I have one cat and one dog. My family has always had both cats and dogs, so I always thought of myself as both a cat and a dog person. But, in the nearly five years since I got my dog, it’s become increasingly apparent that I’m actually a dog person. I’ve taken the liberty of rating my dog versus catness with handy visual ratings.

Pictures on Instagram

I just started an Instagram account a few weeks ago. I’ve posted a total of twelve pictures. Four of them are of my dog. Only one is of my cat.

One more contains a dog that isn’t mine, but it also has a drawing of a Pegasus hugging aforementioned dog, so I don’t think that counts.

#catsofinstagram versus #dogsfinstagram

I looked at the cats of Instagram tag once after I posted the picture of my cat. I look at dogs of Instagram almost every time I’m on there.

Pictures on my phone

 

To be fair, my cat is exceptionally lazy, so pictures are usually of him lounging around somewhere and how many pictures of a lounging cat do you need?

This rating doesn’t include the pictures of them together, which might outnumber the number of pictures of cat alone.

Wallpaper images

This is the wallpaper on my phone and it has been since I took the picture at least three phones ago.

I’ve never once had my cat as my wallpaper and he’s nearly twice as old as the dog.

As far as computers, I have pictures from around the universe on those, so neither are represented there.

Hugs given

I hug my dog a lot mostly because she hates it. She’ll actually growl at me if she’s really not into being hugged. The cat, on the other hand, loves hugs.

Number of hugs I give my dog every day even though she hates hugs: at least half a dozen.

Number of hugs I give my cat every day even though he loves hugs: maybe half a dozen out of parity after I hug the dog, but only if he’s nearby.

Number of toys purchased and destroyed

My dog got four brand new toys last weekend, because I ran across four cheap toys (one was only ¢99) that I knew she’d love. Every time I go shopping and I find cheap toys (less than $5), the dog gets a new one, just not usually four in one weekend.

The cat got one toy last weekend, a brand new catnip cigar, and even that is unusual since he doesn’t much care for toys. His favorite toy is actually an old HDMI cable. He loves chewing on cords, so I leave one out for him to keep him from chewing on cords I actually need, e.g., the ones that are plugged in and busy carrying electrical current to electrical things.

If you count the HDMI cable and various things he’s chewed over the years as toys, then the rating looks more like this:

Still, dog wins.

Amount of time spent entertaining and exercising

The cat, being lazy as hell, gets maybe five minutes worth of toy playing a day before he gets bored and gives up.

The dog needs walking three times a day minimum. One of those walks is usually going to the dog park where I spend an hour every single day. I don’t begrudge the roughly two hours per day spent exercising the dog; most days, I actually enjoy it.

Number of each I would have if money and space were no object

Cats: maybe three or four.

Dogs: all of them (except the little yappy ones).

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So, what about you? Are you a cat person, a dog person, neither or both?