[MrPurryMotors]

Is it just me, or are Cats less beloved, and percieved as bad and/or stupid and/or high-strung and/or annoying on TV and by the majority of the US? I mean, I can't give many examples, but it seems like anytime a cat is on TV it's to portray them in a bad light.

Take a recent (I think) Pepsi commercial, where the guy makes a sandwich and gets a pepsi, doorbell rings, and the dog eats and drinks the meal, and then puts the cat on the counter next to the empty plate so it gets blamed! First off, it's just not nice, second, I doubt any cat would let itself be picked up by a cat's mouth, and third, no human would believe a cat ate a sandwich 1/3rd the size of it and drank a 12 oz pepsi in 25 seconds when there is a dog around. :roll:

Even my beloved Star Trek, the one series, the Next Generation, Data's cat Spot was always a mis-behaved pain in the butt. Why? I don't know. DS9, another Trek show, had a cat in one episode and it was nice, well behaved, loved, loveable. DS9 was a better show, too, but I digress.

Why are cats not as accepted as dogs?

Even in movies, there was one about the war between Cats and Dogs, and cats where the bad guys! WHY?

It sucks!

Cats rule!

Dogs drool! lol

 

[faile]

well, i love both cats and dogs equally, but probably dogs are better loved because they are easier to train, more loyal and predictable blah blah blah. a dog will come when you say come. a cat might, when it finishes whatever it is that it's doing. people feel like they can have complete control over a dog, it's a clear master/commander situation. a cat is more of a roommate that you have to feed and take care of.

anyway, thats what i think.

 

[MrPurryMotors]

Yeah, but cats are also smaller - which makes them cuter by default, lol - and easier to care for - no walking them in the snow, scooping fresh fecal matter into a plastic bag, and they are more diverse in personalities and likes and dislikes. More... human, one might say, than a dog. Cleaner, more civilized, quieter, likely smarter...

 

[faile]

maybe it's because cats always seem to be plotting something. :lol: with dogs it's so easy to tell what they're thinking, it's almost always either something about food, or something about a mangled tennis ball. cats are more mysterious, therefore threatning?

 

[Majicou]

Dogs were the first to be domesticated by humans, whereas cats chose to live with humans of their own accord. Also, for a long time cats have been associated with witchcraft and the Devil. Many people prefer dogs because they look up to us, rather than cats, who can be far more independant and aloof. (Don't get me wrong though, that's one of the things I love about cats)!

 

[Tae]

Yeah, but cats are also smaller - which makes them cuter by default, lol - and easier to care for - no walking them in the snow, scooping fresh fecal matter into a plastic bag, and they are more diverse in personalities and likes and dislikes. More... human, one might say, than a dog. Cleaner, more civilized, quieter, likely smarter...

I live with dogs AND a cat, so I'm a little less biased here. xP

I beg to differ. I've found that dogs are as diverse in personalities. Dogs are less easy to take care of but people can go out and take dogs for walks and outside, a little tougher to do with cats. And a pooper scooper tends to be less gross than scooping stuff out of the litter box. x_x As for the intelligence thing, you can't compare apples with oranges.

The reason cats seem more mysterious is that they are less domesticated and have been with people far shorter. They are *less* human in personalities and ways. Dogs have always been social pack animals, cats are solitary and so have a whole different mentality and intelligence type. So you can often tell what a dog is thinking, but with cats, it's less likely you will.

 

[RayOfAsh]

Dogs are more loved because they like to please their owners more. Thus they can be taught tricks and games. Also, they love attention, thus they will seak it out. Unlike cats, who love attention, but wait for you to give it to them.

At least thats my experience with both of them.

 

[PrincessClaire]

I think both are really good pets, but obviously The media and TV comps feel it better to make the cat the baddie rather than the dog take the film Cats & Dogs for example, cats planning to take over the world lol

 

[Tae]

Well, you can't really blame the media. It's kind of hard to make animals that so blatantly love humans with all of their hearts to look evil, unless they use some grumpy looking breed. Cats are more subtle with affection and so they wind up being 'bad guys' sometimes, even though i get the feeling most would think being evil is a waste of time and energy, lol. But cats are pretty popular nowadays and I think that people who make a really big deal about "cat haters" are inflating things.

 

[Murka]

I don't get it either. Dogs are harder to care for than cats so wouldn't cats be loved more? Garfeild is another stupid mean cat thing. It's funny, but he's always the evil one to the dog. Sam with Tom and Jerry. Tom is the evil cat because he's the one chasing the mouse.

 

[Tae]

Dogs are harder to care for cats and are suited to a more active lifestyle, which is becoming rarer nowadays, so as I said earlier people who hate cats aren't really common enough to be worth any hype.

I remember Tom and Jerry. In them the mouse is the smart one, the cat is the stupid and persistent one whose plans always backfire, and the dog makes occasional appearances to beat up the cat. at least that's how I remember it.

And in Get Fuzzy the cat is psychotic and mean and the dog is naive and trusting. They're both portrayed as stupid, but in different ways in Get Fuzzy, but it's a funny comic, if you've ever seen it. I like it better than Garfield. Garfield seems kind of monotonous.

 

[Sol]

I think I like cats and dogs equaly. I've chosen a "dog like" cat breed and I like more indepedent and "cat like" dogs.


I would think that people like dogs more than cats because dogs are more trainable and you can actuarally make a dog obey whereas a cat is very independent and not very trainable. The difference in the two different species is natural. Cats are solitary animals and dogs are pack animals.

It's said that control freaks can't stand cats but loves dogs, because you can control a dog almost to 100%.

And it's said that more easy going and freedom loving people like cats more than dogs just beacuse of the cats independence.

And cats have been considered being "disease spreaders", you know, eating rodents and birds and stuff.

The dog have served man "forever" while the cats really never served us.

 

[red_kittycat]

I live with dogs AND a cat, so I'm a little less biased here. xP

I beg to differ. I've found that dogs are as diverse in personalities. Dogs are less easy to take care of but people can go out and take dogs for walks and outside, a little tougher to do with cats. And a pooper scooper tends to be less gross than scooping stuff out of the litter box. x_x As for the intelligence thing, you can't compare apples with oranges.

The reason cats seem more mysterious is that they are less domesticated and have been with people far shorter. They are *less* human in personalities and ways. Dogs have always been social pack animals, cats are solitary and so have a whole different mentality and intelligence type. So you can often tell what a dog is thinking, but with cats, it's less likely you will.[/quote]

I live with 5 dogs and many cats. I have to admit that it's very hard for me to pick out any differences among the dogs, aside from the various sizes, shapes, and colors they come in. They're all dumb, overaffectionate, obnoxious, clumsy, and noisy...their one saving grace is that they're funny.

I don't think cats are any less human in their personalities, not that that would be a fault in any way. I think the reason pets are so beloved is that they AREN'T human. Cat people see that cats display every single emotion that humans or dogs feel. Dogs make their emotions painfully obvious...drama queens, they are. Cats will tell you how they feel if you're interested in listening.

They're both "human" in the way they feel. But dogs are like the class clown, always seeking attention, always looking for a laugh, constantly noisy and distracting.

Cats are the quiet kid who sits in the corner, who thinks about things before he does them, who studies things from a distance, who learns every bit as well as the others, but offers his view only when the teacher asks.

I think that cats may, in fact, be MORE like humans in that they don't simply live to take orders, like dogs, but have an opinion, a plan, and likes and dislikes of their own. Humans are as solitary in nature as cats are. We don't live in packs, either. But we do enjoy the company of others and we must have contact with other people to be healthy, just like cats. Dogs are the opposite. They haven't the slightest clue what to do with themselves without a superior to order them around. There aren't too many people that would be happy to live this way.

The only way a person would be less likely to know what their cat is thinking is if he paid no attention whatsoever to the cat. Cats and dogs are as different as apples and oranges, as you mentioned. And yet they understand one another fine. I may have a hard time telling whether my dogs are happy to see me or if they need to go pee...but I couldn't possibly misunderstand what my cats says with a head butt.>

 

[Jeanie]

I had read previously that more American homes have cats than dogs. And, according to Google, cats are more popular:


Result for the fight between cat and dog
... Number of results on Google for the keywords cat and dog: cat. (27 400 000 results). versus. dog. (22 300 000 results) ...
http://www.google-fight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=
__________________________________________________________
I think both animals are intelligent! You can test your cat's intelligence and compare it to other cats. I saw a test on tv. One puzzle consisted of putting a beloved toy under a container and timing your cat's retrieval of it. My guess is that a quick google search would give you tests for cats and dogs. I love both animals!

 

[shlanon]

Tae, I love "Get Fuzzy". Yeah, the cat is evil, but in a very humerous way. Also you can see sometimes that he can be a softy.
Tom and Jerry used to **** me off sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time. Sometimes Jerry would go up and antagonize Tom, Tom would then chase him and get the crap beaten out of him by Jerry and the dog! Argh!
I think the reason I am drawn to cats more than dogs is because it takes more to get to a cat, to make them love you, to earn their trust. I like that for some reason and it makes it so worth it.
Plus I CAN'T STAND the smell that your hands get after dogs lick them. Ugh, it's just so gross. I love dogs too, but I'd love them more if they didn't lick quite so much.

 

[Tae]

lol, that's true that your hands smell kind of funny after a dog licks them for too long. My dogs don't really lick me too much, they'd much rather cuddle.

But it is true that dogs generally live to follow orders and love basically everyone without much reason to. There are some breeds and individual dogs that are very stubborn and won't listen to you unless given reason, but when it's a seventy pound animal instead of a tiny kitty the independence trait is a *lot* less desirable. When people complain about dogs being slavishly followng they have to realize that dogs that don't listen are the ones that you read about or see on tv killing people or neighborhood cats and dogs. And in the wild wolves live in groups much like early human tribes and get things done on their own, but those alphas and contributing members aren't really so much present in dogs any more, dogs are all basically the "omegas", but unlike wolves dogs have loud and sometimes constant barks, and since humans are invariably their leaders and a dog never gets to be, their intelligence is also quite a bit lower than that of a wild animal, though I wouldn't call them dumb... well, most of them anyway. Dogs are fun and you can't deny their very important place in human history, but I can see where somebody wouldn't like them as a house pet.

I like those pet intelligence tests, it's fun to see the results. Though I've gotten vastly varying ones. Going by one test you'd say my pets were pretty mediocre, by another that they are geniuses, and by another that they think the test is too boring to be worth their time!

 

[kittygirl04]

I love kitties so much--I don't understand why people hate them. I just started a new job and realized that there are a bunch of cat bashers there! It totally breaks my heart to hear them speak this way--I guess I am just used to my old job because I had lots of friends there and they respected me and knew better than to talk about cats in a mean way. Actually, most of them liked cats, too. Well, at the new job, these people are dog lovers--but hey, that doesn't mean they need to bash cats! One lady said she would like cats if they didn't purr or have fur! HELLO--she has 2 dogs that have long hair--how stupid is that??????? I love to hear my babies purr--it is so relaxing. I wish I had a purring pillow to sleep on--(the cats won't let me sleep on them, or I would!)

 

[Richo]

Some people probably look at the fact that cats are known predators and kill all kinds of small creatures. I've even heard sad stories about male tom cats killing all male kittens of a litter. Somehow I can't see my little "angel" ever doing anything like that.

We all know that some people will develop their opinions and stick to them regardless of the true facts or what anyone else says.

I could never live with a dog. It's not that I hate them, but for me personally, they require too much time & attention, I can't stand barking and don't like drooling.

The way life works, someday I will end up meeting the woman of my dreams... and she will have 3 dogs. :lol:

 

[Ioana]

..and then you will end up loving dogs just like you love the kitties :lol: .
I can't say I disliked cats because I am fond of animals all in all. But I have always been closer to dogs. I grew up with their love and protection.
When Frosty and Cheerio needed a home - I took them in and learned to see that cats can be close to you just as dogs can - but in a different way.
There are a lot of things in life that suffer discrimination...dogs do too.
We need to learn and accept differences as part of our world. And all of these differences make the world so complex.

 

[drjean]

cats vs dogs

There are 78 million cats and 65 million dogs in American homes. So who says dogs are more popular?

Cheers,
Dr. Jean