Dogs and Cats, Living Together…Mass Hysteria

By Alan

God tells us that “kind follows kind,” Genesis 1:25 and science has reinforced that with DNA. We can see the micro-machines that let the DNA from mother and father combine to give us offspring that should resemble a combination of the pair.

So, it becomes puzzling when you get children that look like you and your wife, look like your respective grandparents, and yet, you are convinced that the DNA must have come from the household pets.

The Canine: One child is up and bouncing, ready to do anything, ready to please, wilts under chastisement, and glows from praise. This child can’t sit still, especially if there is something exciting that is scheduled to happen in the next 24 hours, and they happen to know that it’s exciting.

The Feline: Another child is active and playful, ready to do her own thing, ignores any attempts to entice, shrugs off correction, and responds to subtle hints of encouragement, often needs long periods of snuggling.  This child decides that sitting still is probably worthwhile sometimes, but only on a schedule that they dictate, and they are in no real mood to convey that schedule to others.

These DNA mutations could be understandable if both children decided to follow either the dogdom life philosophy of “happy-go-lucky” in life or the independent “things are truly serious” life that befalls the cat. But when a family is blessed with both mammalian personalities, then the parents can’t really rely on any previous experience from one child to the next.

It’s the same way with the pets. You can only learn the absolute basic things about raising a dog after having raised a cat. You will probably prevent yourself from starving it, and you might have some luck in common general hygiene
(oh, wait…never mind)
but everything else is going to be a completely new experience.

If you try to discipline a dog, it’s easy to just utter a sharp word, express disappointment at the dog, and the ears go down, instant remorse shows up, and they crave every possibility to get back in your good graces.

If you discipline a cat, they will just sneer at your exertions, and probably return to whatever activity it was that got them in trouble. If you do manage to get the cat’s attention for discipline, they most likely will remember that event, brood over it, and pointedly sit on the floor facing away from you, just out of reach, and actively ignore you, (a feat most impossible for the dog in the same household).

God certainly has a sense of humor, because such living conditions should always mean chaos, contention, and strife. But, when done right, it can mean joy because the dog encourages the cat, the cat provides stability of friendship to the dog. The variety of personality means that some chores (or even adventures) are usually enticing to one species or the other.

We see that siblings in the Bible were often dogs and cats. Jacob and Esau, Peter and Andrew, Mary and Martha. The fates of each were different.

Jacob was blessed by God, and Esau was hated by God (Malachi 1:1-3).

Peter was outgoing and one of the foremost apostles. Andrew was never mentioned without mentioning someone else. But, Andrew was responsible for listening to John the Baptist and taking Peter to see Jesus, telling him that Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for.  (John 1:40-42)

Martha fussed over the guests, worry about what was happening in the house (just like a dog), while Mary lay at Jesus’ feet (duh). Yet, we know that Jesus loved them both. (Luke 10:38-41)

However, it’s fun to wonder if Mary, Martha, and Lazarus resembled their parents and grandparents.

Families are blessed when they have children with both kinds of personalities. If you only have ebullient, bouncy, outgoing personalities, you miss out on the contemplative, quiet, studious presence.

Put them in the same family, and the dynamic changes. They react against each other. You have to deal with the fragile, quick to hurt, and distracted minds differently than the brooding, prone to sulk, and stubborn persona. They get hurt because each expects the other to feel the same way, to follow a similar emotional path. But living together, they get built up, because the bubbly gets supported by the stable. The shy gets shown how to interact and to make friends more quickly by the bold.

It’s not necessary to make the dog live like the cat. It’s not necessary to force the cat to be a dog. However, it is essential, and we’ve been commanded to continue to teach them both to learn to love each other, support each other, and be friends with each other for the rest of their lives.

As we say in our household,

“Friends may come and go, but you will always have your sister. Never treat your friends better than you treat your sister. She is your best friend ...forever.”