Which do you prefer? Dogs or cats?

[kkt]

Depends on what color eyes they have.

blue and brown?

What a sweet dog!  Border collies are great, they'd probably run the place if it wasn't for the opposable thumbs thing.

If I can give them back to their owner when I'm done, I prefer dogs.  If I'm going to be taking care of them, cats.

[snowc]

Our cat says "hello." We adopted her the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Her previous owner had to enter memory-assisted living and couldn't keep her. (Regarding dogs, I don't necessarily mind smaller dogs, like a Pomeranian, but I'm uncomfortable around big dogs. I also prefer that a cat uses a litter box and doesn't have to be taken out for a walk on a rainy morning.)

awwww. 😻😻😻

[Scott5114]

What a sweet dog!  Border collies are great, they'd probably run the place if it wasn't for the opposable thumbs thing.

My wife had a border collie when we first got together. I have never met a dog like him and probably never will again. He had a presence to him that no other animal I've ever met has ever had; you could tell that he had a mind far more advanced than most dogs. He was able to understand complex English sentences and could even spell (we had to resort to the phonetic alphabet when he figured out what W-A-L-K meant). I was actually more nervous meeting Copper than I was meeting Renee's family because I knew his opinion of me carried far more weight with her.

I like both equally.  Cats are far easier to take care of.  Dogs are obviously more affectionate and trainable.

I'm learning with my current pair of cats that they can be just as affectionate as dogs, they just show it in ways that are harder for humans to naturally pick up on.

[vdeane]

One by one, they all went to the rainbow bridge.

Niagara Falls, Ontario?

[DTComposer]

Both, but prefer dogs. We've had as many as two dogs and four cats at one time. Currently just two dogs.

And it's been proven cats relieve stress / anxiety and depression more than dogs do anyway.

Do you have a source for that? Everything I've found says they're about equal with a slight preference towards dogs.

[Scott5114]

One by one, they all went to the rainbow bridge.

Niagara Falls, Ontario?

Rainbow Bridge (pets)

[MinecraftNinja]

Dogs.

[kkt]

What a sweet dog!  Border collies are great, they'd probably run the place if it wasn't for the opposable thumbs thing.

My wife had a border collie when we first got together. I have never met a dog like him and probably never will again. He had a presence to him that no other animal I've ever met has ever had; you could tell that he had a mind far more advanced than most dogs. He was able to understand complex English sentences and could even spell (we had to resort to the phonetic alphabet when he figured out what W-A-L-K meant). I was actually more nervous meeting Copper than I was meeting Renee's family because I knew his opinion of me carried far more weight with her.

My ex-wife has had three.  Terrific dogs, though the smarts can be annoying at times as they can get into things you didn't want them to, or past gates that you hoped would keep them in.  I've seen them trained for sheep herding, and able to go get one specific sheep that the shepherd asked for out of the herd and bring it.  It's amazing.  One trained border collie is worth two human assistant shepherds.

[wxfree]

I love dogs.  Dogs are loyal and obedient.  I believe that dogs are the closest thing to pure good that we have on this planet.  But I prefer cats.  Cats love you, but they are arbitrary and capricious, they can change in an instant, and they don't give a rat's ass how you feel about them.  They actually do care about that, but the most offensive thing in the world is for you to know it.  Cats are more like me.  Here's mine.

[1995hoo]

I love dogs.  Dogs are loyal and obedient.  I believe that dogs are the closest thing to pure good that we have on this planet.  But I prefer cats.  Cats love you, but they are arbitrary and capricious, they can change in an instant, and they don't give a rat's ass how you feel about them.  They actually do care about that, but the most offensive thing in the world is for you to know it.  Cats are more like me.  Here's mine.

....

God created man in His own image, and it was good.

Later, God noticed man was lonely, so he created woman.

When it became clear that woman was the dominant sex, God created dogs, who loved and obeyed man unconditionally. It was good.

After a time, God noticed that man was becoming too impressed with himself and decided man needed some re-education, so God created cats.

Man was happy, woman was happy, dog was happy, and cat, of course, didn't give a rat's arse one way or the other.

[jmacswimmer]

I'm learning with my current pair of cats that they can be just as affectionate as dogs, they just show it in ways that are harder for humans to naturally pick up on.

This x1000.  Between the cat I grew up with (and still lives with my parents) compared to the 2 cats I have now, I've seen both extremes in how cats show their affection.

My parent's cat: We adopted her from a shelter, and we were told her backstory involved some stints in foster care along with being the runt of her litter and the last of her litter to be adopted (even the mother was adopted first).  She's always been extremely scared of every human on the planet with 4 exceptions: My parents, my brother, & myself.  That said, she tended to show her affection in how she went about her daily routine: Every morning my father needed to feed her and clean her litter box while she closely "supervised", then in the evenings my mother needed to sit in a certain chair so the cat could curl up on the accompanying ottoman.

Fast forward to the 2 cats I have now, who are the 2 most openly affectionate cats I've ever met and are pretty much dog-like in personality.  One of them (who we're convinced has some Maine Coon blood in him) sleeps on my pillow every single night and is even leash-trained, while the other enjoys playing fetch with some toy mice - it was super easy to train him, he made the connection instantly that if he brought the toy mouse back to me, I'd throw it again! He even contributes with some part-time exterminating - several months back we had a yellow-jacket problem due to a hive just outside our balcony, and every single one that made it inside (already weakened, I should note) was swatted down within 5 minutes.

Other cat owners have probably noticed this well, but all 3 of those cats never like when we go away.  They know what it means as soon as the suitcases come out and become visibly upset while we're packing, and then once we return we tend to get "chewed out" for being away so long.

All that said, I do like dogs as well and we've debated getting a dog in the future if/when we've moved somewhere that has more space.

[Brandon]

Cats. I don't like dogs.

Agreed. I'm not a fan of dogs at all.  However, if you openly say so, you get treated like some kind of weirdo by dog people.

[Max Rockatansky]

An observation I've found odd is that most people I know in my personal life own dogs but most road people I know own cats.  It makes me wonder if that's a personality trait ingrained the road community which leads to cats being the preferred pet.

[1995hoo]

Cats. I don't like dogs.

Agreed. I'm not a fan of dogs at all.  However, if you openly say so, you get treated like some kind of weirdo by dog people.

What I intensely dislike is when a person is walking a big dog and the dog jumps at you when you're passing by, tries to sniff your crotch, etc., and when it's clear you don't like it the dog owner fails to control the dog and instead says, "Oh, it's OK, he's friendly." It is most certainly NOT OK. Something tells me if I saw a woman with nice tits going the other way, it wouldn't go over so well if I fondled her tits and then said, "Oh, it's OK, I'm friendly." I understand the dog is doing what comes naturally to a dog, but the owner has a responsibility to control the dog and to understand that not everyone else likes being jumped on by big dogs.

None of that applies if you're visiting a dog owner's house, of course. While I'm still uncomfortable around big dogs, I recognize that if I visit someone's house I'm entering the dog's territory and I have to put up with it.

[kurumi]

What I intensely dislike is when a person is walking a big dog and the dog jumps at you when you're passing by, tries to sniff your crotch, etc., and when it's clear you don't like it the dog owner fails to control the dog and instead says, "Oh, it's OK, he's friendly." It is most certainly NOT OK.

Well, you must have done something to upset him! He just likes to play! He's a little territorial, that's all (territory => anything the dog can see, hear, or smell, wherever it happens to be) /s

[JKRhodes]

My cats are relatively low maintenance, and can be very sweet when they want to be. At this point in my life I'm spread thin enough between work, my kid, and my wife. There's no way I could give a dog the constant attention it needs. So cats it is!

[hbelkins]

My cats are relatively low maintenance, and can be very sweet when they want to be. At this point in my life I'm spread thin enough between work, my kid, and my wife. There's no way I could give a dog the constant attention it needs. So cats it is!

If by attention you mean "Here I am! Notice me! Pet me! Love me!" then I've found cats to be more needy than dogs. My wife and I can hardly sit down without one of the felines wanting to jump up in our laps and demand affection. Our dogs didn't need that level of attention, they seemed perfectly well-adjusted without too much human interaction, until it came time to pee or poop, then we had to go outside. In that regard (maintenance) I will agree that dogs need a lot more attention than cats. Kitties are pretty much self-sufficient.

[JKRhodes]

My cats are relatively low maintenance, and can be very sweet when they want to be. At this point in my life I'm spread thin enough between work, my kid, and my wife. There's no way I could give a dog the constant attention it needs. So cats it is!

If by attention you mean "Here I am! Notice me! Pet me! Love me!" then I've found cats to be more needy than dogs. My wife and I can hardly sit down without one of the felines wanting to jump up in our laps and demand affection. Our dogs didn't need that level of attention, they seemed perfectly well-adjusted without too much human interaction, until it came time to pee or poop, then we had to go outside. In that regard (maintenance) I will agree that dogs need a lot more attention than cats. Kitties are pretty much self-sufficient.

Both of our cats are pretty self sufficient on the attention front. My queen was born to a feral mom in my friend's yard and as far as I know was the only survivor from her family. I took her in at around five weeks and nursed her back to health with kitten formula and wet food. She spends most of her days hiding, though my wife has bonded with her some. She'll seek attention from me when she goes into heat and at seemingly random times.

Our Tom  (orange tabby) was born under similar circumstances, although the home we got him from took his family in, fed them and interacted with them until each kitten could be re-homed.  We were able to vet him as the only kitten of the litter who didn't try to hiss or show aggression towards us. He's significantly less afraid of us, and more than happy to get his skritches and belly rubs... but at the same time he's not overly needy either.

Took several months but they both took quite well to the litter box and haven't pooped in the house for over a year.

[InterstateFan621]

I am a cat person.  I have two cats. One is a very fluffy Norwegian Forest Cat and another is a mix of different breeds. I always loved cats!