Cats vs Dogs

[eckybay]

AND, in my neighborhood, OF COURSE, the DOGs cannot walk freely, but the CATS?...they come over to my house and walk all over my cars. they know that I hate them...and that is why they do it. My dog thinks it is unjust also and sometimes I let him go so that he can try and catch one. They need to stay out of my plants. Ever see a cat owner with a plastic bag? Of course not.

I have cats that are strictly indoors and this drives me nuts that other people think it's okay to let their cat run free. There's no laws against it, so one has no legal grounds to try to end the nuisance. One of my neighbors insists on leaving cat food on her front porch, which just attracts even more cats.... I don't have air conditioning, so I have to listen to them fighting (or whatever it is they're doing...) during the spring and summer. They have territory wars which results in my front porch getting sprayed. They use my front flower bed as a litter box. They use all the wicker furniture as scratching posts. Talking to the lady doesn't solve anything. The one time I did say something to her, I was very calm and polite about it and still ended up getting the door slammed in my face. Thankfully, she's a renter and is being forced to either sign a new lease that says no pets indoors, no feeding of animals outdoors or to move.

 

[lhunt99]

My kitties are very affectionate and I would have to say dog like.

Isn't it funny how a cool cat is often described at "dog-like" yet you never hear of a cool dog being described as "cat-like".

My vote: Go Dogs!

Viva El Pero!

 

[Digger54]

The Dog thinks, "How about those humans. They feed me, they play with me, they give me a warm and comfortable place to sleep. They scratch my belly. They must be gods!

The Cat thinks, "How about those humans. They feed me, they play with me, they give me a warm and comfortable place to sleep. They scratch my belly. I must be a god!

 

[mdb]

We currently have both-all outdoors, no smelly cat boxes, or smelly dog beds.

We had a 13 yr. old cat come down a chimmey and jump on our youngest son when a smoke alarm went off. She kept meowing until the whole house was awake and alert.

Growing up in rural Pennsylvania we always had "hunting dogs and barn cats". They both have their place.

 

[Snowbear]

I think the problem with cats being harmed is that they are too trusting. Not like dogs that do whatever you tell them, but trusting in the sense that they do not believe that someone would harm them.

The cat in this picture was this way.... with both dogs and people. Unfortunately, she became part of the local food chain this summer... Probably walked right up to the coyote or wolf that was stalking her :17:

I definitely need to get another cat, though.... the dogs aren't nearly as good at catching mice as little Willow was.

As for K9's - I've met several of the ones in Anchorage. They're very social and friendly with people when it's OK to be social. When they're working, they're all business, though.

The FD's accellerant sniffer dog (a lab), is a sweetie. Her handler is our fire marshall. Every once in a while I'll take Taz the dalmatian up there and the two of them entertain the whole fire prevention department tearing around chasing each other.

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

My rambling point? I love dogs. I Love cats. I have both. They are all smart. I just think some people confuse affection and desire for something an animal has been trained and conditioned to do. Enough of this. Lets talk about diving. Tienuts - out.

Amen. It was a silly thread, I suppose, but I love to stir up cat lovers. They are always flipping out when someone calls cats dumb, but dog owners don't seem to care. If someone or something had to be smart to be loved, we'd all be in a world of hurt...

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

My signature should make it clear where I stand on the matter...

 

[tstormdiver]

Before I got the lab I now have, when I was growing up, my family raised, showed,trained & bred Old English Mastiff dogs. At one time we had 2 adult dogs (at about 150- 200# each) and a litter of 6 puppies. Our family had at least 1 of these dogs for 18 yrs. Oh, how I wish I had one of those 200# area rugs laying around the house again, but with being away with diving as much as I am, it wouldn't be fair to the dog (plus I have a really tiny back yard).

 

[BKP]

Actually, I like and own both, but I have no illusion about cats. They are stupid bags of reflexes. When I was a neurosurgical resident, one of my colleagues was doing vision experiments with cats (PETA close your eyes) that involved removing most of their brains except for the vision and motor centers. The cats had no frontal lobes or temporal lobes... when the animals healed and the experiments done with, the animals were given away as pets. The owners couldn't tell them from regular cats!

So what... I know some people like that...

Dogs will love you blindly and want to please you. Cats will rub on you if the have an itch. They are happy to see you if you have food.

Ohhhh... not true.

I've always been a 'dog person.' *However,* for the past few years, I've also had a Sphynx... (okay, they look Venutian, however, it grows on you). They have a personality somewhere between a puppy, a monkey, and a kid (human).

They're not (as alleged here) less intelligent then dogs... They just sit there, wondering why the hell THEY should go get the stick you just threw, when *you* have two perfectly good legs, and besides, you're the one that threw the stupid stick.

They crave attention, love being in the middle of things, and for those they've bonded with (me), miss them like crazy when they're gone (and let them know with a verbal onslaught upon returning).

They'll sit in your lap, and purr ad-infinitum, just for the privilege... (And, there are times, when dealing with certain business activities, that this alone keeps me from popping a cork, and rooting out a valium prescription).

They'll play like kittens even when they're no longer kittens... They don't lose that wonderous, infallible curiosity...

They'll sit on your desk, just content to be near you, without making a sound or moving a muscle, for hours...

Never thought I'd feel that way about a cat, either... like diving, you never know 'til you try...

 

[agilis]

I think the frontal lobe/temporal lobe removal experiment would have the same result if performed on the average advanced open water scuba diver. Put them in a group of divers or on a dive boat, and they would be hard to distinguish from regular divers. And consider Skinner's theories regarding people as basically a simple package of reflexes.

Cats and dogs are very different in that dogs were almost certainly the first domesticated animal, while cats were probably the most recent. Cats are much closer to the wild state than dogs are, a big part of their appeal. They are not, like dogs and most people, slavish slavering butt lickers.