Little Darwin

I found myself curious about the pet preference of 50+ riders, and whether it has changed with time.

I used to think I was a dog person, but in the past few years partly due to exposure I have become a solid cat person. I currently have 3, all of whom were rescued strays from New Hampshire where they were abandoned by their owners. The person I got them from has several of her won, including some feral cats born in the wild.

I find that cats fit my personality better than dogs, and with the three I have, I always have company. They all love me, even if a couple of them don't love each other.

I know I have seen a few pictures of bikes in the forums that have included either dogs or cats wandering through, so I wondered which was more common.

stonecrd

2 dogs, 1 parrot and 1 hamster

PaulH

Bird.

Paul

Nermal

3 cats. Mine don't love anybody, but they're always, well, there.

BluesDawg

Currently down to two dogs, who I love, and one cat, who I tolerate. I would tolerate the cat better if it didn't exclusively crap in a box in the house! But I am definitely a dog person.

I also love my DAWGS, who seem to have signed a good recruiting class. Less focus on superstars and more on getting some big uglies on the lines.

DnvrFox

The best of both worlds.

East Hill

Three cats--all tortoiseshells, all rescues. Sammi (my husband uses Sammilove as his nick, here, so you can tell what he thinks of his cat); Anniebear (she is a Manx, with a full tail that is corkscrewed so that it looks as if it is about two inches long); Alice.

Three snakes--a Sinaloan milksnake (Mr. Che); a Variable Kingsnake (Mr. Whump); an apricot colour variety Pueblan milksnake (Mr. Bump).

East Hill

MichiganMike

Dog person. My wife has a little ankle biter. I travel way too much (every other week) to have my own right now. But, in a few years will get me a nice english bulldog. Allergic to cats. They seem to know it and always want to crawl all over me.

Floyd

neither, and the sole reason is I dont have time to play with them. They would be orphans.

John E

Four very good-looking cats, including 3 black females collectively referred to as "The Supremes," and a big male Siamese mix.

We adopted the two older females 10 years ago at a local private animal shelter, when they were about 4 and 5 months old, respectively. Two years ago, my wife trapped three stray kittens which had been born under a trailer at the local YMCA to a feral mother. She found homes for two and kept the third, Melanie (as in melanistic), who follows her around the house like an imprinted baby duck, but with a loud, continuous purr.

When my younger son was 9, one of his friends announced that his cat, a beautiful Russian blue, had just had 3 kittens. Will and two of his school friends each ended up adopting one of the kittens, and Will chose the largest, a pure white male with a brown nose. Over the 8 years since, the cat's eyes remained blue, and his Siamese color points developed and his coat darkened, leading me to call him the "Polaroid kitty." He is definitely the most catlike of the four, sometimes very affectionate, but always strictly on his own terms.

I like any dog which is well-behaved and friendly, but having been bitten twice, I try to avoid certain breeds and personality types. The border collies at the annual Highland Games are always a treat, and my wife's father and sister have owned a series of really great Shelties.

ollo_ollo

2 dogs, a Lab & a Pointer/Border Collie mix. Third member of the pack is a large Tabby male with an identity crisis. Seems to think he is a dog, shared a bed with the Yellow Lab before she declined into old age & often joins them in their kennel for a nap. All 3 wander my property as a pack although the cat goes up a tree when they chase coyotes! Never before had a cat that would tolerate dogs like this one does. Cat is in fine shape for 10 y.o. & will likely outlive his mates as both have age related issues.

ticwanos

We love both but are currently without a dog for the first time in decades. However, my Beloved is into cat rescue and we have seven at the moment (all abandoned or born feral, all spayed or neutered). She has decided that if I bring home another old bike (I'M into bicycle rescue) she gets another cat. Such a deal.

Retro Grouch 

I voted other because to me it depends on how they're cooked.

Beverly

I swore I would never have another cat after I had to put my 16 yo calico, DC, to sleep last summer. That lasted about one month and I was at a local shelter adopting another one. The current cat, Zoey, spent the first three months of her life in the wild and she's still adjusting. It's probably more accurate to say I'm still adjusting. She still exhibits a lot of wild behavior

I'm away from home too much to have a dog.

freeranger

Two dogs (I'd have more, but they are inside pets), one creamette-peach faced lovebird, and one horse (Tenn.Walker/Pasofino). And no, the horse isn't allowed on bike trails!

SaiKaiTai

I didn't see "both" as a choice, so I voted "other"

East Hill, the Lanky Lass said:
We have a torti as well. Torties are the best of all possible cats.
Our previous cat was a Tori/Abyssinian mix. She passed at 13. I killed her
Our current 13 year old torti -Zydeco- is just an unbelievable, other-wordly cat. Almost more of a dog than a cat. That might be because she grew up and has lived with our 16 1/2 year old Golden -Abbey- since day one.

phoebeisis

We like both-equally more or less. They are so different it is hard to measure "likeability"; the cats just wouldn't care, and the dog wouldn't notice.
Phoebe is a recycled Greyhound we got her thru one of the Greyhound adoption groups 4 years ago. We had another recycled Greyhound-Isis-she passed on at age 14-fairly old for a greyhound.Sweet, goofy dogs-the dogs least likely to bike a neighbor-great pets,and great travelers.We take a 3000 mile road trip every summer and Phoebe goes along-she sleeps and take walks every few hours-no "are we there yet".
The cats have all been accidental adoptions.Bandit the oldest was the neighborhood feral cat that my wife fed for years before we decided to capture him and make him an indoor cat. He has finally settled into domesticity-took him a while- and he still glares at poor Phoebe. The other 3 were accidents;the big black one just showed up down the street- tiny 4 weeks old-and the neighbors had to hose him out of their engine bay. I heard about him, but was determined to ignore the situation. I started on my ride and as I went by, I head his tiny pitiful crying. He was a fiesty little guy; I tried to grab him, but my ist grab was unsuccessful-he escaped with a huge hiss and a big swap at my gloved hand. Next time, I kinda faked with one hand and grabbed him with the other. I brought him in the house, and put him down by the dogs food.He immediately started chomping the huge chunks of food while growling at me. I hoped to cage him, and sneak out before my wife heard him-no such luck. 19 lbs later..
The other two were repeats-but my sons fault-tiny kittens with no mother in sight.
It would be tough to chose one over the other.
Thanks,
Charlie

Hwy 40 Blue

One little tortie cat -- third post here with a tortoiseshell. They are sweet little kitties.

Terrierman

Ten Jack Russells here. The first one of the string is in the Avatar. The dogs are the real reason I am on the bike now, I had to do something to restore my ability to work with the dogs and the younger people in the field. They've led me all over the U.S. and a fair bit of England. They've led me to some of the finest people on the planet. I owe them everything.

Dchiefransom

Neither. I like dogs, but don't want to have to take care of it, or arrange for care if I go somewhere. Cats are "okay", but if someone has a pet, they should keep them on their own property. I had a friend that I'd go over and sit in his back yard with, and he'd leave the door wide open. His cat would never leave the house.

CheeseLouise

Neither, have three birds though. One of them, Ernie, my Senagal, will carry on a conversation with himself all day long. He is a nut bag and is as "crazed" as he looks!!

Here is a link to a picture of my pal

https://www.bikenaked.net/photos/bird.../original.aspx

Big Paulie

Cat person!

East Hill

I should have pointed out that my avatar is a dead giveaway.

Anniebear looks just like 'Tama', except that she is, of course, a tortoiseshell, and yes, she has a bipolar face (Sammi also has a bipolar face).

East Hill

Donald A

I love both, however, I now have a Pit Bull. I know, I know.
She is a sweet heart.

Little Darwin

Cats are ill equipped to deal with predators, cars or neighborhood sickos, and well equipped to get over or through most barriers that would normally keep them safe, so my cats are never outside unless they're in a carrier on the way to the vet... Actually, I do have a cage so that they could go outside on the patio for fresh air, but right now my patio is too full of stuff (even if it was warm enough).

I do feed the birds and squirrels in the back yard to entertain and/or torture the cats... In fact, I just put out the last of my seed, so I have to buy more. I have used 80 pounds of seed so far this winter... most of it in the past month.