I find dogs superficial and too simple-minded. If you feed them often enough, they will like you (guaranteed) - I find this kind of relationship unsatisfying - You are the master and so the dog has no choice but to like you. Kind of like how people are inclined to laugh when their boss makes a not-so-funny joke - That's the kind of dynamic you get.
Cats are more mysterious and complex. Most of the time, when a cat shows affection, their real motives are usually pretty straight forward; like how they start rubbing themselves against you only when you're physically holding their food (they don't try to hide anything). Often you get the feeling that cats don't care about you at all. In fact, they probably don't really need you (they can usually fend for themselves catching mice, lizards, birds, get food from neighbours, etc...)
But sometimes, there are rare moments when a cat will show you affection without any obvious reason; and when they do, it feels a lot more genuine than the kind of affection you would get from a dog.
I like cats because I like to foster relationships between equals. My cat is my friend, not my subordinate - I don't really NEED the cat and the cat doesn't really NEED me - There are no ulterior evolutionary/survival motives between us.
I just don't like relationships where there is a power imbalance (even when I get to be the master). Though I suppose some could argue that it's not so different from a parent-child relationship - But then again, some parents are more strict than others...
Plus there are smart breeds of dogs if you're into that sort of thing.
I could watch those forever.
What's amazing is it's almost like that, maybe on a slightly smaller scale, when you arrive home from work every single day!
It makes you feel like a celebrity. Hard to be sad when someone is so happy just to see you.
That is no different to a dog.
If we left the doors open a dog could easily kill and eat something as well. A dog isn't totally dependent on humans. We just don't allow that because it would be dangerous for children or other dogs who might be killed by a feral dog.
If a stray cat was large enough and capable of killing a child, then I bet our society would be much more serious about keeping cats locked up like we do dogs.
Disclaimer: I'm a 100% dog person. I hate cats. I had a beautiful dog during my childhood. Due to work arrangements, I ended up feeding a cat every day at one stage of my life. The little bastard would be friendly to me most of the time, he sat on my lap every day for a year, but for no reason some days would scratch me. Eventually I got sick of it and never let him on my lap anymore, fed him still because I had to but didn't pat him. He didn't care how I was feeling on a particular day, it was all about him and his feelings. I don't need that in my life.
>Cats are more mysterious and complex.
I don't find this, I just find them to be moody selfish assholes. Being a moody selfish asshole is not mysterious or complex to me.
This is what I love about dogs, they are so transparent that you know exactly where you stand. If they are growling, they don't like you. But if they like you, you are the most important person in the world! There's no mind games, no deception or moodiness.
If you're in a sad mood, they notice and understand that you're down (or at least acting different to usual) and give you special attention. They might not understand why you are sad, but they don't ignore it. They want you to be happy because then they are happy, and everyone is happy. It's a great feeling when everyone is happy!
If you're in a happy mood, they will feel that and be ecstatic to revel along with you in the joy of being alive and together at that moment.
Why shouldn't a pet like being around you and treat you well when you feed them and treat them well? I don't need an ungrateful dependent.
Remember, the only reason dogs are dependent on people is because of people. Without people, dogs would hunt in a pack like wolves anyway, they wouldn't need people. It is us that domesticated them, which was, and is, a mutually helpful arrangement.
A dog is a pack animal, they need other dogs or people to work together to hunt. This is not a one-way thing, a dog who is part of your pack will do anything to help you if they can. They trust in your judgement and will go with you to the ends of the earth, trusting that you feel that going to the ends of the earth is important for some reason, and being happy just that you are together... That's the kind of companion that I would do anything for as well.
I think that people who aren't dog owners might not understand also that a dog's love isn't completely unconditional either. If you treat a dog badly, they won't care for you in the amazing way that they care for a person who takes good care of them. Of course a dog is still dependent on a bad owner, just like a child may be dependent on a bad parent, but they won't bond with the owner in the same way, just like a child with a bad parent.
I don't understand the attraction with those little dogs that seem so stupid however. They seem like dogs with all the best parts removed, the loyalty and intelligence. They will be friendly to anyone, or scared of anyone. They will get distracted by something and run away if they're not kept leashed or locked up. They don't notice if you're sad, they're just ridiculously happy all the time. I guess for some people having a ridiculously happy all the time pet raises their mood, but for me that would feel a bit empty.
Isn't it mysterious why exactly a cat is in the particular mood it's in? It's a puzzle. Like dating a person with Borderline Personality Disorder is a puzzle. Some people love puzzles.
Until you stop feeding your cat. Then it will eventually die of starvation.
Unless it's an outdoor cat (or has access to the outdoors), then it can catch it's own food, but will most likely be killed (outdoor cats generally don't live as long as indoor cats).
Well, yes, if you contain any living thing and then don't provide a food source, it will die of starvation.
Also, "cathouse" is another name for whorehouse.
I feel like it's a wash. Dogs have more favorable sentiments expressed about them, and more negative ones, because they have SUCH personalities that it's polarizing.
A cat that has an outgoing personality will often be compared to a dog, conversely, only a meek, quiet dog would be referred to as a cat.
I suppose there could have been cultures where a cat occupied a place in the day-to-day social hierarchy (and not just in a religious sense). But if so that sense has been lost to us. For obvious reasons I wouldn't expect such a relationship to have been anywhere near as pervasive as with dogs.
"You're a dog", is generally a comment about someone doing anything to get what they want, for entrepreneurs this is probably a good thing. I've often heard this used in a respectful way in meaning that even though you bent the rules, you came out on the winning end.
Facebook must be absolutely fascinating for researchers, I wonder if they make anonymized datasets available for universities? - Edit: they do
https://snap.stanford.edu/data/egonets-Facebook.html
http://www.michaelzimmer.org/2011/02/15/facebook-data-of-1-2...
In my circle of friends in SF/Oakland cats are definitely more prevalent but I think a lot of that has to do with how expensive owning a dog here is. My roommate has two cats but I'd probably get a dog if it wouldn't cost me so much. You need:
1) An apartment/house that allows dogs. This means you either own your own property, pay out the nose for a newer development that allows pets, or if you're in the lucky few you may have a rent controlled place lets you have them
2) Something for them to do during the day. This means you either work at a place that lets you have pets, have enough money to pay a dogwalker, or have enough private indoor/outdoor space where you can leave them dog during the day (see #1)
3) Places to put them while you travel, but most of your friends can't have dogs at their places so this usually means paying a dogsitter
I imagine it's similar in places like NYC but it's weird for me to think of owning a dog as a status symbol
Also, note that the comparison is about people who share cat or dog photos and their Facebook friends -- not about cat or dog people and their actual friends. I'm a dog person and many of my friends are cat people, but I wouldn't be interested in seeing their cat photos on Facebook. Nor would I be posting dog photos anywhere...
Cats don't particularly need exercise, are small, tend to be able to entertain themselves, and for whatever reason, are easier to get permission to have in apartments[1]. So if you're a city person, it's magnitudes easier to be a cat person, if you're going to have pets at all. City people are more liberal than country people, on average.
[1] I cannot stand litterboxes, hairballs, or cat urine, so this baffles me...
Regardless, I can't really give anything but my counter intuition; I wish I had the data Facebook has.
Despite the 'crazy cat lady' stereotype. Cats are preferred pet for men in the past couple of years.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/republicans-dog-people-dem...
Where I live, it's definitely not true... or men at least don't admit to preferring cats.
If you did an a survey of men in Dearborn, Michigan you would probably find the opposite, with significantly more men preferring cats (due to religious or cultural reasons)
How is looking at aggregate, de-identified data an intrusion into people's private data? ?? ?
Anyway, maybe this whole analysis was based on public profile data.
(Would be interesting to hear about their sampling methodology)
I have also seen what cats can do after travelling to some Greek islands. Almost zero wildlife on lands. No prevelance of birds. You wake up to silence.
For this reason, I'll always be a dog person.
Dog owners are required to tag and register their animals and face fines if their animals roam which is reasonable for the protection of stock or people from wild dogs. My takeaway is that dog owners are more reasonable and less selfish. I blame it on toxoplasmosis.
I wasn't aware of any proposed regulation though.
Unfortunately, feral dogs are a thing in my country, and in Australia too - look up Dingoes "The dingo is suspected to have caused the extinction of the thylacine, the Tasmanian devil and the Tasmanian nativehen from mainland Australia".
So, irresponsible pet owners are a problem, both for dogs and cats. I do agree that cats are more problematic since they're more independant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo#Ecological_impact_of_the...
My cattle dog was moling yesterday - I looked up from my lawn chair to hear frantic chittering and see the poor varmint whipped high in the sky.
Also, the last house I lived in had a bloody wattlebird nearby. I'd much rather a cat eat it and wake up to silence than wake up to that thing at 4am every morning...
Dogs are even more destructive but they don't go feral, so you won't find them in remote places but always somewhere around their neglectful owners or feeders.
Cats are perfect for introverts; they look after themselves, don't tend to do much in the day, don't need walks and hence can be mostly left alone (or left to sit next to you) while you browse the internet or work at home.
Dogs require more excercise, commitment, etc. So if you gain energy from being around others, what better way than to go for two walks a day round the streets/local park?
So extraverts likely choose dogs, and introverts likely choose cats.
I feel like a battered spouse when I'm forced to take care of an ungrateful cat.
There really is only one thing that makes me cat person: Cats don't need someone to take them out to POOP.
Somehow, cats made the intellectual leap that dogs can't seem to grasp. That is, shitting in a box and covering it up. Brilliant.
If cats are so amazingly intelligent to always go in a box, why is there so much cat poop in the gardens of my apartment complex? The gardeners have actually threatened to leave, strata has notified the cat owners (not that they care because they don't take responsibility for their "pets", they just roam free).
I wonder why we haven't seen something similar from Google. Surely they have access to as much or more data? Perhaps Google does publish similar blog posts, and I'm just not aware of where to look for them?
In any case, the results presented definitely didn't match my expectations. Although upon giving it a bit of thought, I can see how introverted cat people are more likely to have classic "nerdy" interests like scifi, fantasy, anime, etc.
I like cats.
I'm just very allergic to cats. It has seriously been a barrier to whom I hang around with. The allergy is genetic. My father had a worse allergic reaction than myself.
My father found a person he liked enough to try to find a work around. This was quite a milestone for my dad. Growing up, my father was just a rigid guy. There were no "work arounds"
Well, when his girlfriend came over he had a separate set of clothes she would put on--free of cat allergens. Even with that preparation he ended up in the emergency room three times. I was there once when he had an Asthma attack. I used two epi pens, and he still couldn't breath.
A cat tried to be friends with me last summer. I was working on my transmission at 1 a.m.. This little cat started to meow behind my head. He actually startled me. Well I got up, and checked for a collar. No collar. He followed me around the house for the following week. What ever chore I did, he was there. For weeks he would show up at the door with a mouse in his mouth. "I brought dinner." The mice were usually alive, but in shock. I would let them loose on my Lawyers property. This cat wanted a new home so bad, he would climb up the side of the house and peer into Windows. I'm still not sure how he got so high.
Just when I decided he could live in the garage, he showed up one night with a collar, and a number. I called the number, and the owner said when they got a puppy a few years ago; he decided to look for a new home. The owner said he would be gone for a week at a time, but always came home.
This cat still visits a least once a month. He usually takes a nap, and leaves.
I think I know why. The majority of people I know who have cats don't post photos of their cats on social media, but it's pretty mainstream to post photos of a dog. This reflects social habits with pets in general: at work the dog people regularly talk about their dogs, e.g. how they took them to the park on Saturday. I rarely hear any discussion about cats at work even though I know more of my coworkers own them.
I think this leads to an "alternative", quirky, less social bias on the cat people. There's probably some bias on the dog people, but I imagine far less of one.
Gender is a binary social construct used for oppression and it is disgusting to project your closed minded, heteronormative, racist ideas of gender on innocent animals who have no way of consenting.
Using the word "pussy" to refer to vaginal sexual organs OR to a feline animal is a micro-aggression against all womyn AND all feline-identifying otherkin and is the type of privileged, sexist language that enables our oppression.
I have two adopted animals, a cat and a dog (and a 2nd beagle from a breeder).
If you can provide a forever home to an animal, you will be rewarded for it.
Based on that, I should be a cat person, but I enjoy dogs much more.
Or, perhaps, cat people just don't like adding friends on Facebook as much as dog people!
Which would imply part of these differences are causation.
