The story below is from our March/April 2021 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Cats too persnickety and arrogant? Dogs too messy and loud? State your case!
Want to start an argument? Announce your preference for cats or dogs in a crowd. It has been thus since dogs, cats and people merged. Those with dogs and cats in the Roanoke Valley are no exceptions. Here’s what some of them have to say.
Dr. Matt Parker, a holistic functional veterinarian at Roanoke Animal Acupuncture, is careful when comparing cat lovers to dog lovers. “People who prefer one species over the other are strongly opinionated, and pointing out their differences in print is almost akin to discussing the differences between those of opposing politics. There is a meme or poster or saying out there somewhere that says, ‘Dogs have owners, cats have staff.’ Generally, dogs love pleasing their people and cats just want to be left alone and for someone to clean their toilet.”
Dorothy Owsley was in the market for neither a cat nor a dog but wound up with both. First, her son brought over a border collie, Brooklyn, for her to keep overnight. That was two years ago. Brooklyn is still there. Then the collie heard strange noises on the side porch night after night and finally encouraged Owsley to investigate. She found a very young, tiny, feral kitten who has since “been terrorizing everything.” And, of course, she fell in love with the kitten and insists that “the dog adopted Nyla.” Brooklyn, she says, “has a strong maternal instinct.”
Journalist Luanne Rife observes: “A dog might counter surf when you leave the kitchen and have the decency to try to hide his crime or act all guilty. But a cat jumps right up there, muscles his way into taking over food prep and serves himself first, or turns up his nose in disgust. Who needs that kind of commentary on their meal choices? As if someone who spends hours grooming his privates should be so righteous. And don’t get me started on hair balls.”
Former Kiwanis president Jenny Lee has a tiny cat, adopted through Angels of Assisi. Their relationship is a bit odd. “Three years ago, Tippi [who weighs about four-and-a-half pounds] took down my 11-foot Fraser fir and smashed most of my late mom’s precious antique ornaments. In 2020, she tripped me in the middle of the night and put me in the hospital for five nights with three fractured ribs and a partially collapsed lung.”
John Michael Saunders Junior has little use for cats: “I hate their dander; it sends my allergies racing over a cliff. I hate the smell of their litter boxes, and the whole concept of a litter box. I hate the ease with which even the most domesticated cat can become violent. But most of all, I hate their utter entitlement while being utterly dependent.”
Roanoke-based author Roland Lazenby is concise in his disdain for dogs: “Farts.”
Legal aid lawyer Elizabeth Barbour all but apologizes for her dislike of cats. “I do not want to dislike cats, but I have one that is aging and pees on my hardwood floors. She once peed on the bed.”
Frank House’s complaint is similar: “I once had a cat that started peeing on our bed. Goodbye. Since then I’ve had a few other cats that were eerily aloof and demanding. Egyptians knew something.”
Fred Sachs, retired HR director at Medical Facilities of America, says, “As a kid, cats’ dander gave me terrible wheezing attacks. In 1970, I spent several hours cooped up with a Siamese named Hamlet. I was awake all night, couldn’t breathe. The next morning, I went to the doc, and he asked me if anyone had ever called this asthma. I said, expectantly, ‘Not yet.’ He did. Hello 4-F! Goodbye Vietnam! Thank you, Hamlet! I hate cats, but Hamlet saved my butt.”
Author Karen Chase says, “A cat, to me, is one of the best ways to find humility. Every time I think highly of myself, I’m cleaning up puke or emptying the litter box, and every day I’m reminded I’m not the one in this house comfortably napping for 21 hours straight.”
Real estate agent Kathy Bibb has three cats. “I’m one cat away from being a crazy cat lady. Cats are smarter than dogs, cleaner than dogs, take up less space and don’t have to be walked. Dogs are hyper and cats lower your blood pressure. Dogs are like kids to me. I like other people’s kids, just never wanted any of my own.”
Writer Dan Radmacher is that rare breed: a man who prefers cats. “The stereotype of cats is aloof and uncaring, but my cats over the years have tended to be lap cats with loud purrs, and there’s just nothing more soothing than reading a book with a purring cat in your lap ... or having a warm cat curl up by your head or behind your knees at night.”
Catherine Koebel Stromberg insists we should “bell all the cats, I love birds!” Additionally, “there’s lots of evidence dogs improve the health of micro biome in a home. Kids who grow up with dogs are less likely to have an overreactive immune system like allergies and asthma. But as an overwhelmed mom, I guiltily deny my children this doggie health benefit.”
Retired Roanoke County elementary school teacher Paula Kopera has two dogs. “In my opinion, dogs are more loving and friendly. My dogs have always been able to read my mood. I can just lay on Lucy when I’m sad. She knows when my car is coming down the hill and waits for me anxiously to pull into the garage.”
Becky Mushko, a writer and retired teacher, has 13 “official” cats and one that is working toward that status. They live on a farm in Penhook. Ten of the cats are inside, four outside. She allows that “cats are great judges of character, and they’re highly selective in whom they trust. They’re very loving toward the people they like. My cats work ridding the place of mice and rats.”
Sandra McCown is puzzled. “I cannot understand how people could drive up a dirt road and dump a litter on the roadside. That is part of the reason I have so many [nine cats]. They drop dogs off, too. I’m full up with animals. I can’t take any more.”
Christopher Fury, who has an English mastiff (Anne Bonney) and an adopted cat (Sen. George Bailey) simply loves animals. “I like their kinship and love. It feels great to have a cat purring on your chest or a big dog nuzzled up at your feet, and sometimes both.”
Michelle Belton has two cats and “I didn’t want either. I don’t particularly like them. I rescued one from a crackhouse and the other from my son’s college romance. They don’t take up much room and we can leave them without a sitter for a few days. They don’t elicit a lot of emotion from me, but they don’t upset me, either. They let me live in my house and I let them.”
Stephanie Sowder Dorris puts it this way: “I read an interesting article once where a psychologist talked about the fact the people who hate cats, are often dominating, control freaks. The fact that cats are so independent drives them crazy. As an admittedly bossy, somewhat control freak myself, I love cats, so I’m not sure how accurate that interpretation is. But whenever cat haters start to complain about our furry feline friends, I like to bust that insight out and see what they say.”
Lara Lang of Vinton says, “I am a cat person, and [her fiancé, Heath Pascoe] was a dog person. My kitties are transforming him into a cat dad. He used to get so mad when they would walk across his face in the mornings because they were ready for food. Cat people fully understand this, but dog people are like, ‘what the hell!’”
Candy Long is unequivocal: “Cats are jerks! They knock stuff off counters and shelves just for meanness. They hop up on kitchen counters with their kitty litter feet and claw one’s favorite chair, window screens, etc. And the scratches and bites!”
Sherry Franklin remembers that “I was visiting a friend once who had a cat and I noticed the cat just sat on the coffee table staring at me. I was sitting on the couch directly in front of it starting to feel very uncomfortable. All of a sudden it jumped from the table straight at me, claws out, fur standing up on its back. I luckily was holding a pillow on my lap and smacked it across the room before it got to me. I’ve never liked cats since. Sneaky little [bleep]!”
Rhinda North tells a common story: “Ever since that little black and white kitty followed me home from grammar school, I was a goner.”
Jennifer Grover says, “Before my husband died, we had two of each. They slept curled up together, but cats were the boss, even though the dogs were 75 pounds each.”
Kathy Guy, whose career is live theatre, thinks “dogs need their humans and want the connection. Cats … want to establish some degree of hierarchy in which the human is beholden to them.”
Jen K. Ward theorizes that “to my dogs, I am the golden mom who can do no wrong. To my cats, I’m the slave they demand I be, which occasionally makes me their favorite and my dogs even more insistent on showing me that I’m their golden mom.”
The story above is from our March/April 2021 issue. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!