From him: Like cats and dogs...

I am a dog person living in a cat household. That fact was just reinforced as I performed the monthly major-cleaning of the litter box.

Now don't get me wrong. I am content with the fact that I will live with these cats until one or the other of us passes on. Pets are an obligation not to be assumed lightly, and that carry with them almost as as much duty and responsibility as getting married or having kids. And as the sexy wife and I blend our households, we both brought with us plenty of baggage. If you compare the two cats she contributed to the ex-wife that I thew in the mix, the baggage scale pretty much collapses in my direction. (We balance equally in the kid contribution, which is probably for the best.)

However now that I am living with, feeding, and cleaning up after two cats, my dog side is more obvious to me.

I'm truthfully not sure why that is. Obviously at this moment cat urine is affecting my mood. One of the tricks for teaching small boys to pee in the toilet is to float cheerios there as a target (good fun had by all.) The cats have a covered litter box, and I'm pretty sure their cheerio equivalent is trying to aim right for the seam between the top and bottom of the litter box. "Hey Lars! I nailed that sucker good when I was down taking a leak right now!" Hairballs are also one of God's less well thought out moments (God:
"Hmm...lets make cats fastidious. They can clean them selves with their tongues. Cool. What can I have them do with all the hair they collect? I'll come back and fix that part later...")

Dogs are clearly just as bad. While they don't have a litter box, I can't count the number of hours I have spent walking around the back yard with large plastic bag and a shovel cleaning up. A dog has relatively few responsibilities beyond consuming dog food and turning it into turds. I have de-skunked dogs, washed them after they rolled in a delightful dead fish on the beach, removed ticks, and on one memorable occasion cleaned up after a dog who ate a bar of soap. For reference, a dog's digestive system works very actively to expel from both ends any soap it runs into.

However on balance I wouldn't hesitate to get a dog, but would be long-sufferingly supportive if the sexy wife falls for another cat.

Our life plan calls for shedding obligations to ALL kids and pets over the next few years, which should increase the amount of time we can drink wine in bed. I'm sure that life plan will be as successful as most, so I'm practicing the phrase "Hello kitty."