there's more than one way to skin a cat

A river outfitter I’ve guided for, when you ask him how he wants something done, invariably answers, “It’s your cat…” implying, “Do it how you want to”.
He and I also had a great discussion once on variations of “screwing the pooch”–shtupping the schnauser, buggering the beagle, etc., but I’m getting off the species at hand.
–Alan Q

[[So, why is it a cat that one attempts to spin in an enclosed space in order to establish that there is not enough room to spin one? Why not a dog, chipmunk, ardvark, or whatever?]]

I believe that refers to “swinging” a cat-o-nine-tails.