Oh and speaking of cats. I like both cats and dogs but generally prefer cats. Have had several of both over the years. But not here. Landlord sez no pets. 
Pretty soon bd139 will chime in saying how much he hates cats. 
I've lived with both... and both have their place, and it mostly depends on the type of affection you need from your pet; which of course, depends greatly on where you are in your own life. A dog's love is generally pretty much unconditional; they'll love a bad master as much as a good one, and if you get them at the right age there's not a damned thing they can do about it. It's the fawning "I love you, I love you! Kick me, beat me, I love you!" kind of love that if anything can be downright disturbing at times, if you as a person have any kind of sense of spirit about you.
But there are times when we, weak and fallible creatures that we are, NEED that kind of love. It's a big, cold, lonesome universe out there... and having at least one living thing in it, no matter how weird the relationship may be, that gives a damn if you live or die is an important thing. Sometimes it is the most important thing... to have some reason to get up in the morning, shake off the scales of Hypnos, and put feet on the floor can be the only reason we have to get on with our lives after some horrible loss.
I had two such dogs as a small child; one a massive Alsatian bitch who took me as one of her own pups when I was still barely a wiggler, and raised me as much as my mother and grandmother did. She was preternaturally smart; we all swore that she tried to speak to us. I survive to this day growing up on the family farm only because of her due to several "Timmy fell down a well" type incidents where she was there and saved me directly Lassie-wise or got help from grown-ups.
And then again, when it was just me and my mother against the cold cruel universe, we happened into a Doberman-Husky mutt... that we at first thought to crop tail & ears like a proper Alsatian, but didn't have the heart (or the funds for the vet bill) and in retrospect would have been like lipstick on a pig. That animal was with us through some of the best and worst times of our life together after the grandparents died... she lived much too long, and when she passed peacefully in her sleep she was almost blind, barely able to get around due to arthritis, incontinent half the time and we had been debating for several months over whether to put her down... but any time any either of us paid her the least bit of attention she was so blissfully happy... we couldn't bring ourselves to take that joy away from her.
If you are a moderately grown-up person with any kind of spiritual apprehension, that is the hardest part when the end time comes; the hard, critical self-inventory we must take of ourselves when deciding whether or not it is time to put a pet down. To know in your heart it is not a matter of ending the inconvenience, but really only ending their suffering, is the hardest part of that relationship. And for many people, one of the few moments of real spiritual growth in an entire lifetime.
When a cat loves you... it's much more conditional. A cat has a sense of self; it is an independent creature and if you treat it poorly, it will leave. Some people will say cats can't love people; I know for a fact this isn't true. My teenage "littermate" was one such cat; when I had to leave him with my mother to go off to college, it literally pined away for me and died of self-neglect over the course of a few months. I was a horrible master at the time; I know in retrospect even the sound of my voice would probably have saved him; but I couldn't be arsed to call home but once or twice a month then.
*Sigh*
The deciding factor for most of us comes down to what we are willing to trade off vs what kind of love we need from a pet. I've long felt that the only kind of love worth having is conditional... that which is measured, considered and if you treat the other poorly it will go away. For the most part, once a dog imprints on a human it cant imagine leaving; it has to be left behind to sever the relationship; If a cat doesn't like you, it will leave and take its affection with it. Its affection is is earned; a product of mutual respect and a generally true understanding of each other.
As an adult, I generally preferred the affection of a cat for that reason; it feels less "Stockholm Syndrome" and more valid. The problem then is the "living with" part of living with a cat or a dog... and in general, dogs are much easier to live with. They're neater, they're (usually) less mischievous and too lazy to jump up on the countertop for a tidbit, and they're easy to house-train. My crazy cat taught himself to go potty in the toilet after watching us people do it; we just had to learn to leave the lid up for him. But normal people with normal cats have to learn to live with a litterbox, which is a pretty big lifestyle caveat and a lot to put up with for the affection a cat gives. And you'll not likely be awakened by your dogs chasing each other around her house and stepping on your tongue at 2AM, as I know from experience is not only possible, but probable with cats.
I have a similarly measured and considered kind of love with my wife; I know she is an independent woman, and if I fuck up our life too badly, she is more than capable of packing herself and our kids up and leaving. It means I actually have to put some work into our relationship; which is why almost 20 years after we met I'm still ass over tail in love with her.
And knowing what a horrible, forgetful, taking-them-for-granted pet owner I am, I think it's probably better that the only animals I have in my life right now are of the 2-legged variety. And legally my dependents.
mnem
*PokeTime*
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