Thanks for stopping by! Get The Way of Cats, delivered, by asking for my RSS feed. Get my free cat advice newsletter by signing up here and get the FREE eBook, Ten Cat Tricks (Every Human Should Know.)The “better” pet is the one who most closely conforms to what people want from their pet. Since most people want to have a close, affectionate bond with their pet, the cat is clearly the better choice.
Because cats can be spoiled.
When dogs are spoiled, they become either bossy or insecure. One of the reasons dogs respond to trained professionals and not their owner during behavior issues is that the trainer is capable of the strong assurance that dogs need.
It is the dog’s own gift and curse that they so successfully convey their adoration. People adore their dogs. They can’t stand to be firm with that pleading face. So they don’t. Unfortunately, dogs living with people need their people to show leadership, and people who get a dog so they can adore them tend not to be the people who can combine that with leadership.
Cats don’t want leadership. They don’t respond to any kind of coercion. We discipline cats with thought and love. Cats are structured to behave better, enjoy better health, and pay more attention to us when treated with adoration.
For the pet lover, there is no better choice.
Cats will actually obey us. But it has to be their choice. The only way they will do so is because we asked them to. The more we love them, the more they will do things because we asked them to.
Cats absolutely bloom on love. They become ridiculously affectionate, amusingly interactive, and exquisitely sensitive to our moods. They will come to us when we are down and offer comfort. They will be interested in our latest triumph. They will join in the search for the car keys and the arrangement of the new spice rack. They will love their time by our side.
That is the cat, in love.
When we do things because they asked us to, we reap two great benefits. One is the ease of training when we go ahead and let the cat train us, because then it will be done right. The cat does know more about how to please them than we do. We are avoiding the burden of trying to figure out what the cat wants. We can let the cat tell us.
The other great benefit is that we now have a pet we can adore and fuss over and spoil, and it will not be bad for our relationship. It will improve the relationship. We can adore them and it works for us!
People don’t consider cats because they think cats are not affectionate. Or they think only some cats are affectionate, and of course they would get one who is not. When people find out how loving cats can be, that will turn a cat owner into a felinarian (Cat Appreciator.) They get more, because more is more fun. More cats means more of all the things they love about cats. Now we can spoil more.
Cats do not react badly to spoiling because they will then ramp up their efforts to please us. We can train the cats to stay off the counters, but only by allowing them some of their own spots in the places where they need to play lookout. Then we are both happy. Since we adore each other, that makes us happy for each other, too.
We want pets to offer amusement and interaction. The point of pet enjoyment is love and companionship and a paw on the knee when we’re down. Cats provide all that. People don’t know that when they have never spoiled a cat themselves.
If we have not successfully spoiled a cat, we can catch glimpses of other people’s spoiled cats. Most cats will not show affection in front of strangers. So to see a cat respond to spoiling, we must at least make friends with them.
If a dog needs more exercise, play, and attention than our resources or living situation can handle, we should consider a cat. But not as a second-tier dog substitute. Cats engage our fascination with them at the same level we are able to expand our understanding of their ways.
Cats can get us to laugh, to do things for them, to give us both the thrill of finding them at the door and the fun of hide and seek. Cats can love us more than any pet we’ve ever had.
They just need to be spoiled.
Image from HessDesignWorks
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