It's "Just a Cat"

[kawahonda]

Cats are the better pet, hands down. You can leave them outside if you get an "outdoor" cat. Guess what, they live long lives that way just fine. You can have indoor cats. Just make sure you have hardwood flooring. I'm tired of a$$hole dog owners who think a dog is an outdoor pet and leave them outside before they go to work. Bark. Bark. Bark. Bark. I've never called to file complaints on a cat, ever. I've never been bitten by an outraged cat, ever. But I've called to file noise complaints on a dog before, and I'm not a person that likes to confront authority...Sorry, but I don't like to be waken up at 7:00am for no reason.

Dogs are work. I brought up a pure breed Boxer, and was my best friend for 12 years, but there's just some things that flip a switch in dog's head that is absolutely untrainable. A new person in the house? Impossible to train. They go crazy, and you better hope you have insurance with a dog...a dog can bite HARD...a cat bite is rarely ever an issue. A cat bite that needs stitches? I call that a rare event. A dog bite that needs stitches? Common. In-fact, very common.

1 Wild R/T, I do not buy any "cat attack" fear story, ever. It's completely false 99.9% of the time. I believe you, don't get me wrong, but I would say you had a very rare event that is completely not of the norm.

Some cats are assholes, and you know it right away. Where did they get the cat and how was it raised?

I will debate cats vs dogs all night long, but in the end, cats are easier to manage, lower on costs, more independent, damage less, and they still will snuggle with you every single night. Sorry to say, but after owning both a few times for many years, cats are smarter. More independent = smarter. And my cats love hanging out in the garage and chilling next to the Challenger. They go on car rides and they go on walks with a leash, like other cats in this thread. They don't mar up your baseboard trim, nor do they scratch your hardware flooring. The only problem I've ever had with my cats, and it's only one of them, is she feels that some areas of the carpet = litter box. Since then, it's forced me to replace all the carpet in the house with hardware flooring. No issues since. Win for me, Win for the cat. My boss just remodeled his house....a $100,000 remodel, and his dogs are wrecking it up. In-fact, I just got back from his place, and I'm covered in dog hair, because I love animals PERIOD...I gave his elder dog with hip problems a leg message because I'm just that cool. But for me, an animal that continues to wreck hard work is an animal not worth keeping. But that's not for me to say.....

Back to my Mark Twain quote.

Cats = win.

Dogs = win.

Cats = winner.

Oh, it's ON NOW!

[Topcat]

I can't count how many cats we had growing up, at least 15. Got married and six months later wife started to talk about having kids. Got her a kitten and that worked for about four months and so got another one.  That kept us out of kids for eight years.  Had those two seventeen and eighteen years respectively.  Really hard when we had to put them down.

No pets for about two years until we went on vacation in Florida and Batman showed up on the carport and adopted us.  Wife and kids beat on me all week. Long story with tears when owner was located and took him back but then abandoned him at end of week.  Finally I caved and we drove 24 hours back to Wisconsin with him and a litter box in the truck.  He is a really special animal.  Likes people, neighborhood kids love him, he gets along with the dogs and they snuffle each other's butts, etc.  My wife was struggling a bit, and I think the Lord sent him for her.  He has his own chair at the dinner table and most of the time minds his manners and he will take care of any vermin problem that comes up.  He will take a walk on a leash and doesn't mind too bad when the kids dress him up.  Just a really cool cat, and we are blessed.

Skinny dude at the vet when he found us.  He's bulked up a bit.

Chill-axing back in WI.  Has even gotten use to a real winter but that first one was hard.

First Holloween.

OMG It's Batmans brother.

We nickname Zyzzy Batman.

[kawahonda]

This guy is 23 years old. He is a bit of an A-hole and always has been so I attribute his longevity to that. He was tough as nails in his prime but is winding down now of course.

This may be the oldest cat I've ever seen. Please tell us more....more pics?

[kawahonda]

My first cat taught me that I can love animals.  I had not had a pet for over 20 years and Morrison adopted us. 
He came to the back porch as a kitten when I was out hunting. My wife called and said the kitten was freezing. I said don't feed it anything.  When I returned home from hunting we had a new cat.   
  He was great.  Mean as could be but the nicest cat ever.  He liked my cars and would hang out in the garage with me.  Loved my 64 lincoln.  Had a paper fetish.  Always like to get under newspaper and sleep.  He was with me for almost 3 years.  Funny thing is he showed up just after I had taken my first mountain lion and drank it's blood.  Since then I have cats everywhere it seems.

My neighbor killed him.

Let's help terrorize your neighbor. What a f$(#ing asshole.

[kawahonda]

Always cats here as well. All for noted above. Independence.
Have had several thru the years.
By far my favorite was an orange tabby. He owned our house. Every rooms door always had to be open for his access. Even bathroom. If he heard one close he would investigate. When encountering the closed door. He would just barrel role onto it incessantly. Scratching and thumping continously. Open the door he then casually walks in looks around and just left. Died young at 9 from diabetes complication.
Pic is of current one and... well...

I bet he's a lovebug. Be very happy you have such warm love that would snuggle with you every night. When it's gone...there's no replacement....

[kawahonda]

I can't count how many cats we had growing up, at least 15. Got married and six months later wife started to talk about having kids. Got her a kitten and that worked for about four months and so got another one.  That kept us out of kids for eight years.  Had those two seventeen and eighteen years respectively.  Really hard when we had to put them down.

No pets for about two years until we went on vacation in Florida and Batman showed up on the carport and adopted us.  Wife and kids beat on me all week. Long story with tears when owner was located and took him back but then abandoned him at end of week.  Finally I caved and we drove 24 hours back to Wisconsin with him and a litter box in the truck.  He is a really special animal.  Likes people, neighborhood kids love him, he gets along with the dogs and they snuffle each other's butts, etc.  My wife was struggling a bit, and I think the Lord sent him for her.  He has his own chair at the dinner table and most of the time minds his manners and he will take care of any vermin problem that comes up.  He will take a walk on a leash and doesn't mind too bad when the kids dress him up.  Just a really cool cat, and we are blessed.

Skinny dude at the vet when he found us.  He's bulked up a bit.

Chill-axing back in WI.  Has even gotten use to a real winter but that first one was hard.

First Holloween.

I'd be blessed with that cat too, and I'm not religious at all.  You sir, have a cool cat. We'll never have kids ourselves....partly because I cannot stand kids.....cats fill the void. Thanks for the great story....

[kawahonda]

I had a cat for 19.5 years. He was more like a dog. He knew his name 2 weeks after adopting him. I could take him anywhere, and he wasn't afraid of strangers. He was so well behaved, I called him my little angel.

Something about all-white cats = all love. There's something supernatural about how they act.....they are humans in cat form. All-white cats are master hunters, but they are master humans too....I wonder if there's some connection...

[Topcat]

This is Miss M.....  can u figure out what the M stands for....   yes she is a RESCUE.  She was a few months old in these pic's, she's much bigger now. But it's all I got on the office computer. And does terrorize my dog

lol

My last Tabby; Oscar had a "Cowboy up" on his head. Only can see from above.

[kawahonda]

Leila & Zyzzy on Catnip

https://www.facebook.com/702507855/videos/10157360983622856/?id=702507855

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=702507855

Drugs are fun to humans too. Some humans, just like some cats, are complete drug free, and that's cool too. One of our cats totally doesn't give a shit about catnip. We've tried fresh, and concentrated.

Our calico though? She will roll, and roll, and roll in it.....

Cats that like drugs are my kind of cats. LOL. The calico just so happens to sleep against me vs mom most nights....we must have a calling...

[RUNCHARGER]

Ha, ha: Here's a few more of Pikachu (nicknamed Pickafight). Pets are an absolute part of our families for sure. First one is of my son Sean when they were both fairly young, then you can see Sean is now a grown man (buying his Cobra a few years ago). The one on the table is about a month ago when the smell of my lunch was too strong for him and he climbed on the table in spite of knowing he was going to get a beat down (I was laughing inside hard though).
Reading some of the posts on here I guess Pika actually is pretty well behaved, he comes when I whistle, stays in his spots and generally isn't a bother, (he also enjoys riding in the Viper for some reason). 23 years is a long time and it will be tough when he leaves and I know it is coming of course.
I love dogs but they are more work and the thought of picking up their crap when going for a walk stops me from having another one. I like a dog because they are they best friend you could ever hope to have. I like a Cat because I identify with them, they don't do anything they don't want to do and if you don't like it that is just fine with them.

[YellowThumper]

This, our second cat. Sister of crazy one shown previously. She has deformed paws but was still the first one to come up to us when we came over. Shelter cats.
They are family.

[Brads70]

Fat cats crack me up! Oh the attitude.....

[340challconvert]

Always had both cats and dogs as family pets growing up
In my single days, and living alone; I used to name my cats after cars. 
When I was a young teacher, one of my students brought in a baby kitten hiding in his leather jacket into my classroom looking for a home for a litter his cat had.
Of course I took him home and named him Bentley, who was a quiet male cat. 

The next cat I had (again named after a car) was Bear, a big, muscular black Maine Coon Cat with a real independent "tude"  who I got from a shelter.
One time a friend of mine came over who was not a cat fan at all.  He would come over and say to the cat every time "come here Bear, let me step on your head"  I think cats are very intuitive and Bear knew my friend did not like him.  On one visit, my friend came over and was sitting on my couch; I'll be dammed, Bear went over and sunk his big  teeth into my friends ankle then ran off.  I had to laugh at the time. Had Bear for many years, even into my family man years, and finally had to sadly put him to sleep when he lost the use of his rear legs.

Today our family cat, Rita (we kept the animal shelter name for her) is probably the sweetest cat we have ever owned.  Always looking for a lap, gets along with our dog (also from a shelter) and looks to cuddle up with us at night when my wife and I go to sleep. She is a Temptations Cat Treat addict comes upstairs in the evening to always get her treat.
Cats (and dogs) add so much to family life, especially with the kids)

[Chryco Psycho]

 

[cuda hunter]

maine coon's are a really cool breed of cat.  I've known a few.
I had a Louisiana wild cat.  I believe it was one of the bob tail breeds.    Big Black Cat no tail.  Biggest cat I've ever seen.  Nice as could be but acted like a dog and was very protective of our family.  As with most cats, we moved from Louisiana to Colorado and "lightning" didn't last long.  He disappeared.    Great cat.