I’ve recently realized I’m not a cat person or a dog person; I’m a furniture person.
Honestly, I like cats because I prefer cat people to dog people.
You might hate one of my cats. He loves new people and will sometimes do the same thing my neighbor’s occasionally ill-mannered ( but very sweet) lab mix does - rear up on his hind legs and “jump” on you with his front paws. 'course the fact that he weighs 13 lbs instead of nearly 90 and is a bit more relaxed about the whole maneouver means that the relative impact is rather less trying :p.
I’ve had dogs and cats, and I loved my dogs & cats and they loved me back. I think I liked dogs about as well as cats, but they fill different niches, sort of. (The “sort of” reflects my first cat, who apparently thought she was a dog. She came when called. She loved loved loved rides in the car. She followed me…had to be inside when I went to school because she’d follow me all the way. She would fetch.)
Right now I am dogless and I miss the fact that you can take dogs along on your run, or along on your errands if they won’t have to be in the car too long. Dogs will tell you when the doorbell rings. Dogs will protect you.
On the other hand, I’ve had good cats. I’ve never had the kind who spray the furniture. I only had one who peed in inappropriate places, and this was after he was a perfect gentleman for nine years. He quickly became an outdoor-only cat, except for when it was really cold when he got to sleep either in the furnace room or with my son. I have had people who tell me they don’t smell, and frankly, I never can smell them. I can smell the box sometimes, but only when it needs to be scooped. My cats are friendly. They generally meet me at the door, and they usually hang out in whatever room the most family members are in. They aren’t really lap cats, but sometimes, if one of us is in a particularly bad mood, a cat will come and sit in his/her lap and purr, almost as if they’re comforting us.
I have always been able to smell my dogs, though, and they’ve always smelled like dogs, all the time. On the way home from the groomer they smell like clean dogs, but there it is, that doggy smell. I don’t like it. I don’t like being licked. I don’t like touching doggy-saliva-drenched tennis balls, ew ew ew. The dogs I’ve owned have been much worse about leaving their hair all over the place than my cats.
So I think I am basically a cat person, because I believe a dog person would be untroubled by a dog who smelled like a dog, and might not even be able to smell the dog at all.
FWIW, a while back, the NY Times had an article about men with cats.
Yea, smaller size makes a difference - I am not a large person myself (just over 5’ tall in fact) so a 13 lb cat instead of 90 lb dog is much easier to handle… and of course, cats would be hard pressed to equal the amount of slobber an overexcited dog produces 
Yes! I grew up with cats and dogs, and I can’t think of something I’d identify as a ‘cat’ smell. But even though I was used to having dogs around, I could always smell that ‘doggy’ smell. Since I don’t have dogs now, the doggy smell can seem quite strong. Especially when combined with bad doggy breath…
I also dislike being slobbered on 
Like the OP, I like a pet that isn’t so needy. I’m definitely an introvert. And I’d rather scoop 10 litterboxes than pick up a bag of dog doo (and hopefully you dog-owners that claim the litterbox is the turn off ARE picking up your dog’s doo and not leaving it to end up on my shoe).
I’ve had both cats and dogs, and while dogs are nice, I’ll never be without a cat. I guess for me, the fact that I was bitten by a dog I trusted was the deciding factor. I still have the scar on my nose, but the breach of trust was worse than the bite.
I have 5 dogs and 4 cats and two horses. I think that makes me insane.
StG
I’m not so sure about that… feed my cat an hour after his normal feeding time and he howls bloody murder! Then again, he has a habit of greeting me at the door like a dog.
I am an introvert, but have had pet horses, pigs, chickens, guinea pigs, rats, birds, giant African millipedes, hedgehogs, geckos, tarantulas, iguanas,dogs and cats. Actually my favorite of all of them was a hairless rat named Harry, who was smarter than any other animal I’ve had and had twice the personality. I’ve bred and raised pugs, who have lots of personality, and now have a Rottie-pit mix who needs fairly constant reminding that she is not the boss and I am. Rotties are like that. But none of my animals has ever been extremely needy – I think that would drive me mad.
Yep, cats are extraordinary creatures of habit and know their daily schedule better than their owners. If you’re not on time for the evening feeding, you get three cats standing there yelling at you.
If you’re up late watching a movie or something. They get antsy waiting for you to go to bed.
IN the morning, they watch very closely to see if it’s a “sleep in and hang around the house petting me all day” day, or a “getting dressed, leaving us alone and coming home in time for the evening can of food” day. If it’s the first, they hop back into bed and curl up. If it’s the second, they sit around and sulk til you leave.
I have 3 cats, 2 bunnies, 2 horses, 1 bird and 1 fish, and am an introverted extrovert.