Adeeba Sajjad

CATS OR DOGS? Cats or dogs? Choosing between the two is not less than a dilemma because both of them are good on their own. Some people might even love both but wait... What if you have to choose only one? To choose one, you have to find, either a cat or a dog is fitting best for your nature. How To Do That?? Simple, according to one research, it has been shown that cat lovers are often silent, more self-contained, and less sociable. On the other hand, dog lovers are social, more open to new things, and interactive. If your nature links with a cat lover, go for a cat and if it is linking with a dog lover, go for dogs! Dogs Are Loyal Cats and dogs have a variety of different features, and when this feature comes to loyalty, dogs are more loyal than cats. Loyalty is one of the natural features of a dog. Whenever there has been trouble, cats tend to hide or escape away from there, but dogs, dogs stay and face the problem and protect their owners. When dogs see unfamiliar people, they produce growls, and barks to frighten them, and to make their owners cautious about those strangers. This is the only reason, why dogs have been assigned night watchdog duties! Dogs can sense your fear. And when they feel you are scared, they respond by defending you. Dogs, do take care of their owners, and their best to protect them, unlike cats. Owning Cats, Still Gives Free Time Most people adopt pets when they are living alone so that they can fall upon someone in their ‘free’ times. They keep these pets, either as their companions, friends, family member, or maybe even as a child, but they still are animals. So they want their life to be held according to their pets’ routine. In case, if you own a dog, you need to give proper attention to it. It requires at least 23 walks per day, no matter what the weather is like – hot, sweaty day, or cold, freezy day with several degrees below 0. Dogs also require daily bathing because they like to hang around things that give off foul smells, and often make the dogs dirty. Dogs, likely want someone to play with, so you have to give a special time for that as well. Figure 3 Cats play on their own but dogs really need someone to play with. Cats do not need any special time from their owners. They do not require special walks and can be happy enough, being indoors. They keep themselves clean, thus bath is needed only once a week. Plus they don’t want someone to play with. It is best if you keep two kittens, they will keep each other entertained, and you wouldn’t necessarily need to be there! Cats are completely independent, and depend on their masters, only for food. Expenses Of Dogs And Cats - Which Costs More? When you want to buy a pet, you look at your pockets first, to see around which range of money, your pocket allows you to buy the pet. You, I, and everyone wants an attractive, healthy, and cute looking pet, for a very reasonable amount of money. After investing money in buying a pet, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to spend money on them anymore. But looking after and taking care of pets to keep them healthy, also requires cash. Now, the thing to look at, is: which pet expense is going to cost them less. Below are the expenses of cats and dogs: Cats (basic expenses) ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Regular food Cat litter or litter box Pet insurance Scooper Grooming Toys Carrier. Dogs (basic expenses) ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Grooming Toys Regular food Beds Training classes (optional) Pet insurance Time investment Food Since, eating is a regular, and can’t stop activity of every living, it should be dealt with nutritious foods. Cats and dogs are fully carnivores, so they give more preference to meat than any other food. Cats eat turkey, chickens, fish, oats, and cheese. These can be great and healthy foods for your cat. Whereas, most raw foods such as eggs, onion, garlic, or even dog food can be toxic to cats – beware! Dogs can eat fish, cashew, eggs, corn, coconut, ham, and honey. But it should not eat, chocolate, macadamia nuts, garlic, cinnamon, or almonds because these can be toxic food for your dog. Do Your Pet Recognizes You? Cats Vs Dogs Have you ever wondered, how you may look in your pet’s eyes, either it is a dog or a cat? Cats see humans in a different way than humans see themselves. Is it that, they see us in black and white color? Well, it has been proved that cats see us in color, but the light in which they see us or anything else, differs a lot from the light that humans use. They look at things more usually as gray, yellow, and blue. Since their cones that respond to red and green light are less, it won’t work out well for your cat when you wear a red garment. Dogs see us in colors too, but their visual seeing perspective is different, like cats’. Their retina allows them to differentiate between two colors: yellow, and blueviolet. They just don’t rely on color to recognize someone; they also use brightness, position, texture, smell, and sound. Dogs, when communicate or play with humans, they behave differently, and when they are doing this with ‘other’ dogs, they behave differently, meaning that the dogs understand the difference between the two. While cats cannot recognize human faces, but it also uses cues like the scent, smell, or sound to recognize their owners, like dogs. If you die alone with your cat pet, it won’t pause itself to eat you as its food, thus proved that cats only rely on their masters for food, and when you don’t give it that, it can even eat ‘you’, unlike dogs. CONCLUSION Choosing between dogs and cats is, and will be a never-ending topic. One should select a pet that fits his/her nature. It is nothing more than just a personal preference. Every high up mentioned factor under different subheadings, if applied on one might not be applicable for the other. For instance: as mentioned before, dogs are kept for watchdogs, but not every dog breed is capable of doing this, just as small breed dogs. Likewise, if some cats are not loyal, some are loyal and obedient to their masters. In the end, it really is a matter of love and attention that you give to your pet, either of which species, or breed, it belongs to. The more your pet recognizes you, the more it loves you and becomes loyal to you. Author, Adeeba Sajjad.