cats vs. dogs which makes a better pet?

Tastes like chicken!


Back on topic -
Best description I ever heard.
Dog says-
Humans house me, feed me, pet me - they must be gods.
Cat says-
Humans house me, feed me, pet me - I must be god.

 

Actually I've just enhanced your pic and it looks much better now, your complexion is perfect and your hair is a beautiful brown, I bet all the boys are after you..

 

My momma warned me not to go for polish girls.

Because then your kids' birth certificates cannot say Mr. & Mrs. it has to be changed to "We The People".

 

What, Chris is Polish? Wow, they dun good in WW2..

303 (Polish) Sqn RAF "Kosciuszko", (below) claimed 126 kills in Battle of Britain

 

Yummy. Can you turn it into a scratch and sniff?

 

Don't get me started on polish jokes.

 

cats. i dont have the time or the social desires to satisfy a dogs need of 'pack'. they tend to revert back to wild in my long term company, which is probably for the best since thats how nature intended them to be anyway.

but then, im a severe introvert.

 

I have had both cats and dogs. IMO cats can be very loving pets, especially if you get them as young kittens and handle them a lot. I think cats' instincts are not as aligned to human instincts as dogs are. My theory is that some dogs learned (thousands and thousands of years ago) that humans were a good source of free food as humans gave them scraps to ward off attacks. The felines were mainly adversarial carnivores that both dogs and humans feared so they did not develop close to humans.

 

Additionally humans and dogs bonded in prehistory.

Whereas the Egyptians in history domesticated cats.

So dogs have had more time to adapt.

 

Yes, that's what I meant...Dogs have a long history of living with humans. Maybe their instincts just more aligned with humans or something. Dogs run in a pack and hunt together similar to humans living in cooperatives and hunting together. Cats are more solitary hunters. I guess it took more effort and infrastructure to be able to have the time and give the effort to domesticate cats.

I can also envision that predatory cats were not a welcome sight around the prehistoric campfire where food was being cooked and consumed. Far better to keep a pack of dogs between you and the truly scary felines.

 

Dogs are just wolves that we've been selectively breeding for so long they look nothing alike. Genetically, they're still the same thing. Wolves have a unique (and quite recessive) gene that allows them to bond with humans- read facial expressions and body language, appreciate companionship, reciprocate generosity. These are things that dogs can do with humans innately- without training. This gene is rare in wolves, maybe 1 in a hundred has it. Dogs have been bred over the millenia to be guaranteed to have it. But the fact that the gene ever existed in the first place is pretty miraculous. No other two species known to science have been so genetically different and yet one have a genetic trait that so closely endeared it to the other as humans and dogs. I dont particularly apreciate dogs for myself, being so much of a 'lone wolf' already, but from the standpoint of all humanity, it certainly seems that dogs are a special gift from God

 

Well they are stupid people! Of all the breeds, big and small, which are available, only a stupid person would choose one which could kill somebody - including themselves? The following exemplifies the mentality of doggy people: their dog bites (or worse?) someone, and the owner says 'Oh dear, I'm sorry about that - he's never done it before.'

 

What, you mean they attack other people - well that's alright then! There's a bit more to it than whether a dog is one of the fighting breeds, it's the amount of damage they can do if they attack, and the bigger the dog, the more damage it can do ( QED? ), and my experience with Alsatians has proved they can do an awful lot.

 

I just wish that He (note the respectful capital H?) had given them a different sound to make. I mean, if a returning Martian was asked to describe the sound of an earthling dog, how would he describe it - apart from being 'bloody annoying'?

 

It's also likely that Egyptian/Turkish(Anatolian) wildcats which evolved into housecats were not as extant as wolves.

This limited the opportunity that the cats had to interact with humans.

Plus while dogs are good hunters for medium and large game, cats are not. Therefore prehistoric man would have had a good use for dogs to hunt with them.

Cats took longer, having to wait until the Egyptians built up a huge agricultural civilization before their grain stores attracted the mice which in turn attracted the cats.

Some momma bitch dog and some momma queen cat must have had pups or kittens near a human camp, and these humans would have raised the pups and kittens after weaning and thus domesticated them. It just happened earlier for dogs for these various reasons.

 

You are right about that in some ways, but there are also some who just prefer big strong breeds of dogs, and some who just rescue them. Ive seen the best and worst of the breed. Id never own one ...idk, just not my preference.

 

Dogs dogs dogs. I joke about cats all the time (being rodents) but they are still pretty cool. I had this one cat that lived for 18 years and never scratched, or bit anything. She would just hang out in the TV room and mind her own business.

Still think dogs (labs) are the best though

 

I owned a Belgian Malinois...cool & loyal dog but a lot of work initially.

 

There is a certain degree of personal validation as well. That is why the dredges of society, and men with low self-esteem issues, often own dangerous dogs.

 

I'm a dog guy, hands down, no question. But, the answer depends upon the situation. For instance, if you lived aboard a sailboat, would a dog still be your pick if 'dog' and 'cat' were the only options? I'd have a cat, in that instance.

 

50-50 situation to say but my mother has a cat of soon 5 years.

 

I'm super busy and not home much, so cats are the better option for me since they're more low-maintenance than dogs are.

 

Ah, they both have their charms, though naturally it depends on the individual animal.

Our dog is big and fun and I can take him outside and throw a ball. He's great to pet or wrestle with.

Our cat is friendly and affectionate. I can work at my desk while she sits in my lap and purrs.

Plus, cats are way more funny than dogs. They do way more head-scratching things. Our cat will get a hair up her butt for no reason, and just start zipping around the house at top speed. Her favorite "toy" is a paper grocery bag that she crawls inside of, and then defends ferociously. She hates getting wet, but insists on climbing into the shower after I'm done to play with the water on the floor. She fights me for my laundry when I'm folding it.

Something I've learned over the years: domestic longhair cats seem to be more affectionate and house-friendly by nature than short-hair cats. Every short-hair we've ever had has been stand-offish, and/or had issues peeing outside the litter box. Every longhair we've had has been a well-behaved sweetheart.

 

Well, genetically they are not the same thing. They are close enough to interbreed (well some of them, I'm not sure if a teacup chihuahua can interbreed with a timberwolf), but they are different. The differences in dog breeds is genetic.

 

All domesticated dogs descend from wolves. Not necessarily todays wolves mind you, but wolves from between 14,000 and 36,000 years ago.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_domestic_dog

edit: meh, so in some cases they say 'wolf' to refer to the wolf/dog common ancestor, and in other cases they say 'wolf-like creature'. so w/e