# A lifetime dog person is considering a future cat (UPDATE with photos) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 21, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980 "2019-02-21T19:46:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/21 "2019-02-22T19:39:47Z")
I asked her vet about my Feline Overlady’s chewing on my fingers. She said probably Her Felineness was separated from her mother at too young an age. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/22 "2019-02-22T19:58:31Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > That’s what I’ve heard, so I was very suspicious. It seems she really does want tummy rubs, though! I’m careful not to overstimulate, and so far so good. She’s definitely a love biter, though. She likes to do the gentlest little mouthings of my hand when she’s really happy. I’m still wary, but ::heart eyes:: Does she do [the hug ‘n’ bite](https://lucylou.livejournal.com/566600.html)? My Tina did but I trained her to nuzzle me with her forehead instead of biting; it’s adorable. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/23 "2019-02-22T20:39:35Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Does she do [the hug ‘n’ bite](https://lucylou.livejournal.com/566600.html)? My Tina did but I trained her to nuzzle me with her forehead instead of biting; it’s adorable. Sometimes, yep. Every time she does it I’ve been dramatically taking my hand away and saying “no bite” or “ow!”. I figure it works for puppies… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mind\_the\_gap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/24 "2019-02-22T20:53:56Z")
Congrats! Very pretty cat, hope she has a long and happy life with you. ---
**Author:** ![tampora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@tampora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tampora)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/25 "2019-02-22T21:18:42Z")
I have a plain-old cat now, but I’d much rather have a _Future Cat_. I assume laser-beam eyes, supersonic meows, and tritanium claws. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/26 "2019-02-22T21:27:12Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You shall receive double blessings from Bast for adopting an adult. > > Those eyes speak volumes. Very true, and it is clear she loves you already. Good match! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/27 "2019-02-23T02:20:41Z")
Aww, she’s lovely! Congratulations on your new friend! ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/28 "2019-02-23T02:26:10Z")
She looks and sounds like a big sweetheart. But yes, beware of belly rubs that last _too_ long. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/29 "2019-02-23T04:47:47Z")
IThisjust reminded me of the first time Boris rolled over, stretched out and presented his tummy for rubbing… and then threw up all over my bed! ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/30 "2019-02-23T08:56:39Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > Sometimes, yep. Every time she does it I’ve been dramatically taking my hand away and saying “no bite” or “ow!”. I figure it works for puppies… 🙂 It probably won’t work for a cat. 😃 What you have to do is learn to read her so you know when she’s getting to that point. Then stop before anything happens. So many people don’t realize this, over-stimulate the cat, then get mad at him/her for biting. It’s the human’s fault not the cat’s. They’re just being a cat. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/31 "2019-02-23T10:23:22Z")
> [@tampora](#): > > I have a plain-old cat now, but I’d much rather have a _Future Cat_. I assume laser-beam eyes, supersonic meows, and tritanium claws. That might wind up being a trifle hard on the furniture. To the OP: Congratulations! She’s a beautiful cat, and sounds like a real sweetie, too. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/32 "2019-02-23T12:04:45Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > It probably won’t work for a cat. 😃 What you have to do is learn to read her so you know when she’s getting to that point. Then stop before anything happens. So many people don’t realize this, over-stimulate the cat, then get mad at him/her for biting. It’s the human’s fault not the cat’s. They’re just being a cat. This is the perfect advice. It won’t work for a cat. Dogs **want** to please you. Cats really don’t unless it’s on their terms and it pleases _them_. In my household there’s a rule: do not tease the cats, not at all, and especially not with your hands. Dangle or throw toys for them, but don’t teach them that your hand is a toy. I mean, they play with their prey before they dismember it, ya know. And if they get rambunctious and go after a body part (yours), leave the field. Don’t scold and don’t hit. Just stop and move away. Don’t make it a battle of wills. That does not create a happy household. Think of it as a courtship, a wooing. When the cat eventually and then routinely seeks you out and curls up and falls asleep in your lap, you will melt into a big, mushy, happy puddle. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/33 "2019-02-23T19:35:34Z")
> [@tampora](#): > > I have a plain-old cat now, but I’d much rather have a _Future Cat_. I assume laser-beam eyes, supersonic meows, and tritanium claws. [Catbot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gfMx09HclE) ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/34 "2019-02-23T19:57:04Z")
We had cats when I was a kid including ones I really loved. And I still like cats. But we got our first dog 20+ yrs ago when our kids demanded it, and became dog people. Our second dog, she passed last year, was a sublime creature. She actually looked kind of like a cat, like a small white lioness that is (Argentine Mastiff/APBT mix with ears cut off by a fighting breeder). Not so much ‘subservient’ as a throw back to the original canine-human relationship: fearsome predator in unbreakable alliance with humans. We’re still too heartbroken to get another dog. We dog sit our daughter’s pit bull sometimes, not as awe inspiring, but a fun dog. Cats can be nice but I don’t see ever getting one. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/35 "2019-02-23T20:08:28Z")
**MoonMoon** – that first pic (especially) in the OP is amazing! What a gorgeous sweet kitten! And I say this as a confirmed dog lover and professed cat hater, although really I generally love all animals. 🙂 > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > It’s funny-- I had always had cats, and when I got my first dog at age 40 (my age, not the dog’s), the “blind obedience and subservience” really unnerved me. She followed me everywhere and always seemed to be waiting for instructions. I was used to being completely ignored. 🙂 You might have been more comfortable with my Bernese Mountain Dog! He was very intelligent and also very much a dog of his own mind, no doubt the alpha dog of the litter. When he was still quite young I took him out to the back yard for his first lesson in fetching. I stood on the deck with a tennis ball, and he sat down beside me. I threw the ball across the yard, and he turned his head and looked at me in an inquisitive sort of way, as if to say, “Is that supposed to impress me? Tell you what, I’ll be impressed if _ **you** _ run out and bring it back!”. That attitude more or less defined our relationship going forward. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/36 "2019-02-25T16:22:36Z")
Sweet cat! Congrats! ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/37 "2019-02-25T17:44:34Z")
Aww! _melts into a puddle_ ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980/38 "2019-02-25T18:07:16Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > **MoonMoon** – that first pic (especially) in the OP is amazing! What a gorgeous sweet kitten! And I say this as a confirmed dog lover and professed cat hater, although really I generally love all animals. 🙂 > > You might have been more comfortable with my Bernese Mountain Dog! He was very intelligent and also very much a dog of his own mind, no doubt the alpha dog of the litter. When he was still quite young I took him out to the back yard for his first lesson in fetching. I stood on the deck with a tennis ball, and he sat down beside me. I threw the ball across the yard, and he turned his head and looked at me in an inquisitive sort of way, as if to say, “Is that supposed to impress me? Tell you what, I’ll be impressed if _ **you** _ run out and bring it back!”. That attitude more or less defined our relationship going forward. 😃 She cemented my role as new cat lady this weekend, when she really learned how to lap snuggle. (Previously, she’d just been sort of tentatively standing on my with two paws, and once in a while standing on my collarbones with all four. Not a position conducive to petting…or keeping hair out of my nose.) \<3 I’ve had a Great Pyrenees, and it’s pretty similar. They are aloof, independent giant furry cats, in many ways. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lifetime-dog-person-is-considering-a-future-cat-update-with-photos/829980.md?page=1)