A cat is not a dog?
Is that not obvious? There are several things that are choices that we make, and very rarely choose to make a different choice. You either drink Coke or Pepsi? I will not mention the monumental bad decision made by Coke in April of 1985 to bring up “New” Coke which tasted more like Pepsi than Coke. Obviously us Coke users objected universally. And you either prefer Levi’s or Wranglers but only rarely both? And technology in the broadest terms, you either do all things Steve Jobs, or Apple and iPhones, or Bill Gates and windows PCs and Android? And you are either a dog person or a cat person, but only rarely both?
I was very decidedly a dog person from the time I was given a show quality Standard Poodle at 14 and I trained her for obedience and confirmation. And my first dog as an adult was a Rottweiler I put serious protection training on. Police dog training. I also found a male Miniature pincher from New Mexico that had the best Pedegree I had ever seen. The only toy I have ever had was soaking wet, 4 pounds. Two matching black and tan dogs. Devin, I lovingly called my LPOS. My “Little piece of shit”. When I see other tiny dogs, I say it is a LPOS dog. If I make the mistake of telling an owner, they are very angry. I will tell them that it is an endearment!
If you are a responsible dog owner you take the time to train your dog. You see, you can train dogs to work, train them to play, or train them to do nothing more than sleep on your couch, beg you for food, and shit in your back yard. They will do exactly as you expect them to do.
Dog owners will often say that they hate cats, and very often make the excuse that they are allergic to them. I really think it is an easy excuse to not be around them?
I actually married my Veterinarian and I had only one cat that I had rescued found in a window well as a kitten. He did shelter medicine for a few years and brought me every litter of newborn orphans that was brought in. I sometimes am told when someone proudly says they bottle fed a single newborn. I worked at a far different level and knew the extreme methods to keep a failing tiny infant alive. Dozens of litters of newborns, I felt they thrived on goat milk better than formula. I had a source so I always had a gallon in my deep freeze.
I was not alone in my efforts with newborns and it was not my husband/Vet. I rescued a 50 lb German Shepard. The very first litter that I was brought, I pulled the first kitten out of the crate and Nola, licked its face clean. I put it on the ground and she quite skillfully emptied both his bladder and his bowels. You see, newborn kitties can neither urinate or delicate without the external stimulation from their mother. So Nola was my eager and capable dry nurse. We were a team and they needed to be fed every four hours. I would bottle feed them one at a time, and would hand them over. Young ones will die of hypothermia in 20 minutes. I would warm their crate while they played for the appropriate amount of time. Then Nola would gather them and shepherd them back to me and to bed.
That beautiful world living a pioneer life, very off grid, and very off road in isolation is long gone. As are all of my very special dogs and cats. Northern Colorado for 15 years. But I now have purchased a new home and am living with a very good friend who is my special care giver. We are living in an almost mountain town in Southern Colorado. A very small town only known to criminals in this country. The Supermax in Florence. Johnny and I take care of each other in many ways. So, I found a woman whose Queen had dropped another litter and was giving them away. A Queen is like a Bitch in the dog world, only mothers nursing a litter get those titles.
I have had several pairs of sibling kittens and they were far too special. Two beautiful tuxedo girls both had a chronic illness and were disabled. Chantilly and Lacey they were so sweet and cared for each other. Didget and Rudy. So I was going to find a pair from somewhere! When they were between 6 and 8 weeks old I had Johnny take me to pick them up. He did not want to have cats he said, but he knew how important it was to me. Two cream colored cotton balls they are. Medium hair domestics they are, and they play non stop all day. I feel like I have a life worth living again.
And I promised that this home will be so clean you will never even know we have them. Johnny cannot stop touching and playing with them. He went to the vet with us and is helping me trim nails. Whiskey is our girl and Brandy is our boy. Whiskey has light gray ears and markings on her tail. Brandy has pink ears and will likely be the most loving? But my Brandy has huge feet to grow into.
But why and how is a cat not a dog? Well, let my pose a question to you dog people? How long does it take for you to housebreak a puppy. Seriously how many months? For me, I am not only a “crazy cat woman”, but was first a “dog whisperer”. I can housebreak a puppy in 10 days to two weeks with diligent 24hour attendance. After rescuing dozens of litters of newborn orphan kittens with a dry nurse instead of a mother, this fact will never stop astounding me. They will ween and start eating at four weeks and will very soon find the litter box! How can they know that they should use a litter box? I did nothing to teach that behavior! Does a dog learn to go outside to do their business without teaching that behavior? A kitten simply steps into a box filled with litter without any goading or teaching.
Again, you dog people, why do you not like cats? You dislike their independent nature and say you do not trust them? They do not come when you call them? Do you come when someone calls you? Just saying. Their independent nature is why we love them so much. There are people who say they have trained their cat to do some remarkable dog thing? I say, “not”, they have simply learned a behavior that pleases you. You cannot teach it, but they can learn?
I stated that inside a veterinarian office and the whole staff agreed. We all understand the fine line that separates the difference between training and learning. I trained my toy dog to use a litter box. My kittens learned to use one? I did not do one thing. I just made two available for them.
I will again tell you that you cannot train a cat! But, I will kwalso say that cats are very intelligent, and they can learn many things! I am encouraging Johnny to ask our pair to “go see Sam, if they are on his side of our home. I will tell them to go bug and annoy Johnny! And they may not respond as well as dogs to positive re-enforcement. But if one seems to really want to share your food and you flick his nose enough, he soon learns that you are not happy.
And I have tried to teach people thalt dogs do not have long term memory and only live in the moment? I will tell you that dogs share that behavior with cats. Nothing negative a am that Johnny does to either kitten is remembered. Once he strokes each one lovingly anything he does negatively is forgotten.
I had a beautiful and musical orange tabby with the loudest engine I have ever heard. Amber slept on my shoulder and sang me to sleep every night. Last night both Whiskey and Brandy were licking each side of my face, and both fell asleep on my chest and shoulder.
I decided long ago that humans must not be tasty to cats because I have never had a cat that wanted to clean my face? This is a good thing because their tongues are usually very scratchy, like sandpaper? My two cotton balls are not that bad. I do think that we taste good to dogs because they love to clean both our faces and hands?
And, what I know to be true is that I may not be able to train Johnny any more than I can train Whisky or Brandy, but they all learn what is good for them, and we are all good for each other?
So to end, I state that we can happily say that
A cat is not a dog!
Response Magic