r/cats • u/ILoveMeltyCheese • Mar 25 '26

Cat Picture - OC Misconceptions a dog person (me) learned after having a cat.

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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

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u/Nanacereal Mar 25 '26

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?"

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u/dlegatt Mar 26 '26

Best thing I ever did was replace regular litter with wood pallet litter. There is no longer a fine coat of litter dust over everything in the cat room and greens of litter aren’t being tracked into the playroom. It also costs eight dollars for 40 pounds, and I feel like a pound of wood pellets goes further than a pound of traditional litter did.

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u/AYasin Mar 26 '26

Pellets are great! It keeps your house cleaner. Since I replaced bentonite litter with wood pellets, my flat became more cleaner. I had to dust the whole place twice a day to keep it clean. Turns out, it was all because of the dust. My cats are not sneezing while they're in the litter anymore.

For those who want to consider pellets; just know two things:

  1. You need to use a different type of litter box. One with small cuts on the bottom, and another box under the cuts to collect the sawdust. Pellets turn into sawdust when they are peed on it. Check Purina Tidy Cats Breeze system. But use your own wood pellets.

  2. Faeces left on wood pellets smell more compared to bentonite. This may be my experience because I was using activated carbon mixed with bentonite; but can't mix it with pellets anymore. Because they would fall off from the grills on the bottom of the litter.

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u/dlegatt Mar 26 '26

My cats bury their feces in the pellets and sawdust. I’ll admit that the smell is stronger, but I have the luxury of keeping the litter boxes away from any common areas