I love dogs and cats. But I live in a family that is divided. My Dad likes dogs. My Mom likes cats. This issue has reared its ugly head once again in my family now that my twin brother and I have left for college. My Mom wants to get two more cats once my younger brother leaves for college. My Dad wants another dog. This ongoing argument started me thinking about the pros and cons of each and why some people choose one over the other.
Growing up, we always had three pets. Each kid got to choose. Currently, I have a rabbit. My twin brother has a cat. My younger brother has a dog. My Mom wants three cats, one to represent each of us. My Dad, on the other hand, will only agree to add another dog to the family. Who will win? Here are the arguments from both sides.
Dogs are loyal, friendly, loving, easily trainable, protective, activity inducers and unconditional lovers. On the con side, they are noisy, more expensive, need more attention, require more space and must be house trained.
Cats are independent, affectionate, live longer, litter box trainable, require little grooming and need less attention. The cons of cats include independence, sleep too much, allergy inducing and litter box cleaning.
Studies done at the University of Texas and by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) shed light on the why people lean to a dog over a cat or vice versa. Dr. Stephen Zawistowski of the ASPCA’s research claims that “research tends to fall in line with the stereotypes people have already established for themselves.” If you think you are a “dog person” then you consider yourself outgoing and agreeable. If you think you are a “cat person” then you consider yourself creative but slightly neurotic.
So how has all of this information helped to end the debate at my house? It doesn’t and it won’t. In the end, my Mom will win.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/dog-people-cat-people-pet-preference/story?id=15883844&singlePage=true
I really like this post! I have never had a pet, minus a carnival fish for a week, but I do like dogs way more because they are more fun to play with and cuter… but that is an opinion. There can not be a study on this topic because it is an opinionated question. It all depends on what a person might like. There could be factors that could affect a person’s preference such as location or what a persons superiors may like.
Here is a very cute video comparing cats to dogs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbycvPwr1Wg
I completely see myself as a dog person. However, I don’t really think that has anything to do with the stereotypes I have for myself. I like dogs because they’re cute and warm and you they can become a good friend. In my opinion, cats are cold and never want to be bothered with. However, I would like to see more information on this and why some people favor cats over dogs and vice versa. I found this article that discusses it more clearly.
http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/dog-people-vs-cat-people/10716
This a very awesome and light-hearted post. I totally agree with the the Doctor’s claim.
What is fun about this article is that it doesn’t matter if you enjoy cats over dogs. Either way there is no harm being done to yourself or society. In this article,http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html, the humane society compared statistics of pet-ownership. I thought it was really interesting to look at because in my day to day life I typically will find people who are allergic to cats so they owned dogs. However when looking at this article it appeared to all be anecdotes: there are 83.3 owned dogs while only 95.6 owned cats. But another thing to consider is when I looked deeper into the study the percentage of owners with one dog is 70% while percentage of owners with one cat is only 46%. So maybe my experiences weren’t anecdotes and owners prefer to have 2 cats or 1 dog.
I agree and disagree with this post. I consider myself a cat and a dog person, I have 2 cats and 2 dogs and I spend the same amount of time with both of them. I have to say that we have to take in consideration the person`s background, any bad/good experience with dogs and/or cats that makes them like more either dog or cat. Also another variable that I will take into account is that some people is allergic to dogs or cats.
I absolutely agree with Dr. Zawistowski’s claim that people stick to their self-given stereotypes. It’s funny to see dog owners emulate their dog and the same for cat owners. I consider myself a “dog person”, but I never thought that was my self-image. I just like dogs better. This article describes the different personality types of “dog people” and “cat people”.
This post is great. I’m a fan of both dogs and cats but i’m definitely a dog person. In my opinion, cats are too shy and never seem to be around, but dogs love coming to cuddle or just stand next to u to be petted. Dogs seem to have more personality than cats do. Have you ever seen a cat run up to a kid and jump on him to be petted? I doubt it; I know I haven’t. Seems like your family has a big decision to make; I would go with the dog but it depends on your families’ personality.