In the great cat vs dog debate, I will admit, I am a dog person. Now don't get me wrong, I love all animals, even cats. But there is something very aristocratic and impersonal about cats that just rubs me the wrong way. A dog will come when you call it, sit when you tell it to and generally be happy to be in your presence. If you call a cat, it will turn the other way, walk over to a corner and proceed to lick its backside. Not my idea of the perfect pet.
My beef, however, is not with cats...they can't help what they are... it is with the cat owners. For some reason our government has omitted a law restricting cats to their owners' dwellings and because of that oversight, cats have been allowed to run freely in my neighbourhood. Every morning I see a fresh set of paw prints wandering around my yard, even onto my porch, without restraint. Clearly these prints belong to some neighbourhood cat who's owner thinks their pet Puss has some God-given right to roam the neighbourhood at will without any second thought to what Puss might be up to. For one day when I was angrily following those paw prints onto my porch I discovered the reason why Puss liked to visit my porch so much. There, in the corner, on a nice bed of leaves, was a large, Tootsie Roll-shaped turd from sweet Puss. I was disgusted, appalled. I moved in to get a closer look...could it be? Yes, Puss is using my porch as a litter box.
Again, I am not blaming Puss for his behaviour.... after all, would you want to crap in the snow? I blame the ignorant cat owners on my street who allow their cats to run amok and are naive enough to think that Puss will "hold it" all day or selfish enough to not care if they don't. This is only the tip of the cat-hating iceburg though. There are plenty of
websites that echo my complaint about the reign of cats and some are not so nice in their solutions. In fact, with all the
nasties out there that can harm Puss, one must wonder if their owners care about them at all; or if they are simply hoping that Puss will get run over, shot, poisoned, trapped or perhaps eaten by a Fisher. One thing is for sure though; I will not shed a tear if they do.
