Do we really need camps of “dog people” vs “cat people”?

As if we here in the U.S. currently do not have enough to be polarized about – Democrat vs. Republican, pro-choice vs. pro-life, pro-immigration vs. anti-immigration, pro-LGBTQ rights vs anti-LGBTQ rights, the radical SJW Left vs the Alt Right – we apparently have to add another divider:  “dog people” vs. “cat people”.

We have all met them. You probably refer yourself as one or the other. But what the hell, exactly, does that mean? 

Sure, we are all individuals. Here in the West, we love to amplify our individuality. We are diverse. It’s good that we are not all the same. It’s good to have some differences, provided they hopefully don’t cause harm for yourself or others around you.

But how much of that divide between dog person and cat person is about flat out bias or misunderstandings about animals?

Today, one of my Facebook “friends” (I put that in quotes because we are all well aware that most of our social media friends aren’t really quite, well, friends) posted a short video that went like this:

*An average Joe sort of guy sits in front of his PC cam.

*Guy picks up his large male tabby cat and rather awkwardly places him on his lap.

*Guy then holds the cat up to the camera and somewhat mumbles something to the effect of “this cat would make a better president than…(the mumbling trails off..but I am guessing – and hoping – he meant Trump).

*Guy puts cat down and starts shifting on his chair some, possibly to make more room on his lap for the cat.

*Things go crazy out of control from there, as he starts to get up from the chair, while the cat apparently had a claw or two stuck on the guys jeans, or bottom of shirt – and the cat flips out and starts screaming and scratching desperately against the guy, who flips out in return and throws the cat out of his bedroom.

*Guy is clearly shaken up and pissed off about the whole ordeal. End of video.

Then, I decided to read the growing barrage of comments about the video: “That is why I hate cats.” And “That is why I am a dog person.” And “Cats are evil – I will never get one.”  And “Glad I have my gun collection.” And the comments go a bit deeper down into the barrel from there.

So, I had to point out that – and  putting aside the ridiculous observations about that particular cat, as well as the pissy curmudgeons who belly ache in general about cats – NO cat has that extreme of behavioral issues unless it is suddenly in severe pain – you know, if its claws are stuck on something —  or if it has undergone a long history of abuse and trauma. Or because of other environmental factors: annoying kids, constant noise and chaos in a home, or other factors that stress cats out to no end.

Here is an **important** lesson about cats: They are very much creatures of habit. Yes, they are super playful, funny, and endearing as kittens. But they also rely heavily on structure. They do NOT like a lot of change. Even some dogs are that way. After all, as with other animals, they have their own individual personality. However, cats, for the most part, generally need an environment where they can sleep calmly for the ~18 hours a day they do sleep, know that they have food to eat throughout the day (as they tend to be grazers), and have as few big changes to their environment as possible. Some cats even get visibly nervous or disjointed if you decide to move your living room furniture around one day.

There are good, useful, evolutionarily influential reasons for cats’ behaviors. Compared to dogs, cats are much more involved in the food chain, and qualify more as predators by nature. Further, dogs, for thousands of years now, have been more heavily bred than cats, which means dogs have been much more socialized and domesticated throughout the ages.

Meanwhile, your every day domestic type cat hasn’t been that heavily forced into breeding and socialization.  Some of that has changed a little in recent years, with cat breeders popping up to breed hybrid wild cats with domestic cate, thereby constructing breeds that can interestingly develop dog-like behaviors (will play fetch, go for walks, are more interactive with humans, etc..). Ocelot mixes tend to have these characteristics.

Still, most cats – particularly strays and those in shelters – are just out there breeding on their own, left and right, and consequently still keeping many of their “wild” type attributes. That said, you really can’t get pissed at animals for not being as highly developed as *you*

Yet people still do get pissed at animals; mostly because animals don’t speak our language. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out their facial expressions and match them up to our own reactions: “That dog has a look of*WTF* on his face”; or “That cat has a look of *don’t even try to mess with me”. Yet we often misinterpret their expressions. Sometimes we are right; animals do show certain emotions more clearly than other emotions. However, also like some people, some animals have “resting bitch face.”

Cats are particularly known for their “poker face”. But that’s their face. They don’t have all the biological features necessary to make all the expressions that we as humans can (although cartoons beg to differ). Point being that it’s more than time to cut cats some slack. They can actually be loving, loyal companions if you treat them right, if you give them consistent structure, and if you avoid annoying the hell out of them. Most people don’t like being antagonized. Cats don’t like it much either. And neither do dogs.

And speaking of dogs: Yes, dogs can make fantastic companions. I have had dogs and cats, in different combinations, since age 5. I come from a family that loves animals, and my father was especially fascinated with wildlife and our relationship with the animal world. Because of that, I was raised to appreciate all animals. So much that I was rather naïve to the idea of “dog person” vs “cat person.” I was – and still am – an “animal person.”  I learned at a young age to understand differences between various animals and learn how to adapt to their differences, rather than try to make them into something they are not.  In other words, I don’t expect dogs to be like cats, and I don’t expect cats to be like dogs.

Moreover, when you stop and really think about it, WE as humans are animals too. And we are not too distant from cats and dogs on the evolutionary family tree. When you start to view life as one giant tree of interconnected forms of life, all coming from stardust, all composed of atoms, all having DNA and RNA, all having similar organs, all having key biological systems (nervous system, muscular system, endocrine system, skeletal system, or variations of all) – you see that we really are, as cliché as it may sound, all one, big family.

So then, why hate any kind of animal? Why have an ignorance-based disdain for any type of animal? Think about how much time and effort it took you to mature as a human being? The kid version of yourself would probably often drive you crazy now, no? 

Meaning we should spend a whole lot more time giving animals the benefit of the doubt, rather than making unfounded assumptions, or incorrect assessments, or knee-jerk biases about animal behavior.

I have had some debates in the past with people who use pet ownership as a psychoanalytical conclusion about a person’s disposition. “She is kind of weird; no wonder she has cats”. It gets even more twisted up in a the dating and relationship world: “You must be a dog person or it won’t work out”; or “I don’t trust people who have snakes for pets”; and those examples go on and on too.

Even if there is some room for comparative analysis between choice of pet and a person’s personality, it is still important not to paint too broad a stroke. I have wondered, though, if “dog people”, for example, need dogs so that they can basically be worshipped. “My dogs loves me so much. He always follows me around wherever I go. He always needs to be right next to me.” Sure, that makes us feel special and needed. Yet, interestingly enough, when humans try to show that degree of companionship with each other, It gets flagged as “that person is really clingy – get me outta here!”  Funny how that isn’t so much of an issue with dogs.

But dogs can also be a major handful in other ways: fights with other dogs, sometimes challenging potty training, dogs horrifically bred to fight, being overprotective of their owners, or jealous of relationships that don’t include them every single minute of the relationship.

And that circles us back to this point: All animals come with varying personalities and challenges to go with them. It comes down to whether you have the empathy, compassion, and drive to socialize your pet to the best of your ability. There are no shortage of resources now on how to build a better companionship with cats, with dogs, with horses, with ferrets….whichever pet you choose. We are fully saturated with information in this age of technological interconnectedness. We should reasonably make the most of our fortune.

And maybe that will lead to a lot less polarization about animals. Maybe even less polarization with the more hot button subjects that get so many people enflamed on social media and in everyday life as well.

Maybe, as I learned when I was a kid, we should all be an “animal person” instead of putting yourself into a one-or-another camp.

If you still choose to have a preference, I cannot necessarily fault you for that. But please don’t decide out of misguided hate or ignorance. Otherwise, you could miss out on an amazing, ever rewarding relationship with the animal world.