Are cats good for nothing?

Why, they are God's miniature killing machines.

They keep any small grey mice down that try to populate our yard. Mice can't make it in our house, either. They eat pesky birds, moths, caterpillars, grasshoppers; whatever comes along.

They teach the smallish dog next door his manners, they provide you with warm love and companionship. They provide protection against (small) dangers. Bed-warmers.

They have many uses. I like them all (domestic or feral).

The cool factor doesn't hurt, either.

[edited to add]

"Cats aren't dirty, they are covered with Cat-Spit."
--Art Bell
 
Cats can be very useful in controlling vermin, but a kitten must be taught by its mother or another cat how to hunt and kill. Many urbanized indoor cats have never received this training, and while they will pounce on things, will not know what to do with them. The drawback of hunter cats is that they will kill everything in sight, to include lizards, frogs, birds, and all the other wildlife that I like to have around. Our backyard is like a local bird sanctuary, because our dogs keep the local cats away, but do not disturb the birds and lizards. I am allergic to cats anyway, so we have none, but I grew up with numerous cats. BTW, certain terrier breeds will do a very good job of controlling rodents and such vermin.
 
I've found that people who hate cats are generally troubled folk. Many people use dogs as subservient critters whose purpose in life is to bolster their owner's poor self-esteem. Witness the many rottweiler/pit-bull owners. These same folk are the kind most likely to buy things as if these objects were some kind of reflection of themselves...as if a big motorcycle [or fill in the blank] makes you some kind of bad-ass. Pitiful.

Most of these types wouldn't be nearly as scornful if they met up with a 100 lb. version (housecat I mean).

Nowhere in nature do you find a animal that keeps its proportions as it ranges from 8 to 800 lbs. Dogs, when bred down exhibit dwarfism with short legs, outsized heads, bug-eyes, and other undesirable traits. When bred up, gigantism appears...jaws too big, skulls malformed, joint problems, etc. But your little housecat is a perfect miniature of a bengal tiger.

Do I like dogs? You bet. They're just different. Robert Heinlein put it like this...dogs are slaves, cats are citizens.
 
cats have 2 uses:

target practice, then muffler plugs.

I'm a dog person, but I still have a thing for the big cats. The grace and beauty of a cougar or bengal tiger is hard to beat. Most of my art work that I have done is big cats. One is a 8x10, done in ONLY a #2... no erasing, no smudging to shade.

if I can get a good scan I'll post.
 
My cat (ha ha, like I really own her) has been, for the most part, a wonderful companion for the past twelve years. For anyone who doesn't think that cats are as tough (pound for pound) as dogs, I have an intersting little story. My wife and I went on an overnight camping trip a few years back, and while we were gone, the cat disappeared. This was during the summer with 100 degree plus temps during the day. We got back Sunday, and didn't find the cat until the following Thursday. She had been hit by a car, and her pelvis and tail were both shattered. She had dragged herself home from God-knows-where and made it into our neighbor's shed. She tore out all the claws on her back feet in the process. We got her fixed up, and now she is pretty much good as new (minus the tail and a bit of agility.) When I found her and picked her up, I could tell how broken she was; her poor legs were splayed out like a fryer chicken. However, she didn't even cry out. She just looked into my eyes with absolute love. She is a real trooper, and I consider myself blessed to live with such an incredible creature.
--Josh
 
Josh> growing up on a farm, it's a $0.25 solution for an injured cat... .22 solution in fact.

They breed fast enough anyways.
 
VampyreWolf-- I grew up on a farm, and I've put down my share of animals. It was nice to be able to fix one for once instead of just shooting it in the back of the head.
--Josh
 
Let's not forget one of the alltime greatest uses for the domestic cat:

GETTING RID OF THE BUBONIC PLAGUE!!!!

Whether you see cats as urine-spraying, flowerbed-mining midnight yowlers or not, they take care of themselves more than most animals and eat potential disease vectors with the fervor of a homicidal maniac.

We are out of the middle ages, but people still die of rodent-borne diseases. Hanta virus is spread by mice dribbling their urine across dishes in the cupboard, etc. A house cat is cheap and easy protection against things like this. Same goes for your food store and the grain in your barn.

Scott
 
u got your rescue dogs, guard dogs, police dogs, drug sniffer dogs, bomb detector dogs, seeing eye dogs, hunting dogs, sled dogs, etc..., and then u got your cats for companionship and killing rodents..oh yeah and like previously stated...target practice. :D
 
We like dogs and cats both.

Cats control vermen more efficiently than dogs.

Cats will alert you to strangers quietly while the dogs will do it noisily.

Cats are neater about defication than dogs.

Cats are generally cleaner than dogs.

The biggest cat can still fit in your lap comfortably.;)
 
great points..especially about the one about defecation..i love how people keep litter boxes in their homes and how cats keep so clean by lickin their selves with their saliva..oh yeah and alerting people quietly is funny as hell too...not tryin to be sarcastic or anything;)
 
Well I bet you guessed I'm a dog person but I once had the coolest cat who would hike through the woods with me. He was a thin supple creature who could do just about anything. He cleaned out the entire mouse population. The first huge rat he caught scarred him up pretty good but he learned how to deal with them from that one experience and killed lots of them.

Personally I prefer dogs though. They are excellent overall companions and no matter what the size they guard the house. My favorites are Jack Russels and they have been described as a kitty cat in a dogs body. Mine easily catches birds, squirrles and anything else that walks or crawls. Cairn terriers are my absolute favorites.

All jokes aside though, I think I have enough room for both cats and dogs. They both make good companions and both reduce stress.
 
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