Both cats and dogs make fabulous pets but they certainly are not similar and that is because they are wired completely different! Remember the book, “Men are From Mars & Women are From Venus”? Well it is kind of like calico cats for sale and dogs are from different planets too.
I have a cat that loves to hunt and if I let her, she would do a lot of hunting at night. But she is a black cat and we live near a highway so I call her in at night for obvious reasons. (And she actually comes – that’s my girl!)
Not only do cats instinctively hunt, they are also instinctively nocturnal because long ago they would do their hunting at night to avoid predators. They have trained themselves to detect motion with very little light. The long, stiff whiskers on a cat’s face are extended sideways when resting but when moving they extend forward to aid in hunting.
We all know that a dog’s strongest sense is smell. Well for a cat, both sight and hearing are stronger senses and prove very useful in the dark when hunting.
So if you are up in the middle of the night and find your cat wide awake, don’t think she is sick or crazy, she is just instinctively a cat! Your dog, on the other hand, will wake up from a deep sleep, stretch and wonder what’s wrong with you!
By this I mean that cats love to rub their bodies against us, and all the furniture in the house, and the trees and fences outside of the house. What is this all about?
Well our lovely little feline is instinctively marking her territory by putting her scent on all her surroundings. This is how cats tell other cats to stay away from their claimed area. Don’t be surprised if your cat makes a ceremonial walk around your property every morning to freshly mark her territory. And she likely has her favorite spot in your home to lie down where no one else is permitted to be.
Isn’t it nice to know that when your cat rubs herself against your leg, she thinks she owns you and not the other way around? Well, at least this territorial behavior is more pleasant than a dog’s, who urinates to mark his territory.
My cat loves to be caressed and cuddled but usually only for a few minutes and then she wants to be left alone so she jumps out of my arms. I don’t take offense because I know she loves me and that instinctively cats like to be alone. There are not many “lap cats” out there so if you are looking for a cuddly pet to rest on your lap, then you need a “lap dog”.
Once again it goes back to a cat’s origins and their hunting habits. When too many cats were around, there were too many scents so cats would find their own territory to hunt their prey. As a result, cats prefer to be alone.
