We have dogs, but I grew up with cats, and am not a cat hater. But this is a fundamental difference between the way we treat the to species as pets. When visiting friends with cats, they are usually around the house, and may even jump on my lap to get pet, and I am happy to oblige. If, as in the comic today, the cat suddenly decides to scratch and/or bite, the owner’s reaction is “yea, sometimes she does that.” If my dog ever even snapped at someone, much less actually bit them, there would be significant, sometimes permanent, consequences. In fact, visitors would never expect to be exposed to a dog that has any reasonable chance of biting without serious provocation.
We have dogs, but I grew up with cats, and am not a cat hater. But this is a fundamental difference between the way we treat the to species as pets. When visiting friends with cats, they are usually around the house, and may even jump on my lap to get pet, and I am happy to oblige. If, as in the comic today, the cat suddenly decides to scratch and/or bite, the owner’s reaction is “yea, sometimes she does that.” If my dog ever even snapped at someone, much less actually bit them, there would be significant, sometimes permanent, consequences. In fact, visitors would never expect to be exposed to a dog that has any reasonable chance of biting without serious provocation.