i must disagree.
cats are every bit as responsive as dogs, but in a different way.
i knew my drifter loved me when she started following me around.
that's why i brot her in the house.
feral catss wantcompany.
even now, if i'm on the couch, if they are not lying on me, they are up on the back of the couch.
drifter always wants to be near me, but for her that means within a few yards of me, unlike a dog.
when they are outside, they have important cat business to attend to, butwhen i go out into the garden, i go WOOF WOOF.
i never trained them to join me there, but in a few minutes there are 2 cats in the garden.
now, to get them to obey my curfew command they get a treat when they come in, to avoid coyotes, but there's no treat or any other
reward for joining me in the garden.
they come just because they wanna be with me.
love is wanting to be with someone, so they show me love that way.
i;ve had dogs my whole life. i've had a few barn cats but mostly ignore them.
i only have drifter because i grow figs n i wanted someone to hunt my garden.
i had no intention of haveing a feral part time indoor cat, but once she showed me love, i loved her back.
i get every bit as much happiness from cats as i do from dogs.
I had a dog when I was a kid, and she was a delight. But, since 2011, we've had a cat, and now THREE cats... and they beat the hell out of dogs, as pets, for a lot of good reasons:
1. You don't have to "train" them -- show a tiny kitten a box of sand, and it knows exactly what to do with it. Then, they won't ever piddle or poop on the floor... unless they're unhappy and feel that you aren't giving their unhappiness the appropriate notice.
2. They're mostly quiet, in fact usually nearly silent... and what sounds they do make are usually more amusing than annoying (unless they are an unfixed female, in which case this argument is right out the window). A damned noisy barking dog is near the top of my "most annoying things EVER" list.
3. They're very independent; most cats are not constantly badgering you for attention, the way most dogs do. But yes, they CAN BE quite affectionate, and when they decide it's time to be affectionate, they can be quite insistent -- but if you're busy and don't have a free hand to give them pets, they just go about their kitty business. Usually a nap -- they seem to sleep about 16 hrs a day.
I would say the only real benefits of dogs over cats are, if they do something you don't like, they can be pretty easily trained not to keep doing it; cats are more difficult in that regard -- our son's cat KEEPS knocking shit off his dresser, including his fan -- over and over and over. She just won't learn. And yes, because dogs ARE noisy and excitable, they will definitely let you know if someone's at the door, or at the window, or just walking down the street... or something out of the ordinary is going on outdoors.
Oh, the other benefit is that FAR less people say things like "Oh, I HATE dogs," but cat-haters seems to be at least 50% of the population, for reasons I've never understood. Even when I wasn't taking 24-hr antihistamines for my violent cat allergy and thus couldn't spend any time around them, I thought they were cute and intriguing critters. I'm DELIGHTED to finally be a "cat person."
Meow.
Andria