Dogs
By Kathryn Looney
Dogs: they aren’t called “man’s best friend” for nothing. And after spending most of my life growing up around dogs, I can guarantee that the saying is true.
Ever since I was little, there has been a dog in my house. When I was young, I would take a picture book we had about dogs, lie down on the dog bed with my head on my dog’s stomach or curled up next to him, and read to him. Sweet, right? Right!
Now, let’s imagine I tried to share that same moment with a cat. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great loungers, but they just don’t have that same interest in you. They’re pretty stubborn, and if they don’t want to, say, listen to a five-year-old haltingly read about their species, they’ll get up and leave. They simply don’t care.
Dogs, on the other hand, have that patience. They do care. They love to be with you, no matter if you’re five or 95. They love to do activities with you, like eating food, playing ball, eating food, going on a walk, or eating food. The love here is mutual, and there’s no better way to spend a summer evening than walking by a lake with your dog by your side. With a cat, you don’t have that same opportunity for interaction and companionship. They’re content doing their own thing — all the time.
I will admit, some cats do seem to find joy in bringing you small gifts; however, most of the time those gifts are dead rodents. Yuck! I once knew a cat who loved to drop mice, baby rabbits, squirrels, and more into the house for their owners. Now you might argue that at least the cats are killing the rodents, which means you don’t have to worry about living ones in your house. True, but they’re still in the house or littered around the yard, just dead.
Someone might argue that dogs can also hunt down and bring in unwanted guests; that may be true, but from my experience, my labrador retriever enjoys barking at fellow animals much more. And before someone mentions how loud and obnoxious dogs’ barking can be — well, I’ll give you that.
Cats
By Juliet Stouffer
I have had the pleasure of owning cats for seven years now. I have a tabby cat named Minnow and a black tuxedo cat named Poirot — named after the famous detective novels written by Agatha Christie. Before having both of them, I only had dogs as pets — Jack Russells, to be precise — and as much as I love my dog Mr. David Byrne — named after the Talking Heads singer of course — I have to say that I have never known such love from a pet as I have from my cats.
When I come home for break, my cat Poirot will run to me, meow, circle my legs, and when I pick him up, he’ll give me a big hug. Minnow will play fetch with a hair tie and purr as I sit and draw at the table. Now, from that description, many would say “dogs do that too!” Well yes, but dogs also leap up to the counter and steal my sandwich after a very hard day — true story.
Dogs need to be trained well in order to be civilized citizens of a home, but cats just need some time to adjust before coming to understand the house rules. As long as you feed them, clean their litter box, and love them, they will love you back. I think that’s where people get things wrong about cats; they look at them and think they are just some stoic force that hates everyone, but in reality, they just need trust. If a cat doesn’t trust you, then they won’t like you, but that’s your fault! What did you do to make the cat feel afraid of you?
If a cat feels safe in an environment, they will flip their belly up to you and roll around, happy and content, but if you mistreat a cat, then the cat will not want to be by you. It’s the simple notion that we learn in kindergarten of knowing when to give people space.
And because cats are independent, cats also allow you to be independent. You can leave for a few days on a vacation and a cat will be fine; a dog on the other hand will not survive a day alone. Also, I know from a terrible experience that a cat can fall out of a second story window and survive; can a dog do that? And I’m not talking about Underdog; I’m talking about your regular old goldendoodle. I think not.
At the end of the day, nothing’s better at the end of the day than a cat sitting by you and purring contently as you watch a movie.
