Cats and Dogs

Here are a few of my own cat-dog observations:

When a dog yawns, it means he's bored.  When a cat yawns, it means you're boring.

When a dog rolls over on a bed and accidentally falls off, he looks embarrassed.  When a cat does it, she says, "There now."

When you come home at night, the dog says, "I missed you!"  The cat says, "You missed me!"

When you say to a dog, "Jump!"  He eagerly says, "How high?"  When you say it to a cat, she says. "Rhymes with chump," and snoozes on.

Dogs will eat anything.  We all know what picky eaters cats are.

Dogs worry.  Cats sleep.

I think dogs genuinely love us, but cats see us as warm furniture with can-opener attachments.

I love both cats and dogs and have lived with them all my life.  They always figure into my novels (The Magdalene Scrolls, Yesterday's Child and The Dreaming, to name just a few).  My favorite comic strip, "Mutts" by Patrick McDonnell, features the sweetest dog and cat team ever created.  I am addicted to kitty and puppy videos on YouTube.  And don't get me started on movies, The Incredible Journey and Old Yeller.

It's obvious why humans took dogs as pets.  But cats?  It was probably the purr that stopped some cat-ancestor from being a caveman's dinner, and that was the start of a wonderful relationship.

But getting back to those facial expressions.  I must admit that my Rottweiler, Hamburger, conveys a lot more to me than my cat, Tuxedo, does.  I know when Hamburger is happy or sad.  I can never guess what Tuxedo is feeling.  Although I do worry what either of them thinks when they see me step out of the shower.