Originally posted by bluekat
PCB and others who agree with her, I know what you mean by feeling excluded from the cat people. But I'm not saying that its completely wrong for some general related threads to be in Cat General only. I know some people only post in the cat side, and I see nothing wrong with that. If I only posted on the cat side, I would probably post threads that belong in general in cat general too. Because if you only post on the cat side, then you wouldn't feel as comfortable with the rest of PT that don't post there. And those people might not want to come over to general also, if they're only here because they love cats and only want a cat-related forum.
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But I do have to agree that the cat side seems more friendly and close...I have never seen a thread there where people were fighting but I have seen a couple in the dog side.
I completely agree. Some people simply don't have the time to post on all forums and they choose to come to the forum of their choice(be it dog, pet or cat). I know that (for the longest time) since I only had cats, I felt like I only belonged on the "cat side", so to speak. I couldn't relate to any of the dog, other pet threads, so I simply didn't go there.

I've noticed that some people are always only on the "dog side" too, so personally this topic goes both ways. If I can't relate to something, why spend the time when my time is limited?
I'll be honest in saying that I primarily spend all of my time on the "cat side" because that is where I've been since 2001 and that is where I feel comfortable. I do pop occasionally onto the dog side and pet general and general, but not quite as often. Doesn't mean I don't like those animals any less. I love every one, but I just don't have the time to post in every part of the forum. Now that I have a dog, I've looked a little more on the dog side, but since nobody knows me, I don't feel as welcome.

I have been away for quite some time from PT, and I think it was primarily because there were so many threads about non-pet related topics all over the place...and it simply didn't interest me. I have come to Pet Talk to talk about pets, not to always gossip about totoally unrelated things. I do participate in some of the non-pet related topics, but not as much as I do the pet-related topics.
I guess it turned me off for awhile, so when I came back, I just stayed in the cat-related topics because that IS what interests me, ya know? I don't think any member of this forum is intentionally being rude by only being in one part of the forum, I just think they tend to stay where the topics interest them and where they feel comfortable, and I don't see a problem with that. I guess it's because I'm one of those people??!!