Dear Dr. Mutt,

My cats, Spots and Bengal, and Cinnamon the Siamese, want to know why dogs get all the favorable press, while cats are always the villains. You have Lassie, Rin-Tin-Tin and Sparky. We have Sylvester, the doofus bad guy always lusting after Tweety-Bird.

I'd like to know why cats always get a bad rap in the press"

Stumped in South Florida

Dear Stumped,

If you ask me, I would say that dogs are true politicians (sans corruption), and cats are not. Dogs play up to people. I may even go so far as to say that dogs are Democrats and... No, I'd better not go there. Suffice it to say that it is a simple question of personality --- dogs are extroverts and cats are introverts; dogs are hams and cats are not; and the press likes a ham.

To be honest, canines, though rather goofy and slobbery, are naturally friendly; while felines are more independent. Now I KNOW cats CAN be nice, but do they truly WANT to be? Who can tell? Cats are so self-assured that they appear not to NEED anyone, whereas, dogs ARE NOT and DO.

But please tell Spots and Cinnamon that it takes TWO to tangle (tango?) and what would life be like without cats and dogs?

Hope this answers your question.

Sparky

P.S. To be fair, we do have Goofy!