Pet or Potential Spouse?

Ya know, I've met a few lovable kitties. Unfortunately, they've been the minority.

Oh good. I'm not the only one who noticed that.

You could have saved a lot of trouble by just including a disclaimer in your first post. "Be aware that only pro feline responses will be considered valid. Any post indicating any reluctance at all to live in the same house with a cat will be roundly scrutinized and criticized."

I mean... If you didn't want any answer except your preferred answer, why did you bother asking the question?

I think it's a confirmation bias they build up as a defense against the scorn of cat lovers.

Stay with me here...

I love cats myself. Grew up with them all my life, always had at least one cat in the house. But some people just don't like cats, the way some people don't like meatloaf or daffodils or any other beautiful thing. Personally I don't like fruit cake, which some people find as incomprehensible as I find not liking cats. But some people just do not like cats.

If they could be left alone in their dislike of cats, all would be well and good. But cat lovers can't leave them alone. They get a lot of crap about... Well...
Yeah, this. They get a lot of junk like this from cat lovers. So they compile a litany of every bad cat experience they ever had or heard about, so they can defend their choice to not like cats against cat lovers.

My EX DIL lives with 27 (according to my grandson's latest count) house cats. Explains why she has been an EX for the last 40+ years.

sounds like completely legit reasons to me. The Cat/Dog fan club is weird, They can't conceive of somewhat that doesn't like hair all over everything, plus half of them hate other peoples non dog/cat pets like lizards and the such.

I understand that many people are not willing to put up with animal hair in the house.

It's not that bad with routine housecleaning and pet brushing.

It is because some people's dislike seems beyond normal and paranoid. For example, cat owners may say they prefer cats to dogs but cat haters/some dog owners will say that cats are the spawn of Satan. This actually goes back to medieval times but we are way past that now. Without doubt cats get more hate and many times this turns to abuse of cats (especially by boys shooting bb guns at them, poisoning cats, drowning cats in bags, and other abuse). If dislike of cats didnt have this edge, these people would be left alone.

I actually have allergic reactions to cats - and, that is enough to not want one...

However, there are other "practical" reasons also for not wanting a cat in the house. And, most of them have something to do with the fact that cats will walk, sit, lay, etc. all over every surface they can reach to climb on - and shed fur/hair all over it. And, my question is - why would anyone not care if a cat (or any other animal) walked all over their tables, kitchen counters, etc. (especially where food was prepared) ?????

"Holy Crap - No Thanks!"

I "get along" with cats okay - just have to limit exposure - and, in-the-house is a no-no...

I agree with @Lynx on the animals-should-be-outdoors thing.

If you could train a cat - like you can train a dog - to not go certain places, get on things, etc. - it might be a different scenario...

I wasn't really comparing cats and dogs.

People are more important than animals. I would 100% choose my husband over our pets.

For those of you who would choose the animal, what if it was a pet vs your child? Would your answer change?

Choosing pet vs child isn't a scenario I would encounter since I would introduce my child to live with pets. If the pet is dangerous I would replace the pet.

My pets are way better trained than my children. If the pets had a skill that can be monetized I would probably consider it.

I first read that as, I would 100% clone my husband over our pets.

I don't have my glasses on... well, they are on top of my head LOL.

I can in no way understand a pet being more important than human companionship/intimacy. Can't see it biblically either. When people place animals (note: animals) above human beings I think something is seriously amiss. Potentially even idolatry.

I'm not even including intercourse in the above statement. It's a different species. It has its place and that varies for each person but it's a side quest rather than our mission here in this life.

Not to say that a person couldn't choose a pet over being married but I don't get it.

It's even worse if you own a snake, or to a lesser degree a lizard.

We often think of pets as members of the family. That's normal, but when it really comes down to it we value the people more. We are made in the image of God and live eternally so that outweighs the value of our beloved animals.

That's for sure.
I owned them all..
Often a lady liked me and asked how old my pet ________ was. Then they'd ask how long they live. (Interpretation to females......."When is your strange animal going to die?")
This question was mostly posed towards my friendly alligator. He's gone and all the rest, except my recently rehab marsupial, so it's not an issue )

Recently a Persian grad student said she liked dogs and cats best. She asked what pets I like best. I said children.