It was somehow worse when our outdoor cats toyed with chipmunks & bunnies. More charismatic spp, I suppose, but I actually like mice as well; just not in the basement.
(Yes, I’m aware that some dogs are avid killers of various animals as well–my son once witnessed a neighbor’s lab kill a fawn.)
Dogs do require training to be a decent part of human society; many of the dog complaints listed above reflect a sore lack of it. Most of us dog-lovers don’t enjoy the untrained ones either! Cats are more likely to be acceptable housemates ‘right out of the box.’ 😀 Of course, that could be the toxoplasmosis at work…
Yep, pup only hops on pop or anyone else if they let her. Same with licking. She will only try to say hello for a few minutes and then lays down or runs off to play with her toys by herself.
The Mother-Out-Law prefers neither lap, nor licking from Cookie. So Cook curls up beside her and rests her head on Nanny’s thigh.
My bro’s black lab will not leave you alone, they have to put it outside.
My dog loves humans so much that she desperately wants to give big smooches. I’ve trained her to control herself. Sometimes she shakes as she is trying to maintain control.
What is annoying is when I tell people they are not to pat her if she breaks from the sit position as she needs to understand that she doesn’t get patted when she is out of control — and that person says “oh it’s okay”. No, I just told you it wasn’t.
I bet these are the same people who feed other people’s kids lots of candy and think it’s funny when the kids get too wound up or sick.
I remember coming across little dried lumps of stuff in my sandbox when very young and not knowing just what they were: therefore, I’m infected with Toxoplasma Gondii and I HAVE to like cats!
Seriously, I was raised in a household without any cats (although the neighborhood cats did poop in my sandbox), and only in my twenties did I develop a real affection for them- I liked the way they moved and the feel of their slinky bodies; their self-reliance and aloofness (which disintegrates when you begin to open a tuna can)- although I know that dogs have personalities, it’s always seemed to me that there’s more of a little “someone” inside a cat than a dog. They just seem more aware, and less of a “collection of programmed responses.”
– Cats are “self-cleaning”; dogs are not, and often stink unless bathed frequently
– It usually only takes a few minutes to “potty-train” a kitten (although, if circumstances cause them to poop, say, on your pillow, it’s difficult to break them of it
– cats won’t knock you down by jumping on you, or leave mud all over your pants
– you usually don’t have to worry about your cat attacking visitors, the neighborhood children, or the mailman
– cats don’t eat shit or vomit and then try to lick your face
– you can leave them alone for a couple of days and they don’t have nervous breakdowns
I just spent two hours in a car full of people complaining about spending $25-50 to have their dogs groomed: Nails trimmed and fur heavily brushed/trimmed.
We’ve had several of both over the years, and all were great pets with individual personalities.
As we grew older, we moved primarily to cats only because they are one of the easiest if not the easiest pets to have because they pretty much take care of themselves.
We provided the lap whenever they decided to sit for a bit and be a “purr-ball.” They require so little care–until THEY get older.
Our last two, Bonnie and Clyde, passed on after 17 and 19 years.
Cats are less noisy,smelly, and labor intensive. What I like the most is that they are fiercely independent. Cats adopt you, you don’t adopt them.
The main reason I prefer cats is that, in my opinion, they have far more admirable qualities than dogs, most importantly that they’re more self-relient, solitary and clean than dogs.
On a more practical level, they require much less upkeep than dogs. They don’t need to be walked or cleaned, and they take care of their own faeces without you having to interact with it at all.
Your cats dump their own litterbox! Bravo.
They go outside and bury it.
I think H.P. Lovecraft did it best here: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/essays/cd.aspx
photos of moggies with Lovecraft’s words: http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/hp-lovecraft-explains-why-cats-are-the-best
I love cats because they do not need me. They are a predator that allows me to share its life, soft, loving and able to take care of itself in many ways.
A d*g looks at a human and thinks, “He feeds me, he gives me a warm place to sleep, he pets me and he takes me for walks. He must be God.”
A cat looks at a human and thinks, “He feeds me, he gives me a warm place to sleep, he pets me and he cleans my box. I must be God.”
Dear Professor: I wish you much success in your upcoming debate and I am excited to learn more as the day nears. You shouldn’t have much difficulty in trouncing your opponents.
I have had the pleasure of sharing space with cats through my youth and adult life. I hope you find something useful here to use in your debate.
Why are cats more lovable than dogs? They are: independent and not so eager to please; famously curious; hygienic; gifted with beautiful eyes-pupils of a nocturnal predator; dexterous (my cat carefully scoops food out of his bowl); stable and even-tempered (not hyperactive, neurotic, or excessively sociable); artful, comedic, and playful (spontaneous vertical leaps, dashes around the house, back arching, stealth and stalking behavior); capable of curing the blues (a tablespoon of catnip accelerates the healing process); emotionally expressive (cheek rubs, purring, hissing); able to relieve themselves without supervision; affectionate (curling up on your lap or in the crook of your arm); impressive climbers; low maintenance; uncanny in their ability to find ideal places to perch and sleep; more respectful of their domestic surroundings (they don’t trash the furnishings, knock glassware off the tables with their tails, or dig up the yard); not pack animals and don’t maul innocent humans; less noisy; not droolers or compulsive crotch sniffers; not smelly or slobbish eaters; and are good bio-control agents (rodent and insects).
Funny, we baby sat a cat in it’s apartment for a week while it’s people were away.
It spent every night roaming the apartment knocking plants, photos etc off counters and shelves.
We spent every morning cleaning the mess up…
LOL! My friends had people house & cat sit while they went to Australia & the one cat was so ticked off that he pooped in the people’s clean laundry whenever he got a chance. Then when my friends returned, he meowed loudly all night for several nights.
It’s funny when it isn’t happening to you but you gotta like how cats let you know they think you’re an ass. I remember reading about a lion who exacted revenge on people by stalking them and killing them one by one.
My $.02:
Just don’t call cats “moggies”. It’s undignified.
One of the things I like about cats, BTW, is that they generally make some effort to appear dignified. No matter how much that effort may fail on occasion, at least they try. Dogs don’t even try. How can one respect an animal that has no self-respect?
That, and cats don’t bark. The occasional yowl from a distressed cat in the alley is far less unpleasant than the incessant barking in which most dogs engage. In my experience, cats are generally pleasant and, when not, are at least dramatically less likely to inflict their unpleasantness on everyone within earshot.
There is nothing undignified about calling cats moggies:
moggie
ˈmɒgi/
noun British informal
noun: moggie; plural noun: moggies; noun: moggy
a cat, typically one that is does not have a pedigree or is otherwise unremarkable.
“I have three other cats (two moggies and one Bengal/Tonkinese cross)”
I’ll keep it simple: cats don’t have BO,they shit and pee in one place, they purr,they aren’t as needy as dogs and their beauty and grace are a joy to watch–cats don’t walk, they seem to flow. An old quote: cats were invented so that we could enjoy the beauty, power and grace of the larger felids without being eaten
Cats are beautiful, graceful, elegant, independent, clean, don’t require walks or fenced backyards, don’t drool, don’t chew everything, don’t stink or require baths, don’t claw every surface just by walking on it, they are calm and content to sit on your lap for hours. They aren’t obsequious, or needy, they don’t bark, growl or whine,. They are small without being shameful or obnoxious or yippy. They use litter boxes. They don’t have to be kenneled when you go on trips. When a cat likes you, it’s a compliment, and a gift. Speaking of gifts, cats give gifts! And they can eliminate pests like mice, wasps and moles. They like to play with strings and things.
I don’t think most of the cats I’ve had have actually had disdain for me. And I suspect Orson has genuine affection for me. Otherwise I doubt he’d spend so much time on my lap, on my pillow and on my face or would be hunt the wily pair of socks in the moonlit dead of night, sing me the song of his people (because there’s an entire Ballad of the Sock Battle) and then present me with the beaten pair so that I might.. um.. do whatever he thinks I’m supposed to do with it. Of course, he relieves himself in the carpet if he’s upset, but he’s a cat and I own a carpet cleaner. It’s not like dogs don’t do the same thing. Or people sometimes.
Even my weird antagonistic relationship with Sir Baron von Pudgy Puss, Esquire didn’t seem so much like disdain. Her Lordship was sometimes forgiving, and other times made the most alarming noises, tried to maul me and hid in my bag to ambush me. The fuzzy master loved my mother though. After mom passed away the royal butt was planted in front of mom’s chair while the royal cheeks awaited the customary offering of skritches for several days (mine were insufficient). Her Lordship finally moved, to the bottom of the stairs where once more the royal butt was planted and skritch demands were loudly issued up the stairs for several more days.
Please… Her Ladyship and not Her Lordship. 🙂
Hmmmm… not sure I can answer properly as really I am neutral. I love animals – a lot! – cats and dogs included – but really prefer them wild rather than domesticated. For various related reasons I do not really approve of pets…
Sorry – that does not help!
I grew up with both dogs and cats, and I love them both. I have to say, though, that after I got my first akita, dogs of other breeds have made me want to say, “Get a life!” I have never felt I had to say that to a cat. Cats are too independent and individualistic not to have their own lives already. Dogs are cool, but lots of them never seem to develop post the toddler stage for some purposes and are in need of the care of a parent figure. Cats, on the other hand, often get to the post-teen level without any problem. I like that–a friend indeed rather than a friend in need. Dogs can be better helpers and protectors and be more eager to please, but you have to earn a cat’s friendship and respect. I like that.
My parents always had a cat. Have never been owned by one myself due to living in apartments, but have always got on well with them. As soon as I’m living somewhere that is cat-friendly I’ll sort that out.
My mum has always said that if there was such a thing as resurrection she’d want to come back as a cat. With staff.
I look at them as hairy anarchists, which appeals to my sense of humour. The fact that if they think that they’ll get a better deal if they live elsewhere is also kind of appealing. If a cat is free to leave but still hangs around/lies on you & dribbling/etc then you must be doing something right.
Never trusted d*gs much. Large & smelly things. It may also be that I like the solitary nature for the cat, verses pack nature of the d*g. I don’t want a stupid follower..!
(My brother is completely the opposite, loves d*gs but never really got on with cats!)
A relationship with a cat is a relationship with a colleague, an equal. They both impose the rules of that relationship, and consider our proposed rules, and determine exactly what they can get away with. Negotiations are sometimes conducted with fang and claw as the filibuster.
They have their own secret life that doesn’t involve me, their “owner” and that is their mystery. Where has Shadow been, when he comes in in the morning, covered in sticker burrs and meowing vociferously? Is there some new species of headless lizards, heretofore undiscovered, in my neighborhood?
Every cat I have known, no matter how old, had a little spark of kitten when the string is dangled.
I like my moggie because she is independent, because she doesn’t continually bark;-), because she only meows when something is very important, because she doesn’t poop all over the yard but uses a litter box, because she brings me offerings, even though she acts like I am her slave, because while she may lick my hand, she doesn’t slobber all over me, because she doesn’t prance around, but except when in attack mode seems the sleekest most relaxed of beings,
Because she can perform death-defying acts like leap off our 2-story roof toward the side of our garage, hit at vertical wall, slowing her descent, and land on the sidewalk-no problem! as if she had just gotten up and stretched.
And other reasons:-)
I enjoy cats and I enjoy dogs.
When comes to having them myself (being responsible for them) I favor cats. I have had cats as a kid (4 of them as various times) and as an adult (another 4). After these ones go, I’m done with pets.
Cats:
Pros: Clean, easy to take care of, don’t make you go outside at 3am or when it’s -50°F windchill, they do not require walking (when it’s -50°F windchill), affectionate (you can work with them on this — cats will often become more cuddly and affectionate with: age and with your making the effort to speak to them scratch them, etc.), small size (I’ll never hurt my back picking up one of our cats), intelligent, provide entertainment when high on catnip or chasing cat toys, beautiful, classy/poised (most of the time), rarely inflict injuries on anyone, you can leave them home alone for a 3-day weekend and return to intact cats and intact home, purr in your lap. They live longer than dogs, generally speaking. They can be indoor-only animals (minimizing ticks, fleas, etc.).
Cons: Still require work, care, vet bills, cost. Maybe not as affectionate as dogs. Can’t go on vacation (> 3 days) and leave them home alone. They freak (usually) when strangers enter the house (but ours usually come back out later and make friends.) Not eager to please. Scratch the furniture, carpets, woodwork, etc.
Dogs:
Pros: Great friends, loyal, eager to please. Often very intelligent (though I’ve seen plenty of counter-examples!). They have a great sense of fun and play. You can play with them in the outdoors. They require walking (which causes you to walk more.) They love hiking (as I do.) I love playing with other people’s dogs. (Kind of like boats that way: I like friends’ boats!)
Cons: Mess, size, having to take them out when it’s -50°F windchill (and maybe -25°F air temp) or at 3 am. Can’t leave them home even 24 hours without servicing them. Shorter lives than cats. Cleaning up the yard. Carrying a bag on your walk. Damage to your home (pretty much every dog owner – and I’ve know a lot of them has reported significant damage to their homes prior to spay/neuter.) Ticks, fleas, etc.
So, I like dogs; but I will only “own” cats. And when we retire, we have agreed: No livestock, not even fish. I want to be able to turn down the thermostat and water heater, lock the door, and head out.
Maybe this argument is too serious, but I personally like it that cats don’t kill people, whereas every year around 30 (mostly children) get killed by dogs.
Also dogs apparently bite around 2% of the US population per year – I find it hard to believe cats scratch and bite a similar proportion.
I have all the usual reasons for preferring cats, too, by the way, I’m not just a psychopath obessed with death.
I feel obliged to point out that Ben would note that if the cat were a bobcat of lion, the bites would be worse. 😀
Just pulling your leg, Ben!
You’re certainly right.
My hands (and my ponytail) are some of Baihu’s favorite toys. I almost always have small scratches from his claws (no worse than you would get blackberrying) or indentations from his teeth. Never anything serious; they almost never actually bleed and they always heal in days. If he was serious, I’d be seeing my tendons and bones and the veins would be spraying blood everywhere — the dude is strong, as I know from his attacks on other toys and his ability to casually walk up security doors or to jump onto ledges at least five or six feet high.
The reason cats don’t inflict serious harm on people is because they don’t want to, not because they’re not capable of doing so. I’m pretty sure they’re smart enough to know that they wouldn’t win the fight, and so they only ever cut loose out of absolute desperation.
But a bigger cat would probably realize that it could win the fight, and so would be more likely to put the human in its place, so to speak, should the need arise. And everybody today stupid enough to think that spanking a cat or other form of corporal punishment is a good idea would wind up in the ER.
Touch not a cat bot a glove, as the saying goes — and the bigger the cat, the bigger the glove!
b&
From a lover of both cats and dogs:
Cats have an independent spirit and give the appearance of knowing much more than they are communicating.
In my own experience, cats seem to be marginally more popular with atheists, while dogs appear to be popular with liberal Christians.
From Christopher Hitchens
“Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.”
― Christopher Hitchens, The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
Source: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/atheism
Cats have the fragrance of nice flowers — whereas dogs are often a little smelly
If your dog loves you, he’s just that kind of dog. If your cat loves you, you’re worth loving.
1. For those who love cats and dogs: what is it about cats that make them especially appealing or endearing to you?
I really do not have anything concrete here. My preference for cats just comes down to liking cat behaviour more than dog behaviour. I like the kneading, the way they pretzel their bodies when they sleep, the way they play, etc. Since they are much small and more acrobatic I like watching them climbing around and sleeping in unusual places.
2. For those (like me) who favor cats over dogs? Why do you prefer the moggies over the doggies? Dissing of dogs is permitted here.
Though both can be playful I know that I will never have to fetch a slimy tennis ball from my cat’s mouth.
I will never have to wake up in the middle of the night because my cat has to go outside. If they have to go to the bathroom they know where the litterbox is.
I will never have to worry about my cats maiming me, my girlfriend, or a house guest.
My cats will never smell like wet dog.
My neighbors will never complain about my cat meowing too loud. (One of them has a lot to say, but as loud as he can be sometimes it will never compare to a dog bark.)
Isa, my elder cat, is a Maine Coon mix, and she is probably the clingiest cat I have ever had. Sometimes when I’m petting her and I start to move away, she actually reaches out and tries to grab my had with her forepaws and pull me back. I think she even prefers cuddles over food.
This morning, I woke with my face partly cradled by a furry, purring pillow. Her purr is not a rumble, but it is more of a singing kind of sound – it has a musical quality to it. The surprising thing (at least to others) is that when I fell asleep last night, I was on my other side. Isa came up and insinuated herself between me and my book and pressed her full length against me. I fell asleep with her cradled in my arms, while she was singing her musical purr. Sometime during the night, I turned over. Isa got up, and without disturbing me, walked around me and settled down on the side I was facing. She does this every time I turn over. I could not imagine this happening with a d*g, nor would I want it to. Cats are soft and soothing; dogs are bony and hard, and they couldn’t change sides on a bed without waking me up.
I prefer a two-cat household, so when Kveldulf died, I adopted Samone. I chose her partly because she was listed by the shelter as being more independent – I was worried that having two clingy cats might cause jealousy problems. With Samone, however, I think I went too far. She was independent to the point of indifference to attention. After a year or so, however, she’s decided that cuddles aren’t so bad and that humans are somewhat useful after all. She’ll never be the snuggler that Isa is, but she’s coming around. I have never known adult dogs to change their natures like Samone has.
Typo apology – “my had” should have been “my hand”.
Dogs are Stephen King
Cats are Vladimir Nabokov
Stephen King – That’s not writing, that’s word processing.
Did you call your cat Lolita?
Incidentally, I used to know Vladimir Nabokov’s nephew Vladimir Sikorski, we used to attend the same riding school near Geneva.
I wonder how similar this is to religion, in that most people tend to stick with what they’re raised with. I was raised with cats and prefer cats. I can rationalize why, but maybe it’s just my personal history…or toxoplasmosis.
Toxoplasmosis. +1
I prefer cats to dogs because they are beautiful, independent, soft, clean
and they don’t bark !
my two cats are pretty zen, affectionate and easy to live with
I prefer cats to dogs because they are beautiful, independent, soft and clean and they don’t bark or drool over you !
my two cats are pretty zen and affectionate and easy to live with
I should add that one never loses one’s shoes to cats, but dogs chew them beyond recognition!
I could never choose between cats and dogs. I’ve almost always had at least one of each, all with different personalities.
Same here.
Which reminds me that the joy of having both is synergistic. Nearly always a new-to-the-household cat starts off at least wary of, if not petrified by, the dogs; but within a week’s time or less, the cats always have the upper paw; soon there’s definitely an interspecies bond.
We once had a beautiful & beautifully-mannered 60-pound lab named Coco who considered it her job to gently take care of our little children and our cats. I have the sweetest shots of her curled up with a tiny orange kitten (“Thistle”). Thistle would romp all over her–I once found them with one of Thistle’s claws caught in Coco’s eyelid, so that it was tented out. Coco was imperturbably waiting for a bit of human assistance (which of course she promptly got) and patiently allowed me to detach the kitten. She would “wash” Thistle till he looked as if he’d fallen in a creek.
Then there are the tag teams–shelter-rescue Sinbad (beautiful black domestic shorthair) jumps on the counter & knocks down a can of tropical fish-food; s-r Scamper (scraggly terrier) “opens” the tin, both enjoy the spoils…(nearly 30 year ago, when I lived in Texas. I may have a record for shelter-adoptions from the most states…).
Currently our 14-year-old pound mutt Phoebe, who sleeps more than a cat these days, will rouse herself to play with Winston. He initiates matters by play-pouncing on her head and shoulders; she counters with play-bows and wags, obviously making quite the adjustment to temper the weight/strength advantage she would otherwise have. I don’t think either dog would know dinner-time was going well if Winston wasn’t weaving in and out of their legs as they’re all (including the small auxiliary cat) waiting for the slow human to dish things out…
Great stories!