Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Why Cats Are Better Than Dogs

A person or family usually decides between a cat and a dog when deciding to get a family pet. While dogs are considered man's best friend, cats also make excellent house pets. There are many obvious and more discreet advantages to owning a cat over a dog. The major reason why cats make better pets is that a dog's love is almost automatically given to its master, while a cat's love must be earned.
Cats make better house pets because they are cleaner animals on a whole. Cats bathe themselves and use a litter box. Litter boxes are much easier to clean and maintain then constantly picking up a dog's droppings around the yard or neighborhood. Because cats wash themselves, they produce far less odor than dogs as well that help make a home smell better.
Also, cats are largely more independent than their canine counterparts. People who want to plan short vacations must make much more accommodations when they have a dog as a pet. Cat owners can merely leave enough water and dry food for their pet and a cat will be fine for days. For people who like to or have to constantly travel, a cat is the right choice.
Because cats are more independent, they require much less attention and work while lounging around the house. Dogs require walks for exercise, while cats can come and go as they please. A cat will always return home and do not require leashes. Especially in the cases of puppies, if a dog gets off its leash, they are much harder to track down than felines.
People must also account for the relative noise factor between dogs and cats. Barking dogs can not only annoy their owners and people who visit a home by jumping all over them but can annoy neighbors as well by barking at all hours of the night. Cats are much quieter than dogs making them a better choice for people who live in neighborhoods and have a lot of people who frequently visit their homes.
Dogs are definitely not bad pets, but they lack some of the uniqueness that cats offer to their owners. Cats are much more independent pets that are cleaner, quieter, require much less work to train, accommodate them while their masters are away, and do not need to be walked. When a person chooses a cat over a dog, they are making a well informed decision on pet ownership.

How To Take Care Of Cats - Basic Things You Have to Learn

If you want to learn how to take care of cats, you can actually find a lot of resources online and offline on this topic. Indeed, it is important to learn a few things on how to take care of cats even before bringing a new pet at home.
If you are interested or planning to take care of cats at home, here are a few things that you might want to learn and some tips that you may find useful in trying to take care of your pet cats.
- Conduct a research on a particular breed of cat that suits your lifestyle and your home. Keep in mind that one factor that will lead you to failure in adopting a cat into your home is the wrong choice of cat breed. Of course, you can take care of the breed you want but also consider if the breed is right if you have small children at home, or if you have other pets such as dogs and whether a particular cat breed is comfortable with that - or if the specific breed requires much time for grooming and may not be a good breed for someone who is as busy as you.
- House training your cats right when they arrive at home is also another thing that you have to be responsible for. Do not wait for your cat to get used to committing bad habits around the home before training them. This should be the first thing that you have to keep in mind if you want them to be good members of the family. In house training your cats, there are a lot of techniques and strategies that you can follow, but of course, do not punish your pets when they sometimes cannot follow your instructions. You have to be patient with them.
- Feeding your cats with the right food and avoiding the foods that may harm them is also another thing that you have to know on how to take care of cats. Of course, you can always go ask your vet among the good cat food available in the market, but make sure also that other family members are not giving your pet cat some food that may be a health hazard to them. Chocolates for example is not good for dogs and are also not good for cats. Chocolate can cause gastrointestinal problems in pets, so make sure all of the family members avoid giving your cats chocolate and other foods not for them.
- Grooming your pet cat. Learning how to take care of cats involve grooming as one of your responsibilities. You can train your cat to love water, and bathe them regularly. You have to also make sure that your pet is free from fleas and other parasites to make them happy and healthy as well as make your home free from such parasites as well.
These are just a few things that you have to keep in mind in learning how to take care of cats. There are other things that you also have to master so you can be a good master. Don't forget to also research on the specific tips that you need to learn in taking care of certain cat breeds as well.