Dogs vs Cats.

Think you have totally missed out on the absolute unconditional love and total devotion of a dog left-handed, feel sorry for you!!!!

Blimey Carolpaint, no need for such vitriol!

I wasn't going to mention it, but dogs sometimes kill human beings, usually small children. Let's not be so judgemental about others' choice of pet.

My DH and I have had two cats, one for 15 years and the second one for 13 years, both rescue cats. They were both very adorable and affectionate and we loved them very much. However our second cat was a rampant killer, birds, mice, rats. He liked to bring them into the house alive, let them go and chase them around, finally biting off their heads and leaving the remains for us to clear up. I absolutely love cats but would not have another because I just can't cope with headless corpses greeting me in the kitchen in the mornings!

No such thing as a bad dog, just bad owners.

Love our two terriers and our cat, who has such a noisy purr she sounds like a slipping fan belt. When they go I don't know if we'll be fit enough for any more dogs but I think we'll always have a cat around the place.

Ana none of it was vitriol, but observation of behaviour and years of specialist training, commenting on what had been written before in earlier posts. Denial is a mental defence mechanism. Australia I understand regulates cats because of their predation, they have to be in and possibly declawed?
Yes dogs have killed, no such thing as a bad dog but bad owners. Logically if cats are larger they do kill as many zoo keepers and John Aspinall will know.

There may be no such thing as a bad dog, but there again there is no such thing as a bad cat.

Neither were originally 'owned' by humans.

I don't consider the cats who constantly foul my garden as nice.

I found it interesting that no-one mentioned my main problem with owning cats - having to give them pills, much more difficult than giving them to dogs. I also hate litter trays, furniture-shredding habits, willingness to kill, and that you have to (IMNSHO) let them out to roam unsupervised. Several cat owners here have mentioned their pets being run over and killed. My cat-owning friend has lost them that way, and has also had them disappear and never found out how/why.
I'm a dog person. You don't have to walk them in the rain (if you're a wimp ) (especially if they're basenjis - just try getting one of those out of the door in the rain!). But they are a tie, although a joyous one. And if you feed them right, it's not hard to scoop the poop - my dog, my shit.

I love both dogs and cats. Indeed, I love quite a lot of animals but definitely draw the line at crocodiles and alligators. When a rescue dog first came to live with me (as an adult rather than the rescue dog my family adopted when I was a teenager) he terrified the life out of my cat but she soon realised that a) she had needles in her paws and b) she could "fly". They became terrific friends and used to play gladiators in my office – the largest room in the house – with Maximum Dog racing up and down the room with Mozzarella clinging to his neck. Maxie and Mozzie were a perfect pair – she kept him in order and always came on the dog's lamppost inspection at bedtime.

Max outlived Mozzarella but we had more cats, one of whom had kittens so there were eventually six of them. When Max was dying with a series of mini strokes one Christmas, they took turns to snuggle in his basket with him and to lick his eyes and face clean. They were all clearly bereft when he left us.

I should love to have another dog but am concerned that as I grow older I may not be able to look after one properly. I had the same sort of thought about cats and reckoned that when my old cats, who had travelled in 2013 to live in New Zealand with me, died I would have no more. The last one died earlier this year at the age of 19, but meanwhile I had started feeding some feral cats who all had kittens. (I still feed the ones I haven't been able to rehome but they don't live in the house, just make guest appearances.) However, one of them brought me a hamster-sized scruff that could not have been more than 8 weeks old – quite a bit younger than her own kittens. Mr absent and I fed him 3-hourly feeds with a syringe, day and night, and then 4-hourly. He is now a great big fluffy ball of yarn who has wormed his way into our home and hearts.

Children and pets are essential parts of my life and my home.

Btw I have had both the feral cats and the ball of yarn neutered – I am a responsible pet owner.

When the children were growing up we had a lot of pets. I prefer dogs but the cats and dog lived very happily together.

It was funny to see the cats and the dog interacting together. The cats mostly held the dog in distain but one of them liked to lick the dog as if it were a kitten.

The look on the dog's face was hard to explain , but it didn't object. One of the cats used to sit on the arm of a chair waiting for the dog to come past, when it would swipe it with one paw.

I remember all these pets with great affection but now I'm a widow I don't have pets and my grandchildren aren't keen on animals unlike their dads.

I like both. But prefer dogs. Most breeds. Probably not all breeds.

I never had a pet as a child as my mother considered 4 kids hard enough work ! So I have had dogs all my life. Various breeds but mostly Bernese Mountain dogs and Cavalier King Charles.

Both excellent breeds despite one being a giant breed and one almost miniature by comparison. Each dog had a character of its own but the overlying desire to please was the same for all.

Our current Cavalier, Sam adores my husband and certainly sees him as the boss. He treats my grandchildren like pack mates and they treat him like a toddler and its a delight to see.

I've never been much of a cat person with one exception. We inherited a Ragdoll cat from our daughter when she left home. Evil Noodle he was not only beautiful but the most gentle, loving creature. More dog than cat in his behaviours ( maybe that's why we loved him so much).

He was a house cat for a good part of his life , never going out, but in his later years he enjoyed going out in our garden. He never strayed( so only pooed in our garden) and we cleared it up the same as we did for the dogs.

He left a big hole in our lives when he died and I can see another ragdoll in our future...look out Sam

I am sick and tired of cats CONSTANTLY fouling in my garden, I have literally spent hundreds of pounds trying to stop them. I had a lovely section full of beautiful flowers, but the cats totally ruined it by leaving their mess everywhere, had to give up with that as every day I was clearing up about 6 or 7 piles of it, so I bought wood shavings in the hope that would stop it, NO they seemed to like that as well, had to get rid of that and have just spent more money putting down gravel, believe it or not they are using that now as well!!!! Am absolutely sick of cats, I have to clear up after my dog (obviously) and do not like having to constantly clear up cats mess. My lovely garden is now ruined.

Dogs all the way! Cats should all be kept in at night as I heard in the news today, if this were to happen 50% of our wildlife would be saved from being tortured and killed by these creatures AND it would save my garden from the nightly toilet 'dump' - they even climb onto my patio containers and do their business in there - disgusting !

I was just going to say the same thing, cats get run over, get lost at night time and do most hunting at night too, so keeping them in is a good idea.We started to do this after losing a cat, a few years ago.
I like dogs as well, also hamsters.No pets at the moment, but I think we may get one at some point.If I had a dog it would be a small -ish one.

I agree about keeping cats in at night. Our last one used to come in of his own accord around teatime and spent the night on the end of DH's bed.

Dogs - I like cats but I love Dogs

I'm personally a cat person, always have been, but my husband is a dog person so we have this debate quite often. Cats can be grumpy, and selfish, but then they show a soft, affectionate side which steals your heart. Dogs are loving, pure and simple, and actually seem to care about you. But they are hard work sometimes, and attention seeking in a way that a cat isn't. My solution is to just have both!

I love cats and have always had cats, but I love all animals, it's never been practical for us to have a dog, we travelled to much

Cats for me , I have 4 all completely different personalities but all very loving towards us . I love their independence and ability to take themselves out through the cat flap and in again when they want to come home ! I love dogs too , they are so loyal and seem to want to please . It is just the walking of dogs which I dislike , the poster who said that dog walkers often look miserable is right , I live next to the park and see them trudging past often in the rain while I am cosy with a cat or two on my knee .

The dog is the oldest species ever to have lived with man. It has lived with us throughout our entire history. It has remained with us through thick and thin. Just think what it has witnessed. It's loyalty is wonderful.