I am a cat person. Here's me, late 70s (yeah, I look good) with my beloved Rufus, who was with me from birth (his mother, Katrinka, was also an excellent cat) until he died when I was in college. I've always had a cat or two in my life - sitting on my paperwork, making silly noises at birds outside the window, curled up on my feet while I sleep. The cute orange guy is Patrick, my current purring friend.
Growing up, I collected little cat figurines, I had coffee-table books about cats, I listened to the CATS soundtrack while following along in my copy of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. When my first son was born, my mother re-upholstered her grandmother's rocking chair for me in cat upholstery.
So what I'm saying is, in that whole cat v. dog debate, I always pick the felines. I grew up with some lovely dogs, and 9 1/2 years ago we adopted Alison, a charming sweetheart of a Boxer-mutt. I like the dogs just fine, but - well - they're just not cats.
But every once in a while, even cat lovers can fall madly in love with a pup, and that's what happened on 12-24, when we met and adopted Eve from the German Shepherd rescue society. Eve is, first of all, gorgeous, and hey, good looks never hurt in love at first sight situations. And she's a puppy - ergo, puppy love. Plus, unlike Ali, she doesn't fart much or leave your hands smelling all doggish after even the briefest of scratches. She's sweet-natured and wags her entire back half when she's happy and plays well with the other pets (well, she will when Patrick gets the rest of the way over his snit about her) and is darn smart.
She has puppy-transition issues - she's not perfect - and she likes to lick my feet, which weirds me out (I have feet issues) but there's lots and lots of good there. There's lots and lots of good in Ali, too, as there was in Pepper and Perro and Pogo and all of those other pups I grew up with. And my husband and sons are dog people. So I'd have been happy to have her in the family regardless. But I'm telling you, there is just something charming and excellent about this one, this cat-lovers dog. I'm smitten, and therefore, I will show you pictures.
Our cat/dog story is almost the opposite. The one cat that totally stole our hearts was Comfort, a gray striped, neutered male that showed up on our front porch and adopted us.
ReplyDeleteHe would lie on Honey's lap and let her play with his feet - she has foot issues, too - just another kind.
He had been with us for several years when he got injured in a fight. I took him to the vet for treatment, and as I pulled up in the parking lot he jumped out the truck window and ran off into the woods, never to be seen again.
We love our dogs, but we still miss that cat.