What's up with DU people and cats?

What's up with DU people and cats? It seems like DU people have an innate disposistion toward having cats?

Bastet, Zelda, and Texas.

Don't mess with Texas.

and they have a distinct preference for the company of liberals. ;-)

I have 5:

Ryno who is a 13 year old calico
Sam who is an 8year old tabby -- 25# + of lovin'
Wrigley, another tabby who is Sam's litter mate -- only 17# of cuteness
Lucy, another tabby
Ricky, an orange tabby full of attitude.

Wouldn't part with any of them.... they are each unique.

They stay around us because they want to. Think about it, most cats are predators and will kill sometimes just for fun. All cats could probably live in the wild (one of those "survival of the fittest" things), although the population would inevitably thin out. They come to humans for attention and love. Now what more could you ask for in an animal?

and it takes a special sensitivity to interact successfully with them.

and we all know that du'ers are especially sensitive. :o

Most dictators and rather nasty demagogues don't like cats because they couldn't dominate them like dogs. Think about it.

Does that make me bad?

Ok here's my take. Cats are pets for people who do not need their ego massaged every time they walk in the front door.

Cats are for people who don't like to walk any beast in the rain or snow.

Cat are for people who are mature enough to handle not getting their way all the time.

And after doing a lot of fostering and having had 2 cats who lived to nearly 20, I've never known a cat who was treated well but wasn't loving toward its owner/family members (and my two of my three also like just about everyone who walks in the door).

and know of a few DUers who have dogs..

it's all about the pets, man, liberals are loving people :-)

Need I say more?

:-)

three that are with me, and one that is currently keeping my wife out of mischief while she travels. They are our fur children and life simply wouldn't be the same without them. DC, Putzin, Tootsie, and Pooky (ages 23, 15, 41/2, and 2 respectively).

but I dislike it. I'm a dog person all the way.

I have three now and soon I will only have two boys because my Ramona is going to die.

I have been reading your posts about Ramona. Give her a hug from all of us. :grouphug:

and ease your sorrow. give her a hug from my furbabies as well

Thanks for caring!

I am going to miss her because I delivered her when she was stuck in Mamma Cat. I remember telling Mamma Cat that she couldn't have kitty's uless she had me a white kitty. Samone/Sammy/Ramona came out white with black and orange round spots on her face and back. She looked like a reccoon in the face when se was a baby and we were going to name her gizmo because we thought that she was a boy.
When I took her to the vet he said that he had good news and bad news and the good news was that she was a girl and the bad news was that she wasn't going to look like a Persian. We kept both of the kitties that Mamma Cat had and Mia died two Christmases ago, Mamma Cat died the year before Mia and Pappa Cat died two years ago. Sammy/Ramona is going to die and I feel so bad about loosing her.

I'll be spending the next 3 days slowing introducing him to my 3 dogs.

I'm a dog person myself. Don't like cats much, though, they usually like me fine.

This one here's more my style:

yuck...

But you can go scratch a tree if you don't like cats (Just Kidding).

Hey, I use to be a cat hater until I got my first cat. They are like potato chips you can't stop at one.

Unless I take up hunting I don't see any need for dogs, so I'll stick to a pet that actually does something for me.

although my best cat is quite frail with hyperthyroidism and barely getting along.

How old is you Cat and did the vet tell you how long she/he will live?

I find them smelly and annoying. I honestly dislike them, unless they're outside killing mice and never coming indoors.

So flame me! I'm a dog guy.

have an issue with independent beings?

OF COURSE WE DO..

We love them, and those of us withh "furry-purry pals" enjoy seeing pictures and hearing about others' kitties too..

It does not mean we "hate" dogs, we just happen to prefer cats :)

Lots of DUers have cats AND dogs AND birds AND fish AND ______.

Most threads about them are pretty obvious, so people who don't like cats can easily skip any and all threads about them :P

That's the word you were looking for.

Yeah, over at another forum, some people got all weird on me for posting about my animals. It's not like I held a gun to their head and said, "Read this or DIE!"

Geez.

and vice versa.

Could your wise dog teach his old master a new trick? ;-)

Start a post on DOGS!

Not only are there lots of cat people at DU but some people have the best photos and signature lines with cat pictures.
Love 'em - have 2 wonderful cats.

Grendel's Dog, from BEOCAT

by the Old English Epic's Unknown Author's Cat

Brave Beocat,
brood-kit of Ecgthmeow,
Hearth-pet of Hrothgar
in whose high halls
He mauled without mercy
many fat mice,
Night did not find napping
nor snack-feasting.
The wary war-cat,
whiskered paw-wielder,
Bearer of the burnished neck-belt,
gold-braided collar band,
Feller of fleas
fatal, too, to ticks,
The work of wonder-smiths,
woven with witches' charms,
Sat on the throne-seat
his ears like sword points
Upraised, sharp-tipped,
listening for peril-sounds,
When he heard from the moor-hill
howls of the hell-hound,
Gruesome hunger-grunts
of Grendel's Great Dane,
Deadly doom-mutt,
dread demon dog.

Then boasted Beocat,
noble battle kitten,
Bane of barrow-bunnies,
bold seeker of nest-booty:
"If hand of man unhasped
the heavy hall-door
And freed me to frolic forth
to fight the fang-bearing fiend,
I would lay the whelpling low
with lethal claw-blows;
Fur would fly
and the foe would taste death-food.

But resounding snooze-noise,
stern slumber-thunder,
Nose-music of men snoring
mead-hammered in the wine-hall,
Fills me with sorrow-feeling
for Fate does not see fit
To send some fingered folk
to lift the firm-fastened latch
That I might go grapple
with the grim ghoul-pooch."

Thus spoke the mouse-shredder,
hunter of hall-pests,
Short-haired Hrodent-slayer,
greatest of pussy-Geats.

Boewulf is no match for the Great Beocat!!

Maybe it is their independence that appeals
to us iconoclasts.

But I'm sure a lot of us have/had/love dogs.
I adore dogs.
And yeah, cats kill vermin but dogs do a ton for
people. They work alongside shepherds, cops, handicapped...
Or just cheer people up and provide companionship.
Damn fine critters.

But I prefer cats, and they're much more practical
pets for apt living.

I don't care for cats or baseball, and for some reason I expected those to be shared tastes of other Democrats. Brilliant, huh?

I must say the passion for cats is impressive and very well expressed, in this thread and many preceding others. Now I won't critique cats unless it's a "which do you prefer and why?" thread, fair game.

Baseball, however, has earned every rebuke. After all, my sport of golf is routinely criticized by the same posters even in threads that have nothing to do with golf.

I like dogs...but there's a cat living here sooo...

You serve a cat

I have five cats and I serve them alot. But I love 'em and I believe they love me, too.

Cats have staff.
Parrots have slaves.

She's black all over, except for her belly and a white triangle under her chin. She's my big fat lazy baby!

No, not me....I am "owned" by MARIE'S O8) three cats!

As far as the snakes, a few of LadyHawk's :loveya: aren't doing well.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=272371

n/t :)

I like all animals really, and love living with cats.

Post pictures of cute furballs here!

http://www.quantumpicture.com/Flo_Control/flo_control.htm

you don't have to fawn over them, they fit right into the Democratic philopsophy of being free-spirited, tough and doing your own thing. I don't have any cats now, the last one I had died last year and right now I have a dog. I love all animals but from the time I was a little kid I was a "cat person". :-)

... some of the "cat people" I've met give me the willies.

I lived in an apartment complex with a self-described "Cat Lady". The place started to reek shortly after she moved in with her "babies", which numbered at least 20. When I called the landlord to spray for the roaches which followed, she had a conniption, claiming that the insecticide would poison her and her "babies".

It's hard for me to look at all the Cat-worship user names and not be slightly nervous. I tell myself, "they're not all like C-8, they're not all like C-8".

I prefer dogs, and yes, I've met some dog freaks, too. They tend to be insecure macho men who own pit bulls and scowl a lot.

Either breed of psycho pet owner is quite rare. But then again, I'm a magnet for the crazies.

--bkl

then you're doing something right in this world. A cat will not suffer fools, and if one takes a shining to you, it is an honor.

They are fastidious, particular, silly, loving, valiant, psycho, pensive and good hearted, for starters. I have been drawn to cats since I was a little kid -- it's as if I "speak their language," or some such.

My life is all the richer for the two great cats who occupy it. I hope that feeling is reciprocal -- and I suspect it is.

:toast:

I was middle-aged when I got my first cat and my biggest regret is that I lived 40-odd years without one. I will have a cat until the end of my days.


Cher

And I'm going to post a thread in the Meeting Room one of these days about living with a feral cat for 12 years.

The three we have were all rescued. They have repaid us for our initial act of kindness with years of laughter, love and loyalty.

Cats are tremendously entertaining creatures, in both slapstick and subtle ways.

Could use some advice.

I want it to grow up to be a lap kitty, but it's really skittish and doesn't come when called. Once caught, however, it likes laps and purrs.

:-) One is sitting on the computer table at this precise moment.

I have four: Kinky, Tiger, Frodo, and Cat. I also have two dogs, Brisco and Bowler, and a bunny, Bun (short for Bunnicula).

I've read them all to the kids.

Two cats BTW, Bob and Andrew, 3 year old litter mates. We had 4 cats at one point, but the two elderly ladies, China Blues Eyes and Matilda, AKA Matty, the wonder cat, died of old age over the last 18 months.

Oh man, is that ever funny. Remember, bush gave his cat away.

Maybe we should surround D.C. with our cats and the repukes will run for the hills!


Cher

Fatboy, Ginger, Fred, Abu the Terrorist (Boo Mew), Horton, Meem, Baby Girl Kitty, Baby Boy Kitty and Minnie. We're approaching the time of year where it's impossible for me to use my bed for sleeping because it has a purring fur comforter on it.
John
But what are you going to do? I mean, what the hell are you going to do?

I got three kitties,Rustle,Vinnie and Sparkle.I have had cats with me for my whole life and I measure my lifetime events by which cats were with me at what time. When you have a lot of cats you tend to become a sleeping contortionist. And the cats learn to 'cover surf'.My cats just sit where they are,when I move the covers.We all work together us two humans and 3 cats on a queensize bed.
Ever have a cat on your lap and you find you have to pee and you hold it in until you turn blue because kitty looks so peaceful and happy there sqishing your bladder as he vibrates it with his purr? Ever put up with kitty kneading? Cats,they are so beautiful and sweet it's almost painful. *giggle*

Cats don't usually want attention, but when they want attention they REALLY want attention.
John
Reading a newspaper here is a near-impossibility.

and DUers 'love' cats for their independence and intelligence, and if a DUer has a dog, it is allowed to be a 'dog' and not a Duer (freeper) in dog's clothing!

The freepers I have known mistreat their dogs terribly. They couldn't do that with a cat. It would run for the hills at the first opportunity, right?

I knew Rico Oller, the Repug California Senator. He's my brother's friend. He beats his hunting dogs and if they don't perform well, he shoots them. I've watched him torture wild animals. Disgusting. Interesting that he likes to kill wild cats, including bobcats and mountain lions. I have a picture of Rico (somewhere) with his dogs and a mountain lion he killed. Oo, da big bad hunter! I'm so impressed...not! His brother, Stuart, killed one with no permit, once.

Want the skinny? Read Hunting at the Crossroads, my short story. I wonder...would the California voters care if they knew this man had executed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of innocent dogs? I wonder if they'd even care.

They're independent. They don't NEED you, but they'll hang out with you anyway. If a cat shows you affection, it's because they like you- not because you're the head of the pack. They aren't afraid to give you a scratch if you piss them off, even though you probably outweigh them by about 20 times.

These are admirable qualities.

I also love dogs, but for different reasons. Dogs are needful friends, but they'd sacrifice their life to save yours in an instant. A cat would never ever do that.

Hmm... you know, I especially love small dogs. Not small, froo-froo dogs, but small tough dogs. I had a Pug/Chihuahua mix dog that probably weighed 25lbs., but picked fights with anything that showed him disrespect. A Great Dane, several German Shepherds... that dog had his bluff DOWN.

As a small guy, I truly respect that. I loved that dog. *sniff*

n/t

My family is 'balanced'. :P

n/t

You would need a Fox in order to fair AND balanced, now wouldn't you?

Tino Martinez, the orange tabby, Terra-the Terra-ists, Baybee the beautiful munchkin cat.

Also have 3 dogs and fish.
I'm an equal opporunity lover, I guess.

Cats rule!

(Dogs are okay, I guess.)

Didn't you know? ;-)

perhaps 2 or maybe 3. i'm a cat person without cats. some say that is why i am a cat person. we shall see when i get my own place i assume.