I'm so glad I made this thread, because after reading everyone's replies, I'm beginning to see the other side too. That made me feel much better about it. For those of you who said its ironic that the people who only visit the cat side won't see this thread, that is true, and I think I will go there and post a link so they can all get here.

I do think some of you are missing my point. A lot of you started comparing the dog side to the cat side. I wasn't comparing the cat people to the dog people, nor was I comparing the cat people to anyone else. Let me explain what I mean in a more simple way.

I see Dog General, as a place to post dog related threads, Cat General as a place to post cat related threads, Pet General as a place to post bird, rabbit, rodent, reptile, monkey , whatever related threads. Its great that everyone seems to have established friendships on the side they visit most, which is probably because of what pets they have. That is all fine and well.

Now General is a place that I see to be the *hang out* of Pet Talk, where EVERYONE from the board gets together and talks about anything........topics that usually are not related to any type of animal. I love to come to General too. It always has interesting topics, and it helps in keeping you updated with whatever's going on. Its also a great place to make friends with everyone you may not see on certain other *sides*.

When general topics are posted in the cat side, it just makes me feel like those threads were created there just for the cat people, which makes me feel uncomfortable in replying. I'm sure that is not the reason people post things there, but that is how it makes me and many others who don't have cats feel. It seems this has been going on at the cat side 'a lot' lately, and General, sadly, has been quiet for months. I honestly think this is because a lot of the general topics end up on the cat side. The non-cat people tend to miss them because of their location, or tend to feel left out because of their location. When they're not cat related, I just feel they should be shared with all of us. That way, General could be the lively place it once used to be again. I would like to add that I feel perfectly fine going to Cat General and posting on the cat related threads.......especially when there are pictures. Its just when the topic is something else that I feel like I'm intruding, and not supposed to be there.

And BTW, I have several good friends here that have 'only' cats, and fewer friends that have 'only' dogs, so I think I too, can personally understand cat people more. Maybe its because I am much more into cats than dogs. I would love to have cats, but I can't see myself having any dogs. Most of my friends here have multiple pets though, so I guess I like to befriend people based on who they are........not based on what animals they have. Maybe that's why it was bothering me more. I see PT as a whole online community, and while we all have those that we are closer to, I feel we should all have something in common on the General side too, no matter what type of animals we have.

Lastly, I'm so glad to see this thread progressing in a civilized manner. I was worried about people fighting, but thankfully, that hasn't happened, and hopefully, it won't happen.