When I was a boy, we had a Saint Bernard. Like all Saint Bernards, Charlie was a big, slobbery dork of a dog. Charlie was a good dog. We also had several cats, one of which was named Batman. (We named all of our cats after comic book characters.)
Charlie and Batman were best friends. Everywhere Charlie went, Batman went too. At night — especially on cold winter nights — Batman would climb onto Charlie’s side and curl up in his thick fur. They’d sleep contentedly for hours, best buds.
Here’s a YouTube video featuring other cat and dog friendships:
I know that cat-dog friendships are common, but just how common? And why do they occur? What are the dogs thinking? What are the cats thinking? What about friendships between other species?
hello there,
i really like your blog, and its premise. your writing is clear, too, and the tone is warm and inviting.
i’m an editor at opposingviews.com, the debate website, and since we both cover pets and animals, i thought you might be interested in what we’re doing.
we’re currently having a discussion between experts about whether people should own pets. you can see it here if you’re interested:
http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/should-we-keep-pets
readers can pick sides and comment on the debate, which is moderated.
you seem to have a sort of spiritual point of view on animals, which might be an interesting add to the discussion.
check it out, and send me a message if you want to know more.
thanks!
I have a cat and a dog. But in my fifteen years old age I have see them together,in fact if they are together imagine there is a big calamity.
We have 2 dogs (rottweilers) and 2 cats. One cat was adopted at age 8 and really doesn’t care for the dogs. She doesn’t mind them, but mostly wants to be left alone.
The OTHER cat and the younger Rottweiler are BFFs. We got the cat as a kitten; she was a stray who hid in our garage an wouldn’t leave. The Rottie was also a stray that we adopted at 6 months old an was over a year old when the kitten moved in.
The first time we saw the two of them playing we freaked – here was this big rottie with the kitten’s head in her mouth. It took us a couple of minutes to realize they were playing and that the rottie was being very gentle. Now that the kitten is older she taunts the rottie an runs away, teasing her from up in trees an under furniture; they will play tag for hours like that.
The kitten is still part-wild and spends a lot of time outdoors (dog-doors are wonderful) but she always comes to check on her puppy when she comes in. When the Rottie was sick she came in and groomed her and sat with her. It’s really very sweet.
Most of our experience has been that the dogs and cats ignore each other, but this one case has been a very sweet exception.
What a sweet video! I loved it. The friendship between animals of different species happens, I think, because they simply hang around well together and enjoy being with each other. Animals are better than humans in enjoying the good things in life, and having (true) friends is one of the great things in life. :-)
Claudia
what a nice video. i think it’s fairly normal for animals to be friends like this if they live in the same house and see each other as family.
i had a dog when i grew up, in addition to cats. some of the cats didn’t care about the dog and vica verca, but some of the cats formed really strong friendships with the dog. they would curl up together and sleep etc.
i have a friend who has a horse, and there’s a cat who always comes to see the horse. it likes to sleep on the back of the horse and the horse allows it. when the cat strokes itself on the horse, the horse will put it’s head down to give the cat a bit of a head- cuddle, while the cat purrs.. aww:)
As kids my sister and I had many pets – dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, birds and more. We had one cat in particular, Toby, our first and oldest cat who, despite being a male, had a motherly instinct, and he would take in kittens and puppies and subject them to thorough groomings.
When we got a Border Collie pup Cupid, Toby was about 12 years old, and he would always play with the pup. He would sit on a chair out of reach of Cupid and Cupid would run back and forth by the chair and Toby would take swipes at him. They loved this game and would play it for ages. Even when Cupid grew to be 5-6 times his weight, they would wrestle and he would always let the cat pin him by the throat.
We also had a dog named Buff (our stepfather named him – for his color he claimed) when we were kids, who grew up around around our other pets. We had one rabbit in particular named Charcoal who ran loose around the yard, and he would play with the dog, or maybe it was more like bully him. They would run around the yard the yard together and Charcoal would always try to grab Buff’s belly hairs, which he didn’t like much.
But Buff would always lick our rabbits and let stray kittens we took in sleep with him. Our old cat, Toby, would also let us put our pet mice and birds on him, though sometimes he would be tempted to take a swipe at them.
We also had a rabbit named Thunderhead who lost her litter of bunnies and decided to adopt our guinea pig, Snip. She was a pretty mean rabbit who always beat up on our other rabbits, but she loved Snip so we let them live together.
Anyhow, I think friendships between different animals are totally real. Toby was very somber for days after we lost Cupid to an accident, and I believe Snip was lonely after Thunderhead passed away.
I think animals, just like humans, like companionship. Domesticated animals are probably more trustful of other animals because they don’t have to be on the defense as wild animals do.
And now it is no longer on Youtube. Does anyone know who made it? I’d love to be able to talk to that person and access the video.
Please, if anyone knows any details. That would be very helpful.
Too sad this video was removed.Anyways, it’s very funny to see dogs and cats being friends for all of us know that these two animals are somewhat not that close to each other.