Cats and dogs
I was sitting outside in my rocking-chair on the verandah last night sipping a glass of wine after dinner when one of the cats jumped onto my lap. This cat is pretty darn good as cats go but it still has that one thing which makes it a less practical pet than a dog - nasty claws and, may I add, a solipsistic attitude. Sure dogs have sharp teeth but I've never had a dog that bites if I've gotten it before six months old or before it was mistreated by some idiot who needed to be "fixed" more than his dog.
I've adoped plenty of cast-off dogs in my life and curently have four "rescued" dogs. Some of the adoptees did bite at first (always out of fear and insecurity) but eventually stopped. Cats simply claw you to pieces just being affectionate - or so they think - they're really just using you as a rubbing-post. Maybe I don't much care for cats because I've had to have tetanus shots twice after vicious cat bites. As Shakepeare said: "If cats were as big as dogs they'd be illegal." (Okay, maybe it wasn't Shakespeare; maybe it was Socrates or Ann Landers or some other philosopher.)
I've kept cats and dogs most of my life. I've also kept (in ascending order from earliest childhood) frogs, silk-worms, snakes, fish of many varieties, rabbits, parakeets and canaries. In fact I have some of those critters right now - all except the silkworms which I haven't seen since I was six or so. (Do kids even keep silkworms these days? Every kid that I knew when I was six had silkworms.) I've always liked having critters in my life to keep me down-to-earth.
Anyway, I was sitting in my rocking-chair thinking about cats and dogs and human beings. After survival, the two most important things to living creatures are freedom and security. Cats live for their own freedom and pleasure. Dogs prefer security. Humans like a balance of freedom and security. Too much freedom leads to anarchism and nihilism. Too much security leads to socialism and communism. So I made this chart. (If it's too small for you to read - as it is for me - click it to enlarge.)
I've adoped plenty of cast-off dogs in my life and curently have four "rescued" dogs. Some of the adoptees did bite at first (always out of fear and insecurity) but eventually stopped. Cats simply claw you to pieces just being affectionate - or so they think - they're really just using you as a rubbing-post. Maybe I don't much care for cats because I've had to have tetanus shots twice after vicious cat bites. As Shakepeare said: "If cats were as big as dogs they'd be illegal." (Okay, maybe it wasn't Shakespeare; maybe it was Socrates or Ann Landers or some other philosopher.)
I've kept cats and dogs most of my life. I've also kept (in ascending order from earliest childhood) frogs, silk-worms, snakes, fish of many varieties, rabbits, parakeets and canaries. In fact I have some of those critters right now - all except the silkworms which I haven't seen since I was six or so. (Do kids even keep silkworms these days? Every kid that I knew when I was six had silkworms.) I've always liked having critters in my life to keep me down-to-earth.
Anyway, I was sitting in my rocking-chair thinking about cats and dogs and human beings. After survival, the two most important things to living creatures are freedom and security. Cats live for their own freedom and pleasure. Dogs prefer security. Humans like a balance of freedom and security. Too much freedom leads to anarchism and nihilism. Too much security leads to socialism and communism. So I made this chart. (If it's too small for you to read - as it is for me - click it to enlarge.)
posted by Joubert at 7:53 AM
The Alliance
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