Lemme help you add that up !
Posted on 02/23/2012 10:00:18 PM PST by Altariel
Isn't it funny how we feel the need to describe someone as a "cat person" or a "dog person" when introductions are made? I happily consider myself a "multi-species person," although I admit to favoring cats (apologies to my Scottie, whom I love dearly!)
Cats and dogs have very different skill sets when it comes to fitting into a family. Let's add up the plusses and minuses to see which one makes the better pet...
* Cats are quiet (+1) * Dogs, while loud, make great low-cost home security systems (+1) * Cats are independent (+1) * Dogs are in-your-face creatures (-1) * Cats only come to you when they want something (-1) * Dogs are always glad to see you come home (+1) * Cats are not good travelers (-1) * Dogs love to go for rides and walks on the beach (+1) * Indoor cats require a litter box (-1) * Dogs require "yard duty" (-1) * Cats jump on food prep areas (-1) * Dogs can't reach those areas (+1) * Cats can be left for hours and even overnight on occasion without worry. (+2) * Dogs can't be left alone for long stretches and need to be boarded at times (-2) * Cats eat much less than dogs (+1) * Dogs are less finicky when it comes to food (+1)
Well, it's a tie and I'm still confused. Both animals offer unconditional love and companionship so personal preference is the way to go. Oftentimes you won't even get to choose as the pet picks you.
For some odd reason, dogs are considered more adoptable than cats, although there are more felines in homes in the U.S. than canines, according to the Humane Society of the United States This is probably due to the fact that 52 percent of cat owners have more than one cat, while only 28 percent of dog owners have more than one dog. (Another "plus" here for cats?)
Whatever you decide to bring into your own home as a family member, please consider your lifestyle and the requirements of the pet. We, of course, encourage you to consider a cat or two as 10 percent more of them are euthanized each year than dogs in the shelters, according to the ASPCA.
Kitten season is beginning and soon there will be scores to choose from. Please help us stem the tide of overpopulation by having your pets spayed and neutered this month. And call us if there are free-roaming feral cats in your neighborhood so we can TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) them before they breed.
Marci Kladnik is a board member of Catalyst for Cats, a Santa Barbara County nonprofit organization dedicated to the welfare of feral cats. For more information, call 685-1563 or visit www.catalystforcats.org.
Lemme help you add that up !
Haha, it’s so true. I’m not an expert in the subject, by any means, but my understanding is that it comes from the pack method of hunting. A domestic or forest cat (basically all cats besides lions), are solitary hunters. So they rely on stealth to catch their prey. But a dog/wolf (same thing scientifically) is a pack hunter. And what they like to do is to get all smelly and putrid. Then, they all go downwind and set up an ambush. Then one or a few of the pack breaks off and goes upwind. The smell causes the prey to run away, and into the awaiting jaws of the rest of the pack. That’s my understanding at least, think I saw it on some program or another. Makes sense to me!
“...a cat isn’t going to guard your livestock, help you hunt for your food, or drive off large predators intent on killing you and your family.”
That’s what my grandmother, who grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland would say. She had such respect for the dogs they had. She would always talk about how the dogs would take the sheep out in the morning, watch them all day, and bring them home at night.
In the US I don’t think she ever had a dog as a pet, but I know they had cats when my mom was young. Punjab was their great cat, he was almost killed by bluejays once and he could open a bedroom door by shaking it from the bottom.
But she didn’t have much use for cats, and I guess she didn’t really see dogs as pets.
Haha, I love the cat stories. I posted one just below your post, but it has a bit of a sad ending too. I hadn’t specifically heard about the black cats being affectionate actually until last week (but have reflected upon it a lot since then). I’m moving soon, and will have room for a dog to run and play at the new place, so I was trying to decide between a dog and a cat. So I was looking through all of the animals at the shelter’s website, and in the description for a particular black cat, it noted something like “Has the typical, affectionate personality, characteristic of black cats.” And I thought back to friends’ cats, my cats, etc. and all of the ones that would hop up and into my lap seemed to have been black.
Here’s a little post I found about black cats from a search:
http://funanimalfactstosaveanimals.blogspot.com/2009/10/black-cats-and-how-you-can-save-them.html
“I couldn’t find any actual research to back up this fact but there is a lot of anecdotal research from vets and pet owners (myself included) that report black cats are the most affectionate colour of cats. Fuego, my black cat featured on the right when he was a kitten,doesn’t leave my side when I’m sick and follows me everywhere.”
I hate cats! People say they taste like chicken.
But they don’t.
What a beauty! Thanks for posting.
That made my day too, thanks for the post. ;)
That is also debatable. There is a reason cats were regarded highly in a number of cultures (particularly agrarian cultures) due to the impact they had on grain and food supplies (rodent control which was important not only because rodents could eat the grains, but just as, if not more importantly, because the rodents would leave droppings in the grains that can cause mass food poisoning). That is one of the main reasons why cats gained prominence in Egypt and got associated with the goddess Bastis. Interestingly, by the way, one of the major theories behind the Bubonic Plague in Europe, which killed a THIRD of Europe (25 million people) in just 3 years, is that the mass killing of cats (by the start of the 14th century the European population of cats was down to few wildcats as most domesticated cats had been killed due to their association with the devil and heresy) had caused the rat population to significantly surge. I doubt killing most domestic dogs in Europe would have led to the death of 25 million people in 36 months.
Technically, even in history at best it is a tie when it comes to dogs vs cats (and considering human civilization started to rise with the agrarian revolution, the impact of cats had an effect that most canines would find it difficult to match).
Just wanted to say I was going to post a similar post, but glad you saved me the typing. Cats digestive and immune systems allow them to kill and eat vermin that would be infectious/indigestible to other animals. Recently some breeds of dogs have been bred as mousers, but cat’s have served in their own way (or I dare say we wouldn’t have domesticated them either).
On an odd note (for anyone and everyone), I felt a funny feeling that I should bring up the point, that in the event of a meltdown, don’t let your dogs run free. They can quickly become a feral pack, as described in the novel “Light’s Out,” and I have heard of that problem in some cities as people let their dogs go when they can’t feed them. We had a dog, with a collar, but very skinny attack some goats out here on our property. I suspect someone turned him/her lose, as we’re a few miles out from the big town, and people are known to do that with their cats. Just a plea!
Can a cat retrieve a duck out of a cold river?
i read about the old mountain men and their favorite delicacy was puppy cooked in a clay pot indian style
close second was mountain lion...or a “painter” as they called it
still hear of lion hunters who eat “painter” and they say its wonderful...poor kitty
but if you got too many of any kind of animal eating them is a great solution...kill em and grill em...poodles with noodles yummy
Unleash the Hound!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juqOnkm7zms&feature=related
They Sings! (They do!)
We’ve got feral dog packs in the forest preserves in Chicago, from time to time. Usually, they don’t survive the winter, so they aren’t a big problem. A few years ago, near the ghetto, a pack of pit bulls formed in one of the preserves, and killed a jogger. So, yes, dogs will go feral very quickly, and just like other wild dogs, they might even have a go at a human.
Good points, but until you get to a sedentary, agrarian society, cats are a liability, and dogs are a great benefit. Without dogs, who knows how many cultures would have even gotten to the agrarian stage?
Also, the benefits that cats provide aren’t exclusive, there are other, fairly simple ways to solve those problems that men have come up with. To illustrate that point, just look at the history of the Americas. There were plenty of agrarian societies that thrived here and never had a single domesticated housecat helping them. They didn’t perish from disease and food poisoning, or starve from the predations of rodents. When they came to the Americas, they made sure to bring dogs with them, but they didn’t bother with the kitties. I think that says a lot.
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