Kittens. They don't need to be walked, they don't eat everything, and they're easy to litter box train.

You do have to engage with your kitten, though. It needs to be played with some or it can become bored and destructive. Dangling a shoelace, throwing toy mice, etc. And you do have do some house-proofing or it might eat a string or plastic bag and get sick--they can be a bit dumb. But nothing like a puppy. And presumably if you did not want any interaction with your animal, you'd buy a box of Cheez-its instead, so it shouldn't be a burden.

Kittens learn about the litter box really quickly.

Anonymous wrote:People just think you can't train cats b/c you don't really need to. If you get a kitten older than 8 weeks or so and it was with its mama until then, the kitten will almost surely be litter box trained already. As for scratching: usually if you offer the kitten horizontal, vertical, and slanted scratching options, kitten will use one or more of them. Jumping can be trained away.

I used to think this before my cat ruined two couches and an easy chair. We should have been clued in when we saw that the foster family had about 8 different scratching surfaces/posts in a one bedroom apartment. But she walks across my keyboard and flashes her butt at boring zoom meetings so at least there's that.

And kittens are cuter too!

--a cat person

Kittens!

Anonymous wrote:Kittens. I say this as a dog person. Puppies are an unbelievable amount of work.

+1. Kittens don’t need to be walked 3-4 times a day or need nearly as much attention as a puppy. Puppies are a lot more work.

I've never had a cat (allergies), but our puppy wasn't hard to train at all.

Cats are so much easier, no question.

cats are easier

Kittens. I say this as a dog person. Puppies are an unbelievable amount of work.

Kittens by far. They pretty much arrive housebroken and if you’re not a total dunce you’ll quickly learn what they expect of you; any expectations you may have typically are irrelevant to them.

People just think you can't train cats b/c you don't really need to. If you get a kitten older than 8 weeks or so and it was with its mama until then, the kitten will almost surely be litter box trained already. As for scratching: usually if you offer the kitten horizontal, vertical, and slanted scratching options, kitten will use one or more of them. Jumping can be trained away.

Kittens, definitely. Yes some cats have behaviour issues, but OMG litter box training is infinitely easier than housebreaking. Kittens don’t chew everything they have access to, you don’t have to time your life around walking them multiple times a day (and overnight when housebreaking). And when they’re older, you can even go away for a weekend and not have to hire a pet sitter.

I say this as a dog person.

Cats are lower maintenance (no walks, generally much easier to potty train, fewer socialization requirements because they don't have to learn to interact with people on the sidewalk or other dogs at the dog park). Also easier if you travel a lot -- most cats are fine if someone drops by once or twice a day to feed them and give them some quick attention.

But kittens have some habits/requirements that some people really struggle with. Cats jump on everything -furniture, counters, laps -- and you will have limited ability to train them not to do it. Same with scratching the carpet or furniture -- you can get scratch pads and it will help, but you just have to accept that there will be some amount of this.

In general, though, puppies are pretty much the highest maintenance pet you can get, and I would not do it unless you feel really, really ready to take it on. It really is just a few steps shy of having a human baby, in terms of responsibility. Cats are not nearly as bad.

Thanks