Cat Lover Or Dog Lover?

By Ruth aka Kattaddorra

Thanks to Kevin for inspiring this article by his comment that he and his sister are cat lovers and definitely not dog lovers.

There is no reason why a person can’t love both cats and dogs of course but most people favour one over the other. I do love dogs and we always had them at home when we were young as our late father was a lover of Alsatians and bred them at one time. The pups were gorgeous and we cried when they went to their new homes.

Then at my first job at a vets I brought home a collie puppy who had been ill-treated and I did love him and care for him of course, but I always longed for a cat.

I started at the bottom, the first vet I worked for had boarding kennels and cattery too, mucking out the kennels was a chore I never enjoyed but being young and fit I enjoyed walking the dogs.

However when I was moved on to cattery maid I was in Paradise, I loved it! Cleaning out the cats, grooming and feeding them wasn’t at all a chore, I could have done that part of the job forever! Since having cats myself I have never wanted another dog, cats are such wonderful creatures, they are clean, they are self-sufficient when needs be and they don’t need taking for walks like dogs do.

Even if it’s raining or snowing or a person is unwell, a dog needs to be taken for a walk, cats take themselves, or use a litter tray.

Some people say cats are a nuisance to neighbours, well not if they are cared for properly, all it takes is a cat friendly garden with a patch of earth regularly dug over for their toilet use, some grass to roll on, some catnip growing, some high sunny perches to sit on. Cats are wonderful companions and quiet too. Dogs often bark when left alone, some even bark when they aren’t alone and some dogs yap constantly!

A neighbour has one like that, a Yorkshire terrier X who yaps day and night, I don’t know how they put up with it, they put him in the garden for a bit of peace in the house and he yaps out there and sets their other little dog off barking at times too and then the rest of the neighbourhood dogs start and people who don’t have dogs yell SHUT UP.

That dog is far more irritating to our neighbourhood than any of the cats who live here. It annoys me if when answering problems someone says ‘What can I do, I’ve got a new puppy and the cat doesn’t like it, if they don’t get on soon the cat will have to go’ WHY should the cat go?This is a person who should never have had a cat as they obviously think the cat is obviously a second class citizen to the dog!

Cats love their territory and having a puppy intrude without a careful and patient introduction to each other is very unfair.

Most cats and dogs can get along, as always it’s people who mess up their getting to know about each other period, but we would personally never want a dog any more since we have had the pleasure of sharing our home with peaceful and companionable cats.