You’ll find a lot more joy in the having of a cat if you would just stop expecting it to act like a dog.
And not just any dog, but the ‘perfect dog’ that people always compare cats to.
Cats are not dogs. But also, cats and dogs are not a hivemind with only one personality per species.
“My cat flipped out the first time I put a harness and leash on it, you can’t take them on walks like a dog!” Buddy, pal, friend. You go put a harness and leash on an adult backyard-only dog for the first time and tell me just how well that goes for you.
“They are horrible to bathe!”…. Sure, if you put an adult cat just straight into the water or the loud scary shower that hasn’t ever had a bath in its life. But my foster kittens get bathed often. They don’t care at all. If their adopters kept that up, they’d be fine as adults, too. But it’s not like dogs are naturally any better, either. My girl dog straight up panics in the bath and will try to scale the walls and urinate in her fear. I do not bathe her unless absolutely necessary.
“Dogs are great in the car and cats are not” …. rinse, repeat of the previous arguments. Training. Not all dogs good with cars. Not all cats bad with cars. Stop it.
