Comments on: Cats and dogs

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:27:03 +0000

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm

By: Gun Blobber

Gun Blobber — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:34:08 +0000

Another owner of a loves-to-burrow-under-the-covers dachshund here….

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:05:22 +0000

I have two boxers, and both insist on being allowed to get under the covers in the wintertime. They go as far under as they can, and keep nudging me until I lift the covers to let them in.

By: bwm

bwm — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:46:17 +0000

As the owner (gasp @ slavery reference) of two cats…

“Like boxes of shit in your house? Get a cat!”

By: Ian Argent

Ian Argent — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:43:07 +0000

One of our cats drools at the drop of a hat – the other one never did.

Cats seem (to me, as someone who’s never lived with a dog) to be much more variable in socialization than dogs. Dogs have a smaller range of “standoffishness” to “up your butt” than cats. If you want a social feline, start early. They can be trained, but it’s a little harder than with a dog. And the legendary dislike of water is just that – a legend. Cats can be conditioned to put up with or even like water.

By: John Hardin

John Hardin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:03:16 +0000

Tom1: I’ve known cats that drool rather a lot when they’re happy and purring up a storm.

By: Tom1

Tom1 — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:11:25 +0000

“Both will drool on you though.”

I’ve had plenty of cats (and dogs) in my life, and I can’t say I’ve ever seen a drooling cat. Except maybe a very sick one.

Cats are just too fastidious and tidy to sit around with slobber spilling out of their mouths.

Nevertheless, nice to see a thread that’s relatively receptive to both animals. I’ve never understood the ongoing cats-vs-dogs debate. They’re both awesome (to use the word I’d have deployed when I was 10 and already very much attached to both).

By: I.B. blackman

I.B. blackman — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:33:26 +0000

there are dog people and there are cat people just like there are elvis fans and there are beatles fans you can like both but you always lean towards one or the other

By: ExUrbanKevin

ExUrbanKevin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:11:16 +0000

Dogs act the way we want people to act.

Cats act the way they really are.

By: Doctor Weasel

Doctor Weasel — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:39:03 +0000

With cats, you have to worry about diseases (and I don’t mean Nugent’s Cat Scratch Fever)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii

Your cat can make you crazy.
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/060803_tgondii_culture.html

Cat feces should be flushed down the toilet or burned.
http://gsbs.utmb.edu/microbook/ch084.htm

Maybe just stick with the dog.

By: ravenshrike

ravenshrike — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:08:15 +0000

It’s not that cat’s don’t understand what we want when we point at things, it’s that they don’t care. They don’t sense a threat, and they don’t follow commands, so what possible reason would they have for looking over there.

By: John Hardin

John Hardin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:30:51 +0000

When a dog greets another dog, he says “Ooo! Can I sniff your butt?” and sticks his nose in the other dog’s butt. When a cat greets another cat, he sticks his butt in the other cat’s face and says “Sniff my butt.”

By: B Woodman

B Woodman — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:11:06 +0000

Have never had (I hesitate to say “owned”, sounds like slavery) a dog. But I have had lots of cats, along with my wife, four children and growing brood of g’children.

One thing I have definitely learned, is that cats are as individual as people. And as odd.

‘Nuff said.

By: Dan A.

Dan A. — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:59:39 +0000

That’s one point to Nomen Nescio, for the Heinleinian reference. Never thirst!

By: workinwifdakids

workinwifdakids — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:48:28 +0000

Cats also taste good with barbecue sauce and a side of potato salad.

By: Nomen Nescio

Nomen Nescio — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:36:52 +0000

most dogs understand mirrors, and will use them to look at you if they don’t feel like turning around to keep track of what you’re doing. most cats don’t grok mirrors, and some will flatly refuse to look at their own reflections.

By: breda

breda — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:30:54 +0000

You give a dog food and the dog will think, “They are giving me food! They must be gods!”

Give a cat food and the cat will think, “They are giving me food! I must be a god.”

By: Laughingdog

Laughingdog — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:16:37 +0000

All I know is that my cats sound a lot like his dog when it comes to blankets. My cats very clearly see blankets as something to lay on, not under.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:07:01 +0000

One difference I have found is that cats have truckloads of the spite that dogs appear to lack. Be wary of their wrath. Cats do not have a problem with guns, but if you should happen to have a door closed that the cat feels should not be closed, they will see to it that a new anti-gun bill gets passed for every 30 seconds that door remains closed. Or if their food bowl should get lower than 2/3 full. Or if their water is either low or has something floating in it.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:56:23 +0000

I read that dogs pick up visual cues from humans better than any other animal.
From my experience with my own dogs, I have no trouble believing it.

By: _Jon

_Jon — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:26:12 +0000

@Dave thA: +1

By: Drake

Drake — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:22:31 +0000

So Uncle, get thee to the lolcat people!

By: Dad

Dad — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:07:38 +0000

‘That�s why you hear cases of families moving miles away, and the cats returning to their old homes’.

I found that to be true with kids also.:)

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:48:20 +0000

Cat brains are pretty different than dog brains. Saying one is smarter than the other is kind of nebulous. Both are evolved to be good at certain tasks. Cats aren’t typically pack animals, so you can’t do the same kind of social conditioning you do with dogs.

But cats are excellent navigators, and have a very sophisticated memory for landmarks, and will roam over large areas if inclined. That’s why you hear cases of families moving miles away, and the cats returning to their old homes.

By: Rev. Paul

Rev. Paul — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:44:18 +0000

It has been truly stated that dogs have masters; cats have staff.

By: Dave thA

Dave thA — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:40:17 +0000

I think you have Stockholm Syndrome…

By: Phelps

Phelps — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:32:24 +0000

Dogs are pretty clever spatially. You can put something a dog wants on the other side of a fence, and he will look up and down, see the open gate and run down the fence to get to it.

A cat will try to climb over the fence, and if that doesn’t work, give up.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:32:15 +0000

We have a cat that has been dressed in more outfits than Barbie. Some cats will take it, some won’t. My daughter has a tiger that won’t even stand for being petted, much less held.

Dogs do pay more attention to you, but they are more like children. Good ones need good discipline. Cat’s not so much.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:23:13 +0000

The basset hound I had as a kid was pretty laid-back about the whole blanket thing. I’d read something about where a bunch of guys with smocks and fancy beakers had thrown blankets over dogs and tested how long it took the various breeds to get clear again; naturally I HAD to try it for myself.

Little guy sat under the blanket for a while, then like something out of a Garfield strip, sauntered over to his pet bed and fell into a peaceful little lump.

By: Dan A.

Dan A. — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:46:08 +0000

Cover my parrot with a blanket and he’ll work his way out, spend the next hour picking lint off it, then the rest of the day dry-humping it. He’ll occasionally laugh about it, but he may be imitating me.

Isn’t there some biblical admonishment, “Neither a burrower, nor a lint here be”?

By: Guav

Guav — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:45:39 +0000

Dogs love water, cats hate it. Dogs will let you dress them up, cats won’t. Dogs don’t mind leashes, cats are not a fan. Dogs will defend you, cats don’t care. Both will drool on you though.

By: Regolith

Regolith — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:38:30 +0000

Dogs are one of the few animals that can understand what a human means when he points at something and can follow our gaze. While cats and dogs have spent a comparable amount of time being domesticated, dogs were always utilized for hunting and work and hence needed to understand what we wanted of them, where as cats were used mostly for pest control, and thus were left to their own devices.

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:27:03 +0000

Well, dachshunds are burrowers.

By: J Richardson

J Richardson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:20:58 +0000

One exception to the rule about covering a dog with a blanket would be a dachshund. Our’s sleeps under the covers and, when in his crate, will cover himself up with his blanket.