Dogs or Cats?

We have had herds of dogs, cats, birds, chickens and peacocks enjoy the tranquility of our rescue, most of them at the same time.
Not sure if we prefer dogs to cats but now that we have only one dog, we are fine with that.
Oh, and cats can be trained just fine. Just find what motivates them and you got it.
The moral of the story, be humane, do what is right for them.
If not, this will happen

Having experience with both dogs and cats, I'd prefer a cat as a house-pet.

I'd much rather have a dog.

And I'm of the opinion that you cannot own a cat as a pet. Cats don't have owners, they have servants.

I've had cats and dogs and I really appreciate both as pets.

Currently, I have an orange 20# male Maine Coon cat named Pookie.

I grew up with dogs. After seeing my last dog die in front of me (He did die on his favorite rug), I decided I couldn't manage to have a dog anymore. About 5 years later, my cousin Sue told me about a cat with only one workable eye and needed a home badly. I decided to adopt Charlie (the cat in my avatar). He's been a really good cat. Very sociable. Highly intelligent. He wants me to pick him up, and carry him everywhere.

Cats get a bad rap, because people associate them with the outside. You know, they spend their days roaming around the neighborhood and killing other animals. My cat Charlie is an indoor cat. He only goes outside if he's on a leash. I do have major issues with people who allow their cat to roam the neighborhoods unsupervised. It's really a hazard to society.

Dogs are more maintenance and live a shorter time period. You have to walk the dog. You have to pick up after the dog. If you have a dog, you really need to have somebody in the house most of the day. Cats sleep most of the day, and need their alone time. Dogs constantly want attention and lack a picky attitude.

When I hear the cats or dogs, I tend to say dogs. But cats are close. It really depends on your living situation. Low maintenance people / Condo / Townhouse people / Apartment Dwellers = get a cat. You want to take an animal with you everywhere = get a dog. Cats are homebodies, Dogs require large space and outdoor settings. Dogs are also very loud.

BrotherFease said:

I grew up with dogs. After seeing my last dog die in front of me (He did die on his favorite rug), I decided I couldn't manage to have a dog anymore. About 5 years later, my cousin Sue told me about a cat with only one workable eye and needed a home badly. I decided to adopt Charlie (the cat in my avatar). He's been a really good cat. Very sociable. Highly intelligent. He wants me to pick him up, and carry him everywhere.

Cats get a bad rap, because people associate them with the outside. You know, they spend their days roaming around the neighborhood and killing other animals. My cat Charlie is an indoor cat. He only goes outside if he's on a leash. I do have major issues with people who allow their cat to roam the neighborhoods unsupervised. It's really a hazard to society.

Dogs are more maintenance and live a shorter time period. You have to walk the dog. You have to pick up after the dog. If you have a dog, you really need to have somebody in the house most of the day. Cats sleep most of the day, and need their alone time. Dogs constantly want attention and lack a picky attitude.

When I hear the cats or dogs, I tend to say dogs. But cats are close. It really depends on your living situation. Low maintenance people / Condo / Townhouse people / Apartment Dwellers = get a cat. You want to take an animal with you everywhere = get a dog. Cats are homebodies, Dogs require large space and outdoor settings. Dogs are also very loud.

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I had a Siamese that was an outdoor cat and - true story - was being chased by a dog, went up a tree which the dog couldn't climb, but he was dumb enough to put his front paws on the tree and keep barking at my cat which then slowly made his way down the tree till he was within striking range and quite literally tore a gash in the dog's nose. Dogs are loveable but dumb. Cats are loveable and smart.

Checkerboard Strangler said:

In fact, every veterinarian I've ever taken my cats to has been amazed at how sweet and affectionate my cats are.
Of course, our dogs too but that's almost automatic unless the dog is neurotic, none of our dogs were ever neurotic.

But again, it's the cats that earn the praise because our cats have always been sweetie pies, every one of them.

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It's all in how you raise them. If you give them genuine love, they will return it.

We had a guy come fix the dryer. One of our kittens immediately jumped up on his shoulder as soon as he stooped down. He didn't mind which was nice. But the kitten didn't know any better, she just assumed everybody loved her because that's all she knew.

BrotherFease said:

I grew up with dogs. After seeing my last dog die in front of me (He did die on his favorite rug), I decided I couldn't manage to have a dog anymore.

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That's why I won't have any more cats. We had a large number of them, and a lot of them were the same age, so they all started to go around the same time, over about a five year period. I couldn't handle losing any more of them, or stressing over what was best for their care. I'm getting older anyway, and I don't want to take the chance of their outliving me, because then I would worry about them being cared for.

forn said:

It's all in how you raise them. If you give them genuine love, they will return it.

We had a guy come fix the dryer. One of our kittens immediately jumped up on his shoulder as soon as he stooped down. He didn't mind which was nice. But the kitten didn't know any better, she just assumed everybody loved her because that's all she knew.

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We take Boops for a walk and I swear, she thinks she's the mayor.
And because Fiona loves her, she assumes that ALL cats love her.
The comedy writes itself, because she is genuinely shocked to discover that no, "all cats do not automatically love you, Boopers".
Sorry about that, puppers!

But she really does try and surprisingly, if they allow her to approach, sometimes she wins them over.
The grumpy old Mexican grandma down the street was sure Betty Boop was going to attack her calico, and the look on abuelita's face when her kitty booped noses with our dog and then flopped over was priceless.
I couldn't hear her but I bet she mumbled "Dios mio, ay carumba" or something like that.

In my halting pathetic Spanish I explained that Boops is a sweet dog and will never harm a hair on her cat's head.
I'm not quite sure she believes it but every day The Boops has to stop and greet that cat on our little walks.

I think some of the other cats are still grinding the gears in their little cat brains trying to figure it out, too.
But Betty Boop takes it all in stride with a loud snort if they get hostile and then she runs back to Daddy, "how come that cat doesn't like me?"

"Sorry Boops, that's not YOUR kitty. YOUR kitty loves you, that's all."
I have to tell her that every day.

And of course she has a lot of doggie friends all through the neighborhood, and some "enemies" too, although most of the enemies are the dogs that DON'T get taken for daily walks.
Maybe they're jealous?
Her favorites are the spotted dog at the corner named Roscoe, he's one of her boyfriends and he drools while he nuzzles her, and then she goes to the opposite corner
to greet the duo of a tiny yapper paired with a great big Shepherd mix *her "other" boyfriend, who always nuzzles her and then loudly announces his happiness to the world.
Squeaker and Zeus. Squeaker is the boss of course, because small dogs always boss the bigger one around.

Boops is spayed so of course it's all for show and nothing more. Sorry puppers!

Lisa said:

I have a grey tiger tabby cat. She is my boss.

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I have two cats, one orange and the other a dark Calico and they are both rather bossy, especially at dinner time. The orange caw who will talk a blue streak making me get up until I get she wants and she supervises everything I do around the house.

MAGAnificent said:

Actually, cats can to a point be trained.

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they learn habits, and you can coax them - but you can't get them to do things by command.
Even the big cat circus are simply habituated,

as everyone knows: "cats rule / dogs drool"

forn said:

That's why I won't have any more cats. We had a large number of them, and a lot of them were the same age, so they all started to go around the same time, over about a five year period. I couldn't handle losing any more of them, or stressing over what was best for their care. I'm getting older anyway, and I don't want to take the chance of their outliving me, because then I would worry about them being cared for.

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I think it is really hard to lose a member of your household be an animal or human. I have taken several cats and dogs to the vet for a finally time and it was really, really hard.
Ad in the paper said the following.....'Wife and dog went missing...reward for dog'. About sums it up.

anatta said:

they learn habits, and you can coax them - but you can't get them to do things by command.
Even the big cat circus are simply habituated,

as everyone knows: "cats rule / dogs drool"

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Both my cats demand a morning massage and of course I happily comply.
What I like about cats over dogs is you can leave your cat for days with food and water and their potty box but not a dog.

antiquity said:

I have two cats, one orange and the other a dark Calico and they are both rather bossy, especially at dinner time. The orange caw who will talk a blue streak making me get up until I get she wants and she supervises everything I do around the house.

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I had a ginger male and he learned to open doors and turn on the facet for him and his brothers to get a drink. He loved being brushed and would knock the brush on the floor so I had to pick it up and brush him.

He could rip the new bag of food open, so I was forced to put it in a plastic bin so keep him and his brothers from self-serving, despite the fact that they had 2 bowls of food to choose from.

Oh good, something else to divide people on, cat or dogs...

My current cat with one of my past dogs, camping. The cat was allowed to go out, and came when called back into the truck. Best of both animals.

anatta said:

they learn habits, and you can coax them - but you can't get them to do things by command.

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Some even train them to use the toilet rather than the litter box.

forn said:

I'm getting older anyway, and I don't want to take the chance of their outliving me, because then I would worry about them being cared for.

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That's why I don't have any pets now, other than my seemingly immortal fish.

MAGAnificent said:

Actually, cats can to a point be trained.

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Yes they can, you're right. I've trained a couple of my cats to come on command, by voice and hand signals, my current cat does that reliably. I've also trained one of my cats to fetch on command. Anyone who doesn't think a cat can be trained is a fool.

Demon said:

That's why I don't have any pets now, other than my seemingly immortal fish.

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Kudos for keeping your fish alive for so long, I never had luck with fresh water fish in aquariums.

Old 'N Chill said:

Kudos for keeping your fish alive for so long, I never had luck with fresh water fish in aquariums.

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Oh, it took a good amount of time before I got good with them. I tended to overfeed at first and that was my biggest problem, even with weekly water changes.

Old 'N Chill said:

Kudos for keeping your fish alive for so long, I never had luck with fresh water fish in aquariums.

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My secret is nothing.

Once established I never go in unless there is some build up of algae or whatever.

antiquity said:

I have two cats, one orange and the other a dark Calico and they are both rather bossy, especially at dinner time. The orange caw who will talk a blue streak making me get up until I get she wants and she supervises everything I do around the house.

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I have noticed this about the cats. They own the furniture, your bed, your bathtub. Charlie gets very upset when I do not watch him eat. Around 9:00pm, I have to be upstairs or else he gets very upset.

MAGAnificent said:

Some even train them to use the toilet rather than the litter box.

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good point .. you can train then but not on command .I mean i can open a can and he'll come. or tell him "no" and he'll stop" but i've never been able to use dog thing like fetch or sit. I can toss a toy mouse and he'll go after it, but not just on command

forn said:

I've always preferred cats. They're quieter than dogs, lower maintenance, better conversationalists, and in my experience they are just as affectionate. I've probably had about 16 cats altogether. They're all gone now, but I loved them dearly.

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me too. I always got really lucky with strays, i usually just do one at a time now that im older.. and VETS are EXPENSIVE