Owning a dog is the intersection between thinking dogs are the best, and actually having the time, energy and headspace to look after one.
If dogs looked after themselves like cats do, I'd be inclined. But then they wouldn't be dogs, I suppose.
Dogs are so loving and in my case have always been obedient, but the first two years they behave like a dinosaur on meth. And then cats are so calm but they just ignore me except for when they want food.
Do you try to play with your cats? If you don't try to need any of their needs other than food, water, and litter, why would they care about you beyond that? I have 3 cats and a rescue kitten I'm fostering, and all 4 of them seek me and my wife out for attention every single day. Play with your cats and respect their boundaries, and they will come to you for their emotional needs as well.
I have two cats and one of them is motivated exclusively by food and the opportunity to rip cardboard boxes apart and spread to the contents over the floor. He's not interested in anything else.
The other one is perfectly friendly.
Sometimes you just have to have the right kind of cat.
If you have to spend time playing with it, then what's the advantage of having a cat over a dog?
/s
Oh man, the first dog I ever got for myself was a rescue at around 2 years old so we didn't get much of a puppy phase. I was thinking "I remember my parents' dogs chewing things up for years before they settled down, I guess it just seemed that way because I was young."
Then we got a six month old rescue and holy shit, he's a menace. A very cute and sweet one, luckily for him, but also smart, stubborn, and playful, which is dangerous combo. Thankfully he's improved a lot over the past year or so and we've learned how to not give him attention when he's being bad. It's really satisfying to see him learn and grow and start to chill out, but by God I don't know if I'll ever get another puppy. Still love him to bits, though. Great napping buddy.
This exactly! Cats don’t need to go for walks or be let out at regular intervals. You can even leave them home without a sitter for a week or so if you have automatic litter box and feed set up. (I have cameras and a neighbor who is available for emergencies). Cats are so low maintenance, but also I don’t do well with dogs smothering tendencies.
Cats are awesome. I love dogs too but I travel for work and have a very small house so I can't really have a dog. But the range of cat personalities is so wide, I've had four girls in my life so far that are deceased and currently have four boys. Every single one is so different, I love it.
I like my dog's energy because she motivates me to move at least a little bit each day. Of course I'm not gonna get a husky because no amount of motivation would let me keep up with them, but a good energy match in a dog is heaven to me.
I like cats too, but I feel like I just don't "get" them as intuitively.
Huskies are weird because while they require a ton of interaction, during the time in between they act very catlike and just kinda fuck off and do their own thing.
Are you sure you're gay? The op clearly states you should love cats, and science doesnt lie now does it
Is this a reference so something, or did you just admit to having a secret crush on Carl?
Straight man (cis) here. I prefer cats because having a dog is like having a stupid, stubborn kid that shits everywhere and screams constantly. Doesn't even come with the benefit of being able to witness their beautiful, growing mind. They're just dumb and annoying forever.
I expect this to be my most disliked comment lol
Second CIS, cat loving man here.
Dogs are cool, too; I like dogs. But I prefer cats. Pound for pound, cats are twice as bad-ass as a dog, which is why dogs can only really compete by forming into packs. Which, when they do, is a huge force multiplier, but still. I'm not having a pack of dogs in my house, so to maximize local bad-ass-ness in my house, I have cats.
I like how your choice of pet is purely based on how powerful the aura of the animal is lol.
Third. Cat person from a family of mostly dog people. Dogs just seem too pushy, like the annoying kids in the playground who won’t leave you alone, or the vapid extroverts talking cocaine-infused bullshit at parties.
Also, they (like most animals) stink; as far as cats go, there’s something to be said for domesticating solitary ambush predators that spent their entire evolutionary history hunting by stealth and subsisting off prey with a strong sense of smell.
So you prefer cats because you're wrong on your assessment of dogs...?
I've never had a dog that shit everywhere or barked constantly. I have a 3-month-old puppy now and while we're still working on it, he only poops inside once in awhile. Cats are WAY more stubborn than dogs which usually aim to please. And they're definitely not less intelligent than cats...but like all animals, it varies. Some of my favorite cats are complete idiots.
The biggest difference between the two is how much more work dogs require. No judgement if you don't want to commit to that but you're just wrong about most of what you said, of course you're gonna get downvoted lol
I have a 4-year-old Corgi that my girlfriend brought into our house so I think I have some means to judge here.
Dogs shit everywhere... outside. Not everyone cleans it all the way up, nor get it all out of the patches of grass where I happen to step. I have a dedicated shit brush specifically for this issue. They're just nasty as fuck for that honestly, the dogs and the owners. They don't shit in the house if you're a competent owner.
They bark at noise disturbances which scares the shit out of me every time. Some people also just leave their mutts outside to harass neighbors walking by as they bark at about 500 decibels. Again, owner and animal issue both.
Cats are way more stubborn but you don't rely on them to follow commands. Dogs will violently try to pull you over if they want to go do something while on a walk, and training that out of them is unbelievably difficult and won't always stick. They are also implicitly aggressive animals, and need that to be trained out of them as well. Basically, we as humans are trying to cover up the violent nature of a stupid animal by telling it "good boy" when it doesn't maul Timmy's face off. Again, that doesn't always stick either.
Dogs require WAY more work and are not rewarding at all to me. I hate the things that fundamentally make them dogs.
They are also implicitly aggressive animals
You're not wrong, and I prefer cats as well...but cats are violent, homicidal monsters and if they were big enough they would absolutely murder the fuck out of you (as soon as they were done toying with you).
Yes, luckily they are not big enough and their aggression is mostly just funny. I wouldn't want a cat around my kid unsupervised though. Same with dogs.
It really sounds like your problems are with dog owners and not the animal itself. It also sounds like your dog sucks or you're a bad owner yourself...The majority of them are VERY easy to train as millenias of domestication has made them people-pleasers.
This puppy is the first dog I've had that I've been fully responsible for training and he learned to not do all those things in the first two weeks with minimal effort. He shits in the same spot outside, doesn't pull on the leash, and only barks when he can't get to me (like if he falls asleep in the hallway and I close the door). The biggest struggle has been getting him to stop chewing on the rugs. Meanwhile, you'll never train a cat to not rip up your furniture, chew wires, or knock stuff off shelves - you just have to take steps to mitigate and live with it.
That's an insane take on their nature, too. Cats are equally "implicitly aggressive" (they famously kill birds just for fun). Do you live somewhere with only junkyards and drug dealers or something? Dogs are inherently friendly animals. Mine has met 5 cats now (introducing him early so he'll be excited when I adopt one next year) and 100% of the aggression came from the cats.
Dogs require WAY more work and are not rewarding at all to me. I hate the things that fundamentally make them dogs.
I won't try to convince anyone to get a dog - they're not for everyone - but as someone with a ton of experience with both and who loves both equally, you're wrong about what "fundamentally make[s] them dogs".
Since we're throwing shade, I should let you know that no matter how often you change the litter box, your house smells. You might not notice it but your guests do
That's an insane take on their nature, too. Cats are equally "implicitly aggressive" (they famously kill birds just for fun).
Tbf, cat kills a bird, it's just "oh no, poor bird." But when a dog mauls a kid seems like it's sorta worse.
Also, good, be a little hunter kitty. She kills all the palmetto bugs that get in for me, she does a good job! And when she's not doing that she's laying in my lap purring like right now.
Yes good. If you don't want to die get the fuck out of my house without permission, and them roaches didn't knock they just snuck in and made themselves at home. They can get mauled by my house tiger idgaf.
It really sounds like your problems are with dog owners and not the animal itself
A lot of them, yes.
your dog sucks
Yes, he's a Covid puppy who never got socialized until he was like 2.
The majority of them are VERY easy to train
You are on crack
Cats are equally "implicitly aggressive"
Moreso than dogs I would say, but a cat can't bite my fingers off or maul kids to death. There are 5 million reported dog bites in the US per year. Do you know how bad a dog bite has to be for it to actually be reported??
I should let you know that no matter how often you change the litter box, your house smells
When I lived with a cat I always noticed that. Bothered me a lot. If I were to get another cat I would put a lot of money and time into smell reduction, but I don't think that's going to happen because kids are in my future and Toxoplasma is real.
I'm not on crack. I volunteered at a shelter (cats/dogs) for 6 years and another shelter (cats/dogs/rabbits) for 2 more. I have a lot of experience with animals even outside of having at least one pet in my home for 95% of my life. Very few dogs are untrainable and even fewer from birth... It's usually the result of abuse or years of neglect. (ETA: only having experience with bad neighbors and one dog of your own doesn't really give you "a means to judge")
Likewise, there's very few "bad" cats - though I'd wager the percentage is higher given the prevalence of feral cats. They are MUCH less domesticated and will "revert" to being completely feral in one generation. Not a bad thing, just pointing it out.
The majority of dogs don't need to be trained to not rip a toddler's fade off and those that do are usually from breeds that were bred for aggression. Pitbulls, as much as I love them, are in that category. Golden Retrievers are not.
Likewise, there's very few "bad" cats - though I'd wager the percentage is higher given the prevalence of feral cats.
Hang on now, stray cats are not "bad cats," they're just wild and free, abiding by their own rules and slow to trust strangers. If you try to put them in a situation they don't like they may defend themselves, but defense != aggression nor is it "bad," it's a natural reaction to aggression like say capturing the wild kitty.
If you know what you're doing, you can even make friends with some strays, but some just don't want anything to do with you and that's ok too, I respect them.
Dogs OTOH if I see a stray I'm like "fuck am I gonna have to mace this dude?" I would rather run into a stray cat than a stray dog any day, because worst case with the cat is "it won't let me pet it" and worst case with the dog is "it tries to fight me and I have to hit it with the hot sauce."
I like some (owned) dogs fwiw, if it's cool and not half my size and jumping on me with wet ass feet, but strays and my pets it's no contest I prefer cats.
I said "bad" cats - as in "hard to train/untrainable" in the context of my comment.
The rest of your comment is also about aggression towards humans even though in my previous reply I was speaking about aggression in general but I'll respond to it anyway: Of course a tiny feral cat is less likely to square up with a human...they know they're one kick from death. Towards smaller animals, stray cats are absolutely more aggressive. Even house cats kill for fun.
None of this is admonishment (except toward owners who let their cats roam the neighborhood), by the way. I love cats. I'm just not into the toxoplasmosis-driven defending them as perfect little creatures who do no wrong
Our neighborhood has a lot of stray cats and boy howdy do they shit everywhere. They also like to dig up mulch like kitty litter.
I think it depends on your stance towards authoritarianism. Dogs follow commands, cats do not.
Cats can absolutely follow commands. Tell your cat "watch out" as you sit near them for a week. Then just say it one day and watch as they get up.
It's just a different learning and motivation system than dogs.
What if you're a guy that prefers dogs but somehow ended up with a plethora of cats since your last dog died a few years back from cancer?
Am I gay or a closeted straight guy now?
That's probably not far from the truth... I still have her favorite toys on a shelf in my living room.
We have 2 snakes. But i call my ( cornsnake ) sometimes my puppy. My partner his snake ( hognose ) we lovingly call the kitten.
So from now on i am a male and he is female. Got it. Good to find these kind off rules. Otherwise we would suffer in unknowing and make mistakes against statistics. ;)
I know it stresses them out but god damn do I love seeing hognoses playing dead. They're so dramatic!
