Opinion: I love cats. More than dogs. Here’s what makes me mad about the people that it bothers.
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I like dogs. Despite their heavy stench upon touching the rain and their chaotic spread of defecation throughout city lawns, they are very cute. However, this is not overshadowed by the fact I love cats — I prefer them over dogs.

Oftentimes, when I declare my adoration for felines over canines, I am drilled with several  responses from dog lovers. “Cats don’t appreciate your company,” they say. This is usually followed by a sharp “and they’d eat you if you died.”

Let’s just say that in this scenario, my cat is hungry and I have passed along. Who am I to deny my pet sustenance, especially when it has no effect on my lived life? What a dog person fails to comprehend is the relationship I have with my cats is based on one simple understanding: I love my cats, regardless of how they feel about me.

What this mentality boils down to is rather simple. I am confident in my love for my animals and it is not dependent upon a reciprocal emotion. I’ll also call this independence.

I cannot comprehend what dog lovers find in relationships with their pets. From my perspective, a connection with a dog is based upon an owner giving it attention and loving the reaction they receive. While a kind reaction can be extremely gratifying, expectations form around responsiveness; this translates to codependency.
Codependent relationships are described as a power imbalance that heavily favors the “taker” of the relationship, or the individual who receives attention and benefits. In a dog to human situation, it is the human who must plan vacation time according to their pet’s needs. It is the human who has to deal with the occasional destruction blameable to the pooch. It is the human who simply receives sloppy licks in return for money and time poured into their admiration of their companion.

Yes, it may be quite ridiculous to compare a sociological problem to someone’s pet preferences, but after facing years of cat slander, I’m tired of receiving forced perspectives from individuals who have lost their independence to their dogs.

Stating that dog people are codependent might be a harsh generalization, but codependency by itself lends some characteristics to those present within dog lovers. Recognizing these can lead to a better understanding of problems within human relationships.

Using foolish examples of partialities as a gateway for serious discussion is helpful in an array of situations. Yes, I prefer cats over dogs; I also encounter occasional frustration during discussions on the matter. But this is far less important than observing unhealthy patterns of behavior within human-to-human relationships.

I believe that dog people rely on the recognition of their actions more often than they should. When translating this tendency to other relationships, it can be exhausting for both parties to feel the expectations of that action. While it may seem like I am diminishing the problem of codependency to a human-animal bond, I think the most important step of recognizing our own health can be developed out of minute and random examples.

So, as we all settle and recognize the patterns in our own life, I’ll go find my cat and give him a nice pat on the head. He might not like it, especially if it arrives during his napping hours, but I’ll be unbothered by his reaction. My confident love for him is not dependent on his response to it. And that is so relaxing.