I’ve a theory that atheists are predominantly cat people. So, here it is: If you are an atheist, please comment on whether you’ve a preference for cats or dogs. If you’ve a preference for reptiles, I’ve a foster-tegu in need of a good home. Living with me, he simply thinks he’s one of the cats.
I have two cats: Ben (a brown tabby) and Jack (a black tabby – true black cats are very rare, the tabby stripes can be seen in the right light).
Funny about that. The first time I noticed tabby stripes on a black cat, it was a feral kitten I was fostering and socializing. The black on black stripes made him all the more distinctive and beautiful, in my eyes. I’ve on medium-haired Maine coon mix, now, who is solid black, though it looks like sun-bleaching gives brown tips to the longest hairs. I’ve also three short-haired, part Siamese foster kittens (over two years old, now, making them permanent fosters), and they had faint stripes visible as kittens.
I didn’t know about the stripes until a vet showed me and explained how rare true black cats are. But another interesting thing about black cats is that they very seldom are solid black. They usually have a white spot on them (on reck, on the chest or in the arm pits). Those are called “God’s finger” because when they were burning black cats in the middle ages, they would let those with the white dots live. They said the cats had been touched by God’s finger.
No kidding! I had no idea. I have noticed that black cats are said to be bad luck in the States and good luck in England. The mother of my foster litter was solid black except for a white triangle located to look like a bikini bottom. One of her three solid black kittens has white hairs inside her ears. Another had one white whisker, only once, and that whisker grew downward, very long, and curled toward midline. I called it her half-fu-manchu. All her whiskers have underwise been black.
I have rescue animals… 1 cat, three dogs…. not necessarily my choice.. I chose none. My family chose to rescue them.
So you’re not “an animal person” at all, then? Guess I should add that to the list of polling options.
I will not mistreat animals nor fail to lend my friendship to them, but I would not run to a store to buy a pet. The only reason I accepted these animals in my home is because they were rescue animals… I would not choose to have pets.
I agree with you, @myatheistlife, regarding purchasing a pet. Mine, too, are all rescues. With thousands killed daily just for not having a home, especially pets whose parents were owned and not spayed/neutered by their humans, I can’t respect the purchasing of pets deliberately (over)bred for money. Where I live, folks on the lower socioeconomic rungs breed pit bulls, labs, chihuahuas, dachshunds without documentation just for the money. Too many such dogs wind up on Craig’s List or roaming the streets, when their buyers tire of them. Shelters are full. Professional breeders with documented purebreds set the example, and too often, they’re “produce” suffers the same fate: The animals suffer.
Cat
Nothing against dogs, except doing poop patrol.
Good choice, IMHO
I am a dog person! Though I have never had much history with cats, so it’s hard to say at this point how much this is do to accident.
Hi, Tim, and thanks for responding. I’m sure we could find you a perfectly good cat. Then, you could see whether you’ve been missing out, all this time.
Dog person. All the way.
Any particular breed? (And, isn’t your avatar that of a witch? I thought witches were supposed to choose cats — something about “familiars”…. Hey, did you put a spell on your cat and turn it into a dog?)