The latest proof is the response to a bill recently introduced in the Florida legislature. The bill would ease the way to allowing dogs to sit with their owners at outdoor cafes. Cat owners are livid. If Fido can dine al fresco, they say, then why not Fifi? Talking to the Sun-Sentinel, one angry owner says of her cat: "She's clean. She's well-behaved. Why not? Why just dogs?"
Here's why: Dogs are capable of doing the cafe thing like a wine-sipping Frenchman.
Just the other day I saw a chocolate lab, hanging at a coffee shop in Georgetown. Shooting knowing glances at neighboring tables, the only thing he was missing was the dangling cigarette: Dontcha just love a Lazy Sunday? OK, maybe he was really thinking, "My butt fur sure is yum." Whatever. Put a cat in the same spot and it'll jump on your table or spaz out over a crumpled napkin.
State Rep. Sheri McInvale, the bill's sponsor, says it's not only the cat owners who have gone ballistic. "It's gone beyond ridiculous," she says. "We've heard even from people who want to bring in their birds. I have never seen a bird on a leash."
Photo: Ario , via flickr
