WordPress seems to circle back to pets every so often, as if eventually one of us is going to discover some profound new truth about dogs, cats, or goldfish. We’ve had versions of this before — dog person or cat person, what pets teach us, what pets would say if they could talk. Now we get: what animals make the best or worst pets?
For me, the answer starts pretty simply: dogs win. Easily.
I’ve always thought dogs seem almost intentionally designed to be companions for people. They need us, trust us, depend on us, and somehow manage to act like we’re the most important person in the world every time we walk through the door. That’s a pretty remarkable trait in another creature. They’re basically four-footed, furry children — sometimes needy, sometimes stubborn, occasionally destructive, but deeply loyal and strangely good for the soul.
Cats? Cats are… fine.
I understand why people love them. They’re self-sufficient, relatively low maintenance, and if you leave enough food, water, and litter behind, they’ll survive your absence with what appears to be mild annoyance rather than emotional collapse. You come home after several days, and the cat usually looks at you like, Oh, you’re back. Were you gone?
Dogs act like your return is the greatest event in recorded history. Cats act like they may allow you to continue living in their house.
Over the years, we’ve had some of the smaller options too — a ferret, a guinea pig, a chinchilla. They all had their moments, but those kinds of pets always felt more like something you maintain than something you truly bond with. They’re often cute, sometimes entertaining, occasionally smelly, and before long you realize their lifespan is heartbreakingly short. The strongest emotion they leave behind is often grief arriving much sooner than you expected.
Some pets I just don’t fully understand.
Snakes, for example. I realize people love them, but I struggle with the idea of sharing my home with something whose entire personality seems built around silence and suspicion.
Birds can be beautiful, but many seem loud enough to qualify as household alarms.
Lizards mostly sit there judging you.
And then there are axolotls — one teacher I know keeps a pair in her classroom. They are admittedly cute in a strange little alien way, but they mostly drift around in the tank looking mildly surprised by life. She had to introduce them carefully because apparently the larger one might have eaten the smaller one’s legs, which feels like an immediate strike against them in the “best pet” rankings.
Some people even keep rats, which to me still register as something another pet might eat.
In the end, I suppose the best and worst pet depends on what kind of companionship a person wants. Some people want independence. Some want novelty. Some want something exotic.
I want the animal that hears the front door open and reacts like I’m the answer to its entire day.
That relationship makes sense to me.
Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
