Things Mammalian Pets Do That Reptiles Do Not...

[whippet]

Going to bed at 11 pm only to find you accidently locked one cat into the bedroom and you have a cold wet smelly puddle suprise on the blankets...that soaked down to the sheets...and into the mattress.
NO MORE CATS!
I wonder if I could put them into a rack?

 

[Tula_Montage]

This is why I love having an outdoor cat!

As for the mutt, I need to buy at least 10 new pairs of nickers every month because he loves to eat the crotch from them. I have had to help pull pantie poops from him bum WAY too many times. Nothing I have done has stopped him somehow finding pants and hiding away to eat them.

He raids bins if left unattended, steals any scrap of food he can, torments the life out of various livestock around the farms if he manages to sneak out the house and runaway (yes we have had angry farmers at our door threatening to shoot him if he ever goes into their fields again). For a small dog he can take up the whole bed and leave his hairs EVERYWHERE... But thankfully he is fully housetrained and will not pee or poop inside. Thats about the only thing I give him credit for. Oh, and his dancing skills are pretty awesome...

 

[Daenerys]

My dog is pretty well behaved....the only thing I don't like about him is his tendency to try and mark things in the house. But I blame that on him not getting neutered until he was a year old and growing up in a house with 25 dogs. Oh, and his fur is too long on his butt so sometimes poo gets stuck and I have to provide some assistance with getting it out...

But the cat....she is not declawed, and she scratches me ALL the time with her crazy antics. She tried to climb up my back like I was her scratching post. Owww. And she always is sticking her nose in where she doesn't belong. She gets into my food when I am trying to eat, when I fold laundry she comes and sits on my nice neat stacks and knocks them over, when I am trying to check on a clutch of hatching baby snakes she has to "check" on them too...or try and eat them, whichever works.

 

[Hypancistrus]

Not at all, lol. I work at a vet hospital and I deal with dog and cat poop every day. I use gloves 75% of the time. Cleaning snake enclosures, bear hands. I never really thought of that before, until you brought it up. Pretty funny.

I am the same way. Dog and cat poop is GROSS. Snake poo, once it is dried? Not so bad.

Well, except for big boids, and our ball python Anne. Their poop is LIKE dog poop in size and girth. That requires a bag or cup.

But the cat....she is not declawed, and she scratches me ALL the time with her crazy antics. She tried to climb up my back like I was her scratching post. Owww. And she always is sticking her nose in where she doesn't belong. She gets into my food when I am trying to eat, when I fold laundry she comes and sits on my nice neat stacks and knocks them over, when I am trying to check on a clutch of hatching baby snakes she has to "check" on them too...or try and eat them, whichever works.

These are my first two cats. These are my last two cats.

I've decided that cats do not make very good housepets. I am not sure how I feel about random outdoor cats. Outdoor barn cats are okay because they spend their time catching and eating rodents instead of songbirds.

Our female cat is always very insistent about everything. Petting... feeding... everything. She also will literally crawl up my leg if I am feeding crickets and don't give her one. :eek1:

 

[2ndChildhood]

I guess I'm not alone in the cat yack, poo and pee issues, so I've decided that once our current cat (16 y.o.) is gone, that's it, I'm sticking to snakes. Also getting tired of pilling her twice a day (for the last 3 years), and trying to find pet sitters who are willing to do that is nearly impossible.

And what's with the early morning wake-ups? She has food!

and for those cat owners who may not have seen this yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q

 

[Hypancistrus]

I guess I'm not alone in the cat yack, poo and pee issues, so I've decided that once our current cat (16 y.o.) is gone, that's it, I'm sticking to snakes.

Ugh... ours are three and two. We've got a LONG way to go. Cats live forever.

 

[GothPixel]

I love that my snake is quiet. No incessant meowing for no discernible reason.

I use gloves 75% of the time. Cleaning snake enclosures, bear hands.

Wow. That's a well trained bear.

 

[ArpeggioAngel]

With my cats - I don't mind most of their antics - even with the things they are not supposed to do - like stick their head in my glass to get a drink, or waking me up at 5am because they hear Joe up and about, or running around my room like maniacs when I am trying to sleep.

The dogs on the other hand drive me insane most of the time. Following me with their nose up my butt all the time, whining for attention, eating "kitty cookies" as J9 put it (or even worse - their own "doggie cookies"), barking every time we walk in the door (HELLO - we live here - you see us every day - you don't have to bark like an idiot when we walk in the door!)...etc...

I have always had dogs, I probably always will, but they wear me out!!

 

[pridecity]

Here's another few: Snakes don't try to reach their paw into your plate to hook a cinnamon roll that you just took out of the oven.

If you try to move a dog or cat by the neck, you can go to jail for that.... Snakes are all neck.

People don't go nuts if you try to sell your snake for $1000, but boy do you get called all sorts of things if you try to sell a cat or dog for that much.

And another, if a snake bites you, you generally don't care unless it's a hot. If a 5 year old gets bitten by a dog, the dog gets put down. Same kid gets bitten by a snake, everyone says "Well, stop messing with snakes then".

 

[bitsy]

Snakes don't...

1. Honk up in my slippers.

2. Refuse to come in at night, wait until I've been in bed for an hour, then sit under the window yowling to come in.

3. Run away and hide behind a really heavy wardrobe when they see a carrier that means they're off to the vet.

4. Hear the fridge open from two streets away then spend the next half hour begging for the cheese that they can't have because it upsets their stomach (see Point 1, above).

5. Sneak up on you during a meal, jump into the middle of your dinner plate and sit there with a butt-full of gravy, purring and looking smug.

6. Act like you're abandoning them with a mad cat/dog murderer when you leave them and go on holiday.

7. Ignore you when you come back from holiday, because you were cruel enough to leave them behind and must be punished.

8. Stand immediately behind my feet when I've picked up a load of laundry, so that I trip over them when I turn round.

9. Wait until your parents are due round in five minutes and drop a really big smelly "cookie" that stinks the place out .....
.... oh no hang on - my snakes do that!

I loved having cats and dogs in the family, but I have to say that one small cat was far more bother than all my snakes put together!

 

[pridecity]

Insist that even though you've been using the toilet all by yourself for several years now, that you can't do it without them. They help by either jumping in your lap and/or meowing/barking at you because you have the nerve to pee without petting them at the same time. Or, if you somehow manage to get into the bathroom without them getting in first, they stick their noses and/or paws under the door.

Insist on "helping" you tie your shoes, or put on your belt, or that the lamp/curtains looks better shredded.....

I've got a million of these.

 

[sweet~nichole~marie]

Snakes don't:

1. Steal your flipflops every time you take them off and hide them out in the yard (dogs)

2. Start barking up a storm in the middle of the night because they heard a noise . . . any noise . . . or even THINK they heard a noise (dogs)

3. Yack up their food because they ate too fast (cats)

4. Come drool on you with their slimy jowls after drinking from the water bowl (dogs)

5. Stomp all over your chest in the middle of the night and pat you on the cheek to wake you up because they have to have attention. . . NOW! (cats)

6. Try to lick UP your nose every time they sit on your lap (dog - what the heck is up with that? WHY does my chiweenie like nostrils so much???)

7. Shed all over the place!!! (both)

8. Have to be muzzled to get a toenail trim because they hate it so much and will bite you when you try to do it (dog)

But I love them and wouldn't want to live without them

This is an awesome thread!

EDIT: Oh, forgot a good one:

9. Crawl under the covers at night and then vomit on your feet! (dogs - that was a really fun night, changing the sheets and cleaning my feet at 1 o'clock in the morning!)

 

[pridecity]

@Sweet Nichole: Every tried sitting on your dog to clip nails? What about doing that in addition to using a candy or peanut butter to distract? When my Scrap was little, she screamed bloody murder every time I tried to clip her nails. One strawberry lollipop solved that. Once she realized she would get something if she held still and shut up, she let me clip to my heart's content.

 

[2ndChildhood]

Yes, my snakes don't sink their claws in my leg to get my attention at the computer, yack right in front of house guests, or steel various bits of underwear and run around the house like an idiot, again in front of visitors.

At least I usually get a "warning" when one of the snakes is going to poo on me - they stop moving! Although I can point out that my corn managed to poo on my husband 3 weeks in a row (until we figured out his schedule), and I missed catching my savu python as he hung his tail off of the chair he was on and "deposited" one on the floor for me.

 

[kathylove]

I have always had cats, and don't think I could live without them!

They are like puppies, accompanying me to the kitchen, bathroom, or anywhere else I go. Of course, they have to get there FIRST! So they run ahead - and suddenly come to a DEAD STOP, directly in front of my feet! But it is usually for something important, like they forgot that they had to lick a paw before continuing their journey. I am just the picture of grace as I screech to a halt and quickly step sideways, lol! But I am used to it now, and pretty much expect it!

And the sweet music of hairballs being expelled! Once you hear it, you never forget it. It is the signal to jump up and grab the cat from whatever furniture it may be on, and get it quickly to the floor!

But when my oldest kitty climbs in bed with me, snuggling up his warm furry body next to my face, and suffocates me, it is more than worth all of the troubles!

 

[2ndChildhood]

I've had various cats for 40 of my almost 43 years, and each of them have had their own "special", unforgetable personalities, and I still have the scars to prove it!

I don't know which is worse, bolting awake at night for the start of the "harrumph" hairball noises, or my other cat (years ago) that used to catch centipedes. She would bring them into the bedroom in the middle of the night, wake me up to show me what a good kitty she was, then proceed to eat them with as much "crunchy-squishy" noise as possible right next to the bed.

 

[sciencechick]

Requires you to see a doctor and take at least a week's worth of antibiotics because it bit you. A snake bite requires only one good shot of "medicine" and maybe a bandaid to keep it a little cleaner as you finish feeding and cleaning.

I am doing my clinicals in a nuc med clinic. One of the most common scans is a bone scan, and one of the reasons to do this scan is to look for infection in the bones. In two weeks I saw two people that needed bone scans on bites from furry animals (one dog, one cat). I think the one from the cat was positive, and only a week or so after the bite. I asked the tech about it and she said it wasn't uncommon to get bone scans looking at pet bites.

It amuses me that people assume that snakes are a "dangerous" pet, but corn snakes are much less dangerous than a lab or even a cat.

 

[Teddy Roosevelt]

My snakes hardly ever grab a toy and wander the house yowling at the top of their lungs at night, nor do they try to steal my food very often.

 

[oneirogenesis]

As I was showering my cat with unwanted affection today, it occurred to me that our mammalian pets probably have just as many pet peeves to list about us as we do about them. Such as: she rubs my fur the wrong way because she thinks it's funny to give me a kitty-mohawk. Her boyfriend sticks his feet in my face while I'm sleeping. She decides to give me a big hug right after I've finished impeccably grooming every individual hair into the right place. Etc.

I also want to add to the list that my snakes don't leave toys in the bed for me to roll over on while I'm trying to sleep.

 

[Hypancistrus]

8. Have to be muzzled to get a toenail trim because they hate it so much and will bite you when you try to do it (dog)

They don't have toes, so no toe nail trimming PERIOD.