What is more demanding?

[SilentMute]

Howdy, strangers! I've emerged from the hidden crypts of LitNet to post what I think will be a fun poll. My cat gave me inspiration this morning.

I forgot to add children to the poll. I should have added that.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Children absolutely, without doubt.

[G L Wilson]

The kiddiewinks.

[Lokasenna]

Well, I'd have to say Boss at the moment - and boy does he work me hard.

That said, lovers, pets and children don't apply to me, so I guess I have a more limited choice!

[Helga]

I said children but I think I am the most demanding, if that was a choice, my dog doesn't demand much of me but I demand a lot of myself on his behalf, same goes for my son. Also I think I demand more of myself than anyone else would demand of me.

[SilentMute]

Thank you to whoever fixed my poll and added children! :)

@Helga--I had thought of adding whether a person thought themselves to be demanding...but actually, I was more interested in a person's ideas of things outside themselves, so that is why I left it off.

@Lokasenna--I don't have kids or spouse/lover either. I imagined children would be the most demanding, but since I don't have those--the cat won. Actually, I sometimes wonder if a child wouldn't be easier. The cat can be a major pain in the patootie.

[Ecurb]

My parents are dead, my lover and my child are out of town, my boss lets me post on the internets all day, and my friends aren't demanding at all (except they requested the menu for dinner at my house last night).

That leaves my cat, Marsall Tito. I have to find someone to feed him, because I'm going out of town for two weeks. Also, I'm allergic to him.

[Panglossian]

My cat is a foodaholic, bites my chin in the morning, plucks up my upholsteries, and insists on lounging on my lap whenever I sit down. So demanding, so demanding ...

[qimissung]

What about one's job being more demanding, or do you want it to be a human? I am a teacher, and they are, technically, children. I'd say it's a toss up betweeen my job and my boss, but I haven't voted yet.

[Maximilianus]

In my case I should say my studies and my parents, which is somewhat similar to qimi's job and boss :p But I can say children too, not because I have my own (which I don't), but because I've been my parents' child for quite a while and I seem to have been very demanding... now that I remember :rolleyes:

[soundofmusic]

I have to say a spouse or lover. I find that pets appreciate you, children give you feedback, parents give you constructive criticism; both parents and children loan you money...spouses and lovers complain, always want more and give less and less as the years pass:rant:

[Maximilianus]

I have to say a spouse or lover. I find that pets appreciate you, children give you feedback, parents give you constructive criticism; both parents and children loan you money...spouses and lovers complain, always want more and give less and less as the years pass:rant:
Seems to make sense http://smilys.net/nachdenkliche_smilies/smiley1943.gif

[kiki1982]

My cat is a foodaholic, bites my chin in the morning, plucks up my upholsteries, and insists on lounging on my lap whenever I sit down. So demanding, so demanding ...

We have three. Although they are not too demanding, as long as you leave the door open all night in the summer and let them in and out at the point where they want you to in the winter :rolleyes: (before you ask, a cat-flap makes no sense as it would let in the winter cold too much and be bad on the heating bill). That can be fine, but it can be ANNOING when it is raining as they seem to think that maybe after five minutes it has stopped and then do not want ot go out when you open the door. Or even better, think that surely at the other door in the living room the weather must be ddifferent than at the kitchen door. :rolleyes:
They complain when they merely see the bottom of one of their bowls. It is as if soon there is going to be no more food left :rolleyes:. And the youngest we call 'cyber cat' because she likes to sit on your laptop. A real modern cat. When she was small, and that's why we kept her from a nest from her mum, whenever we were eating she used to come and sit on my husband's knee, just about looking over the edge of the table. So cute.
Oh, and whenever there is meat to be got in the kitchen, there are three cats miewing. It's quite funny, mum and daughter together. It's like a chorus. Our tom cat knows he gets the biggest piece because he's so nice and sits there quietly to wait for his bit.

What was the proverb? 'A dog has a family and a cat has staff'?

That said though, my parents live in Belgium and they were never so clingy, my friends live there too and were also never clingy, and I do not have children. I do have a husband but he is not demanding either. I rather think I am the demanding one. ;)

[SilentMute]

Considering that pets are in second place, I wonder if that means if I ever have children, I'll be prepared?

@kiki--I like that. Dogs have families, cats have staffs. So true!

We have a cat because this one was so persistent. After my last cat died in 1997, we had agreed on having no more pets. Then this cat showed up on our doorstep three years ago. I don't know if he ran away or was abandoned. Many people going into foreclosure are abandoning their animals, thinking it is kinder than taking them to the pound--where they may be destroyed. This cat had been declawed and neutered.

Anyway, he shows up and just walks into the house like he owns the place. We threw him out. He sat at our doorstep for several days and meowed. Long story short...he wore us down and became our cat. And we became his staff.

[Emil Miller]

Considering that pets are in second place, I wonder if that means if I ever have children, I'll be prepared?

@kiki--I like that. Dogs have families, cats have staffs. So true!

We have a cat because this one was so persistent. After my last cat died in 1997, we had agreed on having no more pets. Then this cat showed up on our doorstep three years ago. I don't know if he ran away or was abandoned. Many people going into foreclosure are abandoning their animals, thinking it is kinder than taking them to the pound--where they may be destroyed. This cat had been declawed and neutered.

Anyway, he shows up and just walks into the house like he owns the place. We threw him out. He sat at our doorstep for several days and meowed. Long story short...he wore us down and became our cat. And we became his staff.

Although it depends on one's circumstances, I couldn't refuse a cat.
Our neighbour's cat often comes into the house as though he owns it and I'm quite happy to let him do so.
As regards my own cat, I don't think she is particularly demanding, although she frequently tries to wheedle more food from me than is good for her.
I'm extremely fond of her but, yesterday, she was smacked and refused food for the day because she killed a sparrow. I know that it's instinctive but I won't allow birds to be killed without retribution.

[kiki1982]

@SilentMute: now that is a determined cat! But that is like the Downing Street cat Humphrey who died recently, I think. Or was kicked out first by Blair, but now there is a new one. ;)

Ooh, my cats bring in everything: snakes, birds, mice (there are two kinds: the ones for us as presies and the ones for themselevs to eat. The ones with the long noses are no good to eat, so they bring them as presies. Nice isn't it, we get the scraps :rolleyes:), moles (that is good), lizards, anything that runs away really ;).

It is not that my cats cannot catch their food, but I draw the line at playing. I once had a mouse that ran behind the fireplace after an agonising three hours (:eek:) in our rental appartment and I think it is still there because I did not see it come out and my cat brought it in to play. From then on, I found that an animal caught=an animal eaten. If you can't eat it, you should not catch it. So we have a special box (such a round box from a bottle) we catch everything in a cat brings in and is not dead or well-nigh dead. We have already saved lots of mice and the like.

The only time I allow this playing is when our mother cat brings in for her small ones because they learn how to kill and eat their prey from ther mother. Catching they do instinctively. So if I were not to allow it, they would never learn. My friend has a cat who was too small and was hand-reared. And she did like 3 years over catching something and then was awfully frustrated because she couldn't kill it. She had to see another cat do it to figure out how. And that took a while.
Mind you, we had this water rat once and she fought her way out of a nest with three babies and a mother cat. That was quite impressive.

I am also thinking about having kids now... Man, if I am already complaining aboutthe cats...

[Emil Miller]

The ironic thing is that I bought a female cat because they are better at catching mice than males and we had mice in the garden; she also kept the pigeons at bay. Previously I used a very powerful air pistol on the pigeons, although just wing them rather than kill them. I still have the pistol but that's for a more dangerous and all too prevalent threat if you get my meaning. Anyhow, my vet told me that cats are likely to get worms if they eat mice so now I have to watch that she doesn't catch them.