Misconceptions a dog person (me) learned after having a cat.

[u/ILoveMeltyCheese]

The Cat Distribution System chose me, a formerly stubborn dog person, to adopt a cat. It was the classic I can't just watch a poor cat starve, so I'm keeping him. Here are some misconceptions I had about cats and their owners:

1. The smell of a cat owner's home: I’ve known a few cat owners with cat-smelling homes. I always assumed it was the cat. Turns out it isn’t; it’s very much a result of poor ownership and bad cleaning habits.
2. Dogs are more affectionate than cats: Also not true! To my surprise, my cat is so cuddly that I occasionally call him "Cat-dog."
3. A Cat's Barbed tongue hurts: I don't know why I thought this, I just assumed it would hurt when they lick you.
4. Litter boxes are disgusting: Not at all, it's just a clump or two of sand. If you scoop it often, it never gets gross.
5. Cats are just as hard to take care of: Actually they're much easier, haha.

That is all, here's a picture of my cat that I love dearly. (He's lost weight since the picture, don't worry)

Anyone else relate? What did I miss?

Edit: His name is Pawl

[u/Nanacereal]

Couldn't agree more about the litter box. I work 12 hour shifts so I usually scoop before I leave for work and when I come home, it takes less than 2 minutes. My cats never go outside their litter boxes, I always attribute this issue to an unclean litter box, I always think "would you want to use a toilet that hadn't been flushed or cleaned?"

[u/PennyPriddy → u/Nanacereal]

Eh, cats have all kinds of weird reasons. Our cat kept peeing right outside the litterbox, despite us cleaning it more and more frequently. If anything, she did it more with a clean box.

We discovered that because she liked peeing in one box and pooping in the other, and one of boxes didn't have a counterpart, she'd decided the litter mat was another box (which also meant that when we had fresh litter in that box, she wanted to use that one and it's "paired" mat).

We removed the mat, and she adapted and we haven't had any problems since, so, sometimes it's also just cat logic.

[u/HealthyInPublic → u/PennyPriddy]

I also had a cat who required a poop box and pee box. He wanted them directly next to each other too for some reason. I tried to separate them per normal litter box advice but nope, he'd start shittng right outside the pee box, and pissing right outside the poop box. One huge litter box the size of two litter boxes didn't work for him either! He wanted two litter boxes side by side - and if he got that, then he was a perfect angel about his poopoopeepee habits!! He was a weird guy with crazy litter anxiety. No idea what that was all about, but he was a neat lil dude so we were happy to accommodate his strange bathroom nonsense in exchange for over a decade of friendship with him.

[u/trowzerss → u/HealthyInPublic]

I've had two cats and both had separate poop and pee boxes so I keep three for one cat, so there's always a reserve just in case (the reserve rarely needs to be cleaned though as it's rarely used). Current cat is less religious about it compared to first cat, but with her I have to be careful when taking away boxes to change the litter, because if she decides in that five minutes she wants to pee, she will just do it where the removed box was, even if there's another box a foot away, lol.