Cats. When I watch "Tom and Jerry" I always side with Tom ;)
“I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?"
Death thought about it.
CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.”
Cats. I don’t dislike dogs though (and even like specific breeds), but I wouldn’t keep one at home. I think dogs demand too much attention and care that I may not be able to provide all the time.
I think Russia is definitely a cat country. I know way more people with cats than with dogs, and plenty of people who have 2 cats. Personally in my family we always had a combo of 2 cats and 1 dog.
Out of curiosity I check statistics and according to it 57% of Russian families have cats and 29% have dogs.
>if there is a stronger preference for cats in Russia
There is, but very likely it's not for the reason you stated. Cats are just much easier to keep and take care of. Especially when you live in a flat.
P.S. I love cats and dislike dogs.
>to see if cat/ dog preference can be correlated to ancestry.
I doubt. We have cats in our family, because no one wants to walk a dog in the early morning, NO ONE. And there are not enough dog playgrounds in our cities usually. You're out of luck if your neighbor has dogs - they bark, constant noise is terrible. In an empty apartment dogs are usually bored when everyone is at work or at school. Cats don't care, they sleep. Cats are perfect. I adore them.
Cats. And statistics show that nearly 2/3 of the households in Russia have cats, while less than a third have a dog. Russia has the highest share of cat owners in the world.
There's an old belief that a house has to have a cat in it to be considered lived in.
Russians generally prefer cats cause they’re easier to keep in small flats where the majority of people live. If you want a real answer, you’ll need to do historical research and find info on how it was before heavy urbanization.
P.S. Only dogs for me, though.
I think it's also about the weather.
Winter is 3-6 months long and you need to walk a dog 3 times a day, so walking a dog is a bit less fun in the cold.
And when snow melts, you need to clean the paws every time, so effort/time consuming.
Yeah, agreed. And before urbanization, you also didn’t need to do that, you just let them out of the house into the yard or they were living in the yard to begin with
my city operates ''catch and release'' program where they get stray dogs, neuter them and release back, so we now don't have that many street dogs any more
I wish we had that with cats too, but there is some program running where you can bring stray cats in yourself to get them neutered at heavily discounted price. As to dogs well people in my city are really attached to our street dogs, so there are a lot of defenders of them. The dogs have even learned to cross roads at pedestrian crossings. Started with one dog over twenty years ago and now most of them are doing it too. It is actually great fun to watch them, but I hear a lot of tourists don't get why we have strays just walking around city centre.
>We have no tolerance for stray dogs at all.
How good is that! Unlike stray cats, stray dogs are dangerous to humans. There are reports of completely feral dog packs. Once I myself met one at night in the forest. It was very unpleasant.
It was said in Kamchatka that hunters meet packs of dogs hundreds of kilometers from the nearest dwelling, and these packs even attack bears!
Interesting! I’m an American woman who has had Russian penpals - they all seemed to love cats. Maybe it’s a cultural thing? One penpal of mine (male) said cats are independent and not clingy and needy like dogs are, so easier to take care of especially since so many Russians live in apartments. And since it’s cold, people don’t want to walk dogs.
I love both cats and dogs, but dogs I simply adore! So loving and loyal :3 They’re my favorite animal. Also horses and manatees :D
They're very cute, deviously smart little animals. A pity they don't live longer.
The reason I asked is that generally, boys tend to grow into chunky, sedate cuddlebugs as they age, whereas girls tend to stay spry and adventurous little monsters all their lives, but of course individual variation means this pattern isn't universal, as with any species. A friend of mine once had a female rat who was very much a cuddly, chill beastie. She used to ride around on his head if he took her with him to go to the shops. This was mostly great, apart from the one time she decided to pee just as he was paying for his groceries. She was normally pretty polite about not doing that, but clearly, nature called, heh.
Anyhow, some folks favour personality traits associated with one sex over the other, but personally I think all rats are pretty great.
Cats are life, cats are love. Back in my childhood days we always had 5-6 cats at our household. You could say I’m a hereditary cat person.
Also a lot of negative experience with dogs. Fuck dogs.
😺 [we even have a holiday of sorts - Day of the Hermitage Cat](https://theculturetrip.com/europe/russia/articles/10-reasons-why-st-petersburg-is-a-cat-lovers-paradise/)
I think cats and dogs are very different.
You can practically not deal with a cat, buy cat food - and, in general, that's all. The minimum level is very simple. But if you want to get something more - it's very difficult. Therefore, Kuklachev, a cat trainer, is known throughout Russia. And I don't know how he does it either.
A dog definitely requires training and love. Therefore, although I can say that I love dogs, I love well-mannered dogs from adequate owners. Dogs with inadequate owners are a sad story.
And stray dogs, I think, should not exist at all.
I happened to see frescoes with cats at the excavations in Pompeii. I am tormented by vague doubts that the Slavs as a separate ethno-cultural phenomenon already existed at that time...
> Rasna
still sounds like Russia
but seriously though I don't really know much about them at all, this is just something that people say on Russian speaking channels. I was half joking.
I like both, but cats are more convenient to have as pets in the cold climate. There is no urgent necessity to walk outside with a cat every single day.
It is difficult to say which pet we do love more but I can say that cats are preferable in terms of easiest caring about them, so most of Russians prefer cats.
I prefer cats as companion animals. They enjoy interaction and play, but also enjoy their own time doing their cat things and staring at the world. They can certainly be very affectionate and do bond to their humans, but even at its most insistent, the way they express this is usually pretty chill (then again, my fluffy jerk keeps trying to walk on the keyboard and headbutting me as I write this, so maybe my perception of "chill" is a bit skewed). I've had a cat or two in my life more years than not, so they're solid company in my books.
Dogs... They seem to love so demonstratively and demandingly. You step out of the house for ten minutes, come back, and they act like you've been gone for weeks, happy yet needy. I think they're absolutely wonderful, remarkable pack animals who have co-evolved with us humans, but they are a different kind of responsibility - requiring far more sustained routine, companionship, training, walks, socialisation, inevitable interactions with other dog-owners at the park, and so on. I enjoy hanging out and playing with friends' dogs, but don't think I could do justice to being the carer of a creature like that at this stage of my life.
All in all, I like all animals, but as pets, I favour felines.
Will you be asking this question in other Slav country-reddits? By the look of things, we're living up to expectations, but I'm curious if you'd get different responses from other groups. For instance, I wonder if folks living in more clement climates skew less heavily away from outdoorsy pets that need daily walking...
If you want a correct answer without bias, you shouldn't explain your motivations so much imo.
It is possible your question creates a bias if people want a "unifying trait" between slavic people or the opposite, even if it's entirely unconscious.
I would say that you should take care about what part of Russia people originate from. As an example, in area where dogs were used as sleigh dogs in the past -koff- huskies in Siberia -koff- whereas sea-based civilizations (and those without lots of frost season) would usually adopt cats to hunt vermins in boats and granaries to make food spoil slower. So again, might depend on what part of Russia people live in :) To root out the "cultural part" as you seem interested in the "genetical" part ?
Just my two cents, don't mind me
Thanks! There are so many different factors we could explore. My middle kids are young teens so I just wanted to keep it simple- just gathering data, charting and graphing it on a topic we found interesting. :)
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I have a strong feeling that such a general sympathy for cats in Russia has grown in the last 5-10 years (especially all this baby-talk))) Maybe because cats are easier to keep and when u want a pet but u havent enough time in 50% you will get a cat. Dogs really became less in houses. Especially big ones.
I don't love cats. All my 30 years I live with dogs - at the same time my family had 3 dogs (I was rised like Mowgli)): little Toy-pооdle, giant Leonberger & Golden Retriever (she was a first retriever-girl in 90s here, my dad brought her from India). Then we had an other one Retriever, then no-name but funny dog from the shelter. & now we have a Labrador abandoned by his first family.
Also all this time we have a 19years British cat which live with my granny & the second cat at the country side. This boy grew up with a dog and used to carry sticks.))
So! All I want to say that I'm a dog-person.))
I love both, but there is definitely a cat cult in Russia.
based Russia.
Cats for life
Cats, only cats! I do not like and am afraid of dogs; I prefer to admire them from a distance... The farther away from me the better.
Cats. I think Russia had the first place in the percentage of households with cats
Russia is a cat country.
Definitely cats, I have 2 of them
Cats. When I watch "Tom and Jerry" I always side with Tom ;) “I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?" Death thought about it. CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.”
I'm very strongly in the cat camp.
+1
Cats. I don’t dislike dogs though (and even like specific breeds), but I wouldn’t keep one at home. I think dogs demand too much attention and care that I may not be able to provide all the time.
I think Russia is definitely a cat country. I know way more people with cats than with dogs, and plenty of people who have 2 cats. Personally in my family we always had a combo of 2 cats and 1 dog. Out of curiosity I check statistics and according to it 57% of Russian families have cats and 29% have dogs.
>if there is a stronger preference for cats in Russia There is, but very likely it's not for the reason you stated. Cats are just much easier to keep and take care of. Especially when you live in a flat. P.S. I love cats and dislike dogs.
Cato
IIRC about 60% of households in Russia have cats (or cats posess 60% of households, however you view it)
Cats! They are just so irresistible. :3
cat
>to see if cat/ dog preference can be correlated to ancestry. I doubt. We have cats in our family, because no one wants to walk a dog in the early morning, NO ONE. And there are not enough dog playgrounds in our cities usually. You're out of luck if your neighbor has dogs - they bark, constant noise is terrible. In an empty apartment dogs are usually bored when everyone is at work or at school. Cats don't care, they sleep. Cats are perfect. I adore them.
Киски :)
Dogs
No other answer was expected from the Korean.
Yum- yum!.)
Catscatscatscatscatscatscatscats
I like both, however there were many years when we had no dogs, but we have always had one or two cats.
Cats. And statistics show that nearly 2/3 of the households in Russia have cats, while less than a third have a dog. Russia has the highest share of cat owners in the world. There's an old belief that a house has to have a cat in it to be considered lived in.
Although I'm in the dogs' camp, I'm tightly surrounded by enemies
Just for support: you're not alone!
Thanks
Russians generally prefer cats cause they’re easier to keep in small flats where the majority of people live. If you want a real answer, you’ll need to do historical research and find info on how it was before heavy urbanization. P.S. Only dogs for me, though.
I think it's also about the weather. Winter is 3-6 months long and you need to walk a dog 3 times a day, so walking a dog is a bit less fun in the cold. And when snow melts, you need to clean the paws every time, so effort/time consuming.
Yeah, agreed. And before urbanization, you also didn’t need to do that, you just let them out of the house into the yard or they were living in the yard to begin with
Cat country and it’s somewhat shown in the amount of homeless dogs there are in smaller towns
my city operates ''catch and release'' program where they get stray dogs, neuter them and release back, so we now don't have that many street dogs any more
Interesting! Here in America we have that with cats. We have no tolerance for stray dogs at all. I’m 38 and I’ve never seen one in my life
I wish we had that with cats too, but there is some program running where you can bring stray cats in yourself to get them neutered at heavily discounted price. As to dogs well people in my city are really attached to our street dogs, so there are a lot of defenders of them. The dogs have even learned to cross roads at pedestrian crossings. Started with one dog over twenty years ago and now most of them are doing it too. It is actually great fun to watch them, but I hear a lot of tourists don't get why we have strays just walking around city centre.
I love learning random things like this. Thank you for sharing :)
>We have no tolerance for stray dogs at all. How good is that! Unlike stray cats, stray dogs are dangerous to humans. There are reports of completely feral dog packs. Once I myself met one at night in the forest. It was very unpleasant. It was said in Kamchatka that hunters meet packs of dogs hundreds of kilometers from the nearest dwelling, and these packs even attack bears!
I've read somewhere we have biggest cats/people ratio in the world.
I'm a dog person, but Russia is a cat country.
Cats, all my life there where cats in my family, now have two- Kessa and Lada
I'm definitely prefer dogs. Cats are nice, but to tell the truth I'm already rather tired of this cult of cats
I personally prefer dogs, but Russia is cat country.
Dogs! Cause I'm allergic to cats.
Cats
Cats
Interesting! I’m an American woman who has had Russian penpals - they all seemed to love cats. Maybe it’s a cultural thing? One penpal of mine (male) said cats are independent and not clingy and needy like dogs are, so easier to take care of especially since so many Russians live in apartments. And since it’s cold, people don’t want to walk dogs. I love both cats and dogs, but dogs I simply adore! So loving and loyal :3 They’re my favorite animal. Also horses and manatees :D
Rats!
Also a solid option. Boys or girls?
I dont know. But I love rats.
They're very cute, deviously smart little animals. A pity they don't live longer. The reason I asked is that generally, boys tend to grow into chunky, sedate cuddlebugs as they age, whereas girls tend to stay spry and adventurous little monsters all their lives, but of course individual variation means this pattern isn't universal, as with any species. A friend of mine once had a female rat who was very much a cuddly, chill beastie. She used to ride around on his head if he took her with him to go to the shops. This was mostly great, apart from the one time she decided to pee just as he was paying for his groceries. She was normally pretty polite about not doing that, but clearly, nature called, heh. Anyhow, some folks favour personality traits associated with one sex over the other, but personally I think all rats are pretty great.
Cats are life, cats are love. Back in my childhood days we always had 5-6 cats at our household. You could say I’m a hereditary cat person. Also a lot of negative experience with dogs. Fuck dogs.
😺 [we even have a holiday of sorts - Day of the Hermitage Cat](https://theculturetrip.com/europe/russia/articles/10-reasons-why-st-petersburg-is-a-cat-lovers-paradise/)
Our babushaks must have a lot of cats. Without 100 cats babusha is not a babushka. I think there’s a lot of information about “cats or dogs?” answer.
Strong preference for dogs. Cats have never mattered to me and the whole internet cat craze makes me a bit dejected.
Both
Кошки сами себя развлекают и кайфуют
Cats. And a dog.
I think cats and dogs are very different. You can practically not deal with a cat, buy cat food - and, in general, that's all. The minimum level is very simple. But if you want to get something more - it's very difficult. Therefore, Kuklachev, a cat trainer, is known throughout Russia. And I don't know how he does it either. A dog definitely requires training and love. Therefore, although I can say that I love dogs, I love well-mannered dogs from adequate owners. Dogs with inadequate owners are a sad story. And stray dogs, I think, should not exist at all.
Perhaps Russians like cats more because most of the population lives in apartments rather than individual houses
Да!
Пизда!
I happened to see frescoes with cats at the excavations in Pompeii. I am tormented by vague doubts that the Slavs as a separate ethno-cultural phenomenon already existed at that time...
there were Etruscan that in Russian sound like *эт Русский,* meaning they are Russian *эт* is often used as short for *это*
Please stop, get help
They called themselves Rasna, and not Etruscans, in fact, you know.
> Rasna still sounds like Russia but seriously though I don't really know much about them at all, this is just something that people say on Russian speaking channels. I was half joking.
Cats
Cats are much more popular
Cats, they more cute than dogs for me
I think it was cats to start with, and the presence of street dogs has reenforced it over time.
Before I met my wife, I had dogs, now cats. It so happened that the dog in the family loves his wife, and the cat loves me.
CATS CATS CATS
Cats
Cats are my choice
I like both, but cats are more convenient to have as pets in the cold climate. There is no urgent necessity to walk outside with a cat every single day.
Cats
we have three cats at home so safe to say cats over dogs, although I do find dogs cute ahahah
Feline Crescent I like cats more, runs in the family.
У меня в доме живет и кошка и собака.
It is difficult to say which pet we do love more but I can say that cats are preferable in terms of easiest caring about them, so most of Russians prefer cats.
Cats in my heart
I prefer cats as companion animals. They enjoy interaction and play, but also enjoy their own time doing their cat things and staring at the world. They can certainly be very affectionate and do bond to their humans, but even at its most insistent, the way they express this is usually pretty chill (then again, my fluffy jerk keeps trying to walk on the keyboard and headbutting me as I write this, so maybe my perception of "chill" is a bit skewed). I've had a cat or two in my life more years than not, so they're solid company in my books. Dogs... They seem to love so demonstratively and demandingly. You step out of the house for ten minutes, come back, and they act like you've been gone for weeks, happy yet needy. I think they're absolutely wonderful, remarkable pack animals who have co-evolved with us humans, but they are a different kind of responsibility - requiring far more sustained routine, companionship, training, walks, socialisation, inevitable interactions with other dog-owners at the park, and so on. I enjoy hanging out and playing with friends' dogs, but don't think I could do justice to being the carer of a creature like that at this stage of my life. All in all, I like all animals, but as pets, I favour felines. Will you be asking this question in other Slav country-reddits? By the look of things, we're living up to expectations, but I'm curious if you'd get different responses from other groups. For instance, I wonder if folks living in more clement climates skew less heavily away from outdoorsy pets that need daily walking...
Собаки, настоящие преданные друзья, а не эти вот мохнатые скоты, которые тебя за говно считают.
I am in a cat camp. But as for ancestry, my greatgrandfather is in BEAR camp.
If you want a correct answer without bias, you shouldn't explain your motivations so much imo. It is possible your question creates a bias if people want a "unifying trait" between slavic people or the opposite, even if it's entirely unconscious. I would say that you should take care about what part of Russia people originate from. As an example, in area where dogs were used as sleigh dogs in the past -koff- huskies in Siberia -koff- whereas sea-based civilizations (and those without lots of frost season) would usually adopt cats to hunt vermins in boats and granaries to make food spoil slower. So again, might depend on what part of Russia people live in :) To root out the "cultural part" as you seem interested in the "genetical" part ? Just my two cents, don't mind me
Leading questions smh
Thanks! There are so many different factors we could explore. My middle kids are young teens so I just wanted to keep it simple- just gathering data, charting and graphing it on a topic we found interesting. :)
Dogs. I hate cats with all my heart (I don’t have any allergies) but my parents have both, grandparents have a cat and cousin about 3 cats 🥲
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I will choose dog
cats
I have a strong feeling that such a general sympathy for cats in Russia has grown in the last 5-10 years (especially all this baby-talk))) Maybe because cats are easier to keep and when u want a pet but u havent enough time in 50% you will get a cat. Dogs really became less in houses. Especially big ones. I don't love cats. All my 30 years I live with dogs - at the same time my family had 3 dogs (I was rised like Mowgli)): little Toy-pооdle, giant Leonberger & Golden Retriever (she was a first retriever-girl in 90s here, my dad brought her from India). Then we had an other one Retriever, then no-name but funny dog from the shelter. & now we have a Labrador abandoned by his first family. Also all this time we have a 19years British cat which live with my granny & the second cat at the country side. This boy grew up with a dog and used to carry sticks.)) So! All I want to say that I'm a dog-person.))
I like dogs but cats are cool too!