“Dogs are a man’s best friend.”
It is a quote I’ve heard numerous times, drilled into my head since I could form my own thoughts. Dogs always receive such a good reputation with dog lovers raving about how they’re just the best pets ever — they’re sweet, they protect you, and they’re playful. Cats, on the other hand, are usually deemed aggressive, bearing their claws in their owners, walking over plates of food, tearing through rooms and knocking over lamps. Growing up, I adored cats; however, my mom despised them, calling them creepy and complaining how all they’d do is scratch up the couch. Cats are misunderstood, and below I’ll outline the reasons why.
Boundaries
An argument I’ve seen recently on social media was: “If you don’t like cats, it’s because you don’t like something you can’t control.” I completely agree. Cats are independent animals, and though they can be trained, usually they don’t care to be. Cats enjoy sitting around and relaxing. They don’t need much attention or playtime, and they have their boundaries, which some dog parents probably wouldn’t understand. And that’s what’s so annoying about dogs: they’re co-dependent and require a lot of attention, almost like little toddlers. Who has time for that?
Independency and co-dependency
Imagine it’s rainy outside, or maybe just cold. Either way, the weather is not the type you’d like to walk out into during an early morning. Then you remember you have to get up, get dressed, and take your dog out on a walk because it needs to poop, pee, or it’s just begging to go outside because it loves to chase squirrels. Then let’s say you bring them back inside the house, they shake off all the dirt on their bodies at your doorstep and track in even more dirt from their dirty paws, so you have to bathe them, since they usually don’t do it themselves. With a cat, you wouldn’t have to worry about any of this. Cats use a litter box, they clean themselves and their paws, and they don’t care for being outside, so there’s no worries of them tracking in dirt. You could leave a cat alone for a couple of days and they’d be fine, however, an unattended dog would likely be dead in 72 hours.
Trust
Usually, when I visit someone’s house and they own a dog, I’m terrified. However, the dogs are usually friendly, and they’ll run up, sniff you, try to play with you, fully trusting you the second you step into the house. That’s not the case with cats. With cats, you must earn their trust, showing that they like or even love you while keeping a mutual boundary. Now of course, if you’re raising a cat from their kitten days, earning their trust will be easier, but adopting an adult cat from the streets or a shelter would most likely provide more of a task, like getting them used to the new environment, including the people or other pets that live in the home, or even getting them to avoid hiding away in one spot because they feel unsafe due to their previous environment. These fluffy babies get stressed and frightened easily, so they need space and their own time to trust their new owner. They won’t immediately be dependent on you like a dog, and this makes the bond between a cat and the owner almost more endearing and sweeter.
Myths and Superstitions
Growing up, I was told black cats mean bad luck, and if one crossed your path, you had better start praying. I was also told that cats would suck the air out of babies because of the smell of milk, or that they’d try to attack or even murder you while you sleep. For a little while, I had a minor fear of cats, thinking one would probably attack me and give me rabies. But as I started to grow up, I realized that these myths were simply just that: myths. Fake and false narratives that were made up by cat haters to instill fear. I’d seen a lady on social media discuss how she wouldn’t let her black cat outside, especially around Halloween, because she was afraid he would get harmed by humans due to the black cat superstition. It’s heart wrenching to see how some people treat cats due to what they were told growing up, while dogs only get a good reputation.
When choosing a cat or dog, answer this question: would you rather have a pet that sniffs your crotch every time you walk in the door or one that casually plops down next to you and massages your side with a sweet purr?
