Ultimate Domestic Pet Showdown

[Devonai]

Inspired by Fistful and Tallpine's back-and-forth in another thread.

[Thor]

I think I trust the poor dumb animals better than I do humans.

[Bogie]

Needs another choice:
 
Farmhouse with a 300 yard free-fire zone surrounding.

[BrokenPaw]

Cats.  Nothing teaches humility like a cat in the house.

-BP

[Manedwolf]

Cats.  Nothing teaches humility like a cat in the house.

-BP

They're also less work, if they're good cats. I can come home really late, and they'll have gotten their food from the automatic feeder and drunk from the water fountain thing, and the worst "mess" will be that they've taken their toys out of the basket and scattered them...but they still run to the door happily to greet me. They'll have neatly used their litter box, played, and napped, without needing to be walked. Can't do that with a dog!

[BrokenPaw]

They're also less work, if they're good cats. I can come home really late, and they'll have gotten their food from the automatic feeder and drunk from the water fountain thing, and the worst "mess" will be that they've taken their toys out of the basket and scattered them...but they still run to the door happily to greet me. They'll have neatly used their litter box, played, and napped, without needing to be walked. Can't do that with a dog!

True.  The most atavistically-horrifying "mess" that one of my cats, Kyree, leaves around the house is a bit of purple squishy silicone rubber.  He's claimed it as his own and carries it around with him for hours at a time (we call it his "booger", and if you say, "Kyree!  Where's your booger?" he'll go and find it and bring it to you).

But he leaves it beside the bed at night.  And there's nothing quite like getting up half-awake in the middle of the night and stepping into it and feeling the rubber squish up between one's toes.  It feels like stepping in something...untoward.

-BP

[Tallpine]

Not enough choices.

Cats, dogs, and horses, though some days I could take a pass on the dogs.  I love the dogs and keep them for security alarms, but they can be danged infuriating - chasing deer and barking at the deer, turkeys, and even our horses in the pasture. 

Rodents and rabbits are okay, I guess.  The wife has some.  But I never could get into fish, snakes, and reptiles.

We just adopted another cat.  The fellow next door died this spring, and we finally brought home one of his cats that had been running wild all summer.  Still trying to get her to get along with our other two.

[Gewehr98]

I like hermit crabs.

I hold their shells so they can't get any traction on the floor.

My nephew and niece come over for hermit crab races on weekends.   

[BobCat]

There are 12 cats at our house, and two dogs.  All are walk-ins - both dogs were pretty torn up to start with, but they are ok now (One-Eyed-Jack is as good as he'll ever be, lost an eye but his broken leg is healing, just removed the pin Monday).

I voted cats.  The dogs are there because they needed, to be and had nowhere else to go.  The cats are a joy.  Their interactions with each other, and with me and my wife, are educational and fun.  My two "lap cats" - RedFang O'Feral and Captain Midnight - died in 2005 (Feb and April) but one (Fuzz-Xena) is finding her way into my lap more and more often.  No one can break me out of a bad mood faster than a cat rubbing on my leg and saying, "Pick me up and hold me, uncle Andrew!"  So - I voted cats - but can abide almost any critter that is not rabid, or can't get along with the other critters.

[K Frame]

I grew up with both dogs and cats, and love them both to this day.

Both of my dogs died earlier this year. I'm still not ready to even consider getting another companion right now.

[Manedwolf]

A cat doing an affectionate forehead-to-forehead bump with a purr is a cure for any bad mood, I've found.

[Brad Johnson]

I have two cats.  As long as I keep the litter box clean and fresh food & water out, they are good to go.  They don't ask questions and greet me at the door when I get home.  All they ask in return is a warm bed, snuggle time, and a tummy rub every now and then.  And come to think of it, that's really all I ask... 

I'd love to have dogs but am gone too much to properly care for them.

Humans I can do without on occasion.

Brad

[wooderson]

Too close to call.

Grew up with more cats, and dogs are more work... but it's awfully hard to beat a Labrador for companionship.

[Devonai]

BrokenPaw, did you name your cat after kyrie, greek for "O Lord?"  I ask because my fictional namesake's first name is Kyrie.

If so, it would be a great name for a rambunctious cat.

[wooderson]

Despite my fondness for dogs, I wouldn't trade these two for anything:

Buffy


Spike

[wooderson]

and I'm unconvinced that my parents' beagle (Darwin) knows his own name

[Jamisjockey]

There are 12 cats at our house, and two dogs.  All are walk-ins - both dogs were pretty torn up to start with, but they are ok now (One-Eyed-Jack is as good as he'll ever be, lost an eye but his broken leg is healing, just removed the pin Monday).

I voted cats.  The dogs are there because they needed, to be and had nowhere else to go.  The cats are a joy.  Their interactions with each other, and with me and my wife, are educational and fun.  My two "lap cats" - RedFang O'Feral and Captain Midnight - died in 2005 (Feb and April) but one (Fuzz-Xena) is finding her way into my lap more and more often.  No one can break me out of a bad mood faster than a cat rubbing on my leg and saying, "Pick me up and hold me, uncle Andrew!"  So - I voted cats - but can abide almost any critter that is not rabid, or can't get along with the other critters.

I think that many cats qualifies as hoarding....

[charby]

There are 12 cats at our house, and two dogs.  All are walk-ins - both dogs were pretty torn up to start with, but they are ok now (One-Eyed-Jack is as good as he'll ever be, lost an eye but his broken leg is healing, just removed the pin Monday).

I voted cats.  The dogs are there because they needed, to be and had nowhere else to go.  The cats are a joy.  Their interactions with each other, and with me and my wife, are educational and fun.  My two "lap cats" - RedFang O'Feral and Captain Midnight - died in 2005 (Feb and April) but one (Fuzz-Xena) is finding her way into my lap more and more often.  No one can break me out of a bad mood faster than a cat rubbing on my leg and saying, "Pick me up and hold me, uncle Andrew!"  So - I voted cats - but can abide almost any critter that is not rabid, or can't get along with the other critters.

I think that many cats qualifies as hoarding....

I was wondering if I was going to read about it on the Drudge Report

[Jamisjockey]

<snip>There are 12 cats at our house, and two dogs.  .<snip>

I think that many cats qualifies as hoarding....

I was wondering if I was going to read about it on the Drudge Report

[Tallpine]

it's awfully hard to beat a Labrador

Why do you beat your dog

 

[BrokenPaw]

BrokenPaw, did you name your cat after kyrie, greek for "O Lord?"  I ask because my fictional namesake's first name is Kyrie.
If so, it would be a great name for a rambunctious cat.

Actually, no.

Since he was a kitten, we always sort of thought that he looked quite a lot like a black wolf.  There's a race of creatures called "Kyree" in Mercedes Lackey's Velgarth books, that are feline in basic body shape but with wolf-like faces. 

His sister's name is "Mrs. Brisbee", because she has a mouselike face, and their brother's name is "Nicodemus", because, well, he looks like a Nicodemus.  And interestingly enough, Nico's name is of no relation to Mrs. Brisbee's.

That covers 3 of the 9.  Griffon, Pyewacket, Baby, Fizzgig, Fidget, and Steve are the other 6.  We had no real naming convention.

-BP

[never_retreat]

I voted cats
I have 3 cats and a dog. The only problem with the dam dog is that you have to do something with it when you want to go away. Sometimes I just like to go away for a few days, the cats all I have to do is leave out food and watter, the dog has to get dumped on a friend. I think I need to teach the dog how to use the litter box. I mean after all it loves spending time in it, except he cleans it out not adding to it. Eewwww

[BobCat]

<snip>There are 12 cats at our house, and two dogs.  .<snip>

I think that many cats qualifies as hoarding....

I was wondering if I was going to read about it on the Drudge Report

Gentlemen!  If you knew how many we place, you would not be so quick to criticize.

We place the adoptable ones, the "cute" ones, the civilizable ones (once civilized).  The others stay.  They have a 100' x 150' fenced yard for the day (keeps coyotes etc. out) and are in the house at night, partying.  And playing with us.  And playing with the bed mice (anything that moves, under the covers).

If city people would quit dumping their unwanted pets in the country, there would be less.  If country people would spay and neuter their barn cats cats, there would be less.  If people in general would fix their cats and dogs, less would get dumped and less would be "humanely euthanized" (killed) in shelters.

In the meantime I have a yellow lab with a broken leg and one eye that had to be removed, probably hit by car, if anyone wants a real nice doggie.

I have a friend who has 50+ cats, 5 horses, and +/- 3 dogs - and is a "registered" 501C-something rescue orgainzation.  Her animals get good Vet care etc. and she is not about to wind up on Drudge any more than my wife and I are.

Sorry to "go off" so easily, but it is just like people who ask why I "need" "all those" guns - I may not need them but I like them, and if I didn't take them to the range they would languish in a safe somewhere - I get a little defensive about "so many" but as long as I can feed them, keep them clean and well cared for, there are not too many.

Purrrs to you and yours,
Andrew
of Andrew & Lizzie
Texas Highway 36, Purrkins Diesel Cat, Hopper, Fuzz-Xena, Zoro, Zippy, Wellington, - and PC! - and Alpha, Beta, Tactical (aka Ruffian), and Suzi-Q in East Bernard, Texas USA
and d*gs Sadie and One-Eyed-Jack

[Jamisjockey]

Gentlemen!  If you knew how many we place, you would not be so quick to criticize.

Its more fun at your expense than criticisim.  If you like living in animal filth, thats your choice.
 

[Tallpine]

For a while (long before the movies came out), we had a tradition of naming our cats after Tolkein characters.

Let's see, we have had: Elanor, Goldberry, and Arwen.  Arwen just died this spring

We had six adult cats at one time, and then got down to two from disappearance and/or losses to wildlife.  We just adopted another adult cat, so we are up to three again.  The cats all stay in at night now.

Not counting the big kitty that comes around and marks territory outside our front door about once a week ...