So the big question…Are you a dog or a cat person or both?
I would always have said I was a dog person but some years back, we acquired Max The Cat. He was already called Max so we had to add “The Cat” to distinguish him from Max The Baby. Max was a lovely cat. Incredibly affectionate and always up for a cuddle. Unless you happened to be a rabbit. We always knew when Spring was really underway as every morning Max would present me with a baby rabbit. The rabbits would get larger and larger as the months went past until he would be tackling fully grown rabbits and returning home with the battle scars to prove it. Despite having two dogs in the house, Max was definitely the boss and would make the two dogs wait until he had eaten all he wanted from his “rabbit tartare”, before he would allow them to approach and finish up the remains.
We took Max to France with us, but very sadly, one day he went out and never returned.
By this time, Max had me so smitten with cats, that we’d got two kittens for the girls, Toby and Emily. We still have Emily who is now a cantankerous middle aged lady. This was to be the start of a long line of cats… Toby unfortunately got squished by the next door neighbours teenage daughter. I think it was only the second time she had ever been behind the wheel of a car and it traumatised her for months. Me too. There’s nothing like eating supper with three small children on a dark winters evening when a distraught 18 year old turns up in floods of tears, clutching a dead kitten. It was hard to know whose tears to mop up first!
Emily then had kittens and we kept one, Felix, who eventually succumbed to a virus. Then came Murdoch, a very pretty grey, who we are pretty sure got stolen. At this point my mantra had become “No more Cats.” Needless to say, when James turned up one day carrying a sports holdall which contained a half starved Barrabas, my mantra went out of the window. We now have three cats and two dogs. I couldn’t imagine being without any of them. Neels - the decrepit spaniel was hit by a car on Sunday night and the entire household was over the moon when we realised that he was ok. I didn’t want another dog when we were asked to take on Neels and I certainly wouldn’t have chosen one that is half blind, deaf, limps, has a heart condition and farts excessively. But in the last two years we have all grown to adore him, even Emily the miserable cat will get in his box to cuddle him.
And when we lost Lemon (cat) a couple of weeks ago, it was Mischa (dog) who found her.
Writing this long ramble has made me conclude that these days, I’m both a cat and dog person. How about you?
We once had a cat that would come for a walk with us. Once, when we went on holiday and left her at home with my in-laws visiting to feed her every day. One evening she took herself off and they heard her meowing at their front door - they lived about half a mile away. and so she stayed there until we returned! She only ever did this when we were away!
Now we have a cat that comes on the evening dog walk!
I’m sure you didn’t and in any case, each to his own, it is just as well we don’t all have the same likes and dislikes.
We have a 2 year old cat, Indi, who is so playful, you could say just like a dog! He is very ‘in your face’ always demanding and very playful
I didn’t mean to imply I didn’t like cats, Lynn. We have two, with a third “neighborhood” cat who stops by to eat on occasion. Intelligent and sensitive, yes, but not the playful buddy a dog is.
I think you need to get a cat to change your mind Rich!
They are such intelligent and sensitive creatures.
PS
Chats du Quercy can supply you with many that I can assure will change your opinion!
Catherine that is some list! We bought ourselves a pair of Korat kittens (Poppy and Willow) just after we got married in 1998 (traditionally they were given as wedding gifts in Thailand where they are from). They have moved house with us twice and although in the UK they were indoors only girls they love it here in France, visiting the neighbours for fresh cuts of deli ham, occasionally doing a bit of mousing, but more often to be found sunbathing. They are now 13 years old and we know we have been very lucky to have had them for so long. In 2008 we were persuaded to take on a black Labrador cross puppy - first dog in our family. The cats weren’t too happy at first, but without the use of stairgates we managed to train Mini not to go upstairs, thus giving the cats a dog free area. Mini is good fun and gets us out of the house and exercises us (something the cats really weren’t interested in) and is good company. So am I a dog or a cat person? It would have to be both, as they are so different, life without my dog walk or my cat foot warmer in bed would not be a good life!
I think i’m more dog than cat, when we are back in France for good and our project is finished I definitely want a dog, I’m not sure if our cat Stanley will want to come with us to the new house though as he’s happy with our neighbour now. He did move back in with us last time after we’d been away in Dublin and seemed to settle with the children again but this is a long stretch for him & I’m preparing myself for if he wants to stay at our neighbours. He’s quite a character, I do feel guilty about leaving him but we have to make the most of these early years being able to travel en famille, unfortunately I can’t see him living a dual life in France & Canary Wharf (despite the name there aren’t any canaries for him to catch).
I’m definately a dog person. Dogs are grateful, appreciative, fun to play with. Cats are useful as mousers, but not much else.