"Cats are the best pet" by 6th grader Mairead

Cats can lower stress and anxiety, they can lower the risk of heart disease, and they can reduce loneliness. These are just three out of millions of reasons why cats are the best pets! While not having any disrespect towards dogs, cats are better for many reasons. Here’s a few of them:

• Cats are independent and don’t require companionship around the clock.

• Cats don’t need constant walks

• Cats don’t need to be taken out, rather, they independently use the bathroom in a litter box.

• Cats are smaller, leading to less thrashing around and possible breaking of items.

• Cats make much less noise, a quiet meow rather than a loud bark.

• Cats are great companions to older people who would like a pet without as much commitment similar to that of a dog.

• Cats sleep 12-16 hours a day, making an easy commitment.

• Dogs are more popular than cats in the U.S, meaning you can adopt one needy cat (or more!) at your local animal shelter.

Boring Cats?

You might be thinking, well, if I don’t want a big commitment, why not a fish? This is a good point. The reason is, fish are, well, quite boring. All they do is swim in a tank all day every day. And when you think about it, you have to feed your fish daily, clean its tank every two weeks, and check the water temperature often. Not to say this is a big commitment to a pet in general, rather, it is a big commitment to a pet that does nothing all day. Cats are in that sweet spot, just in between being too boring and being too active.

Fun Cat Trivia!

• Cats are the only mammals that can’t taste sweetness.

• Cats have better peripheral vision and night vision than humans.

• Cats have five toes on their front paws, and four toes on their back paws (18 in total).

• Cats can jump up to six times their length.

• Cats' claws curve downward.

• Cats have 230 bones (humans have 206).

Wrap-up

Well, hopefully this explains why cats are the best pets! If you want more trivia, you can look info up, or research books in your local library.