I agree you just need the right cat. Go to the shelter and play with them. I have three cats two are a hoot and totally dog like. They love people aren’t skittish and curl up with strangers. My third is very loving and cuddly with me. They are three amazing animals.
I have three cats, two are siblings, non is like the other.
My Tabbies, the ‘normal’ cats, they are affectionate, loving…have their way of telling you what they want.
The 3rd, the exotic…oye…she is a mess! :lol:
Bouncing off the walls one moment, passed out next to DH the next.
You just can’t tell, cats are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get. :winkgrin:
Having said this, I would probably adopt another Bengal in a heartbeat. Not only does that cat look striking, I love her antics.
However, somebody’s brother had adopted a Savannah cat (I think), kind of like a Bengal, but with a different wild ancestor in the family tree…aside from needing a cat room, the verdict was ‘rather dog like’
Which I think is a misnomer. 
[QUOTE=Perfect10;7408905]
A big orange tabby male. Can’t go wrong with one of those.[/QUOTE]
Yup yup. Big ole neutered orange boycats are usually the friendliest.
The right cat, as everyone has said. In terms of breeds, all the Abyssinians I’ve met have been extremely doglike. But both my shelter “mutt” kittens have been very doglike & get along well w/ dogs. I “interviewed” them before taking them home & picked them based on their personality.
It depends on the cat. I have two gray tabby littermates, a male and female. The girl is very dog-like and the boy perpetuates the stereotype of aloof, self-centered cats.
Lucy is my Velcro-kitty. She’s super laid back, outgoing, and affectionate. She climbs into my lap the moment I sit down on the sofa (borders on pesky) pretty much sleeps on my head. If I have company, she walks around, meets the guests, and makes new friends. She’s BFF with my dogs and doesn’t mind cat-friendly visiting dogs. My girl dog likes to lick her head and ears she’s cool with it - for awhile. When she was younger, she used to play fetch. She’s a dog-lover’s dream kitty!
Her brother, Sparky, on the other hand, is generally grumpy and intolerant and has no sense of humor. He likes attention, but only in small doses. When he was a kitten, I used to subject him to “mandatory cuddling” and would pick him up and snuggle with him for as long as he would put up with it. He hates dogs, but is open minded towards humans. He does not play fetch ever.
I love them both, but if I were given the opportunity to clone one of them, it would be Lucy.
One of the great things about cats–if you like cats–is that unlike dogs the vast majority haven’t been bred selectively for specific traits. In a sense they aren’t really domestic animals at all, at least not in the sense a dog or horse might be. Their personalities are what they are–they haven’t been intensively selected for traits that human beings found useful or convenient. Perhaps as a result, IME the range of personalities in the general cat population can be diverse (and colorful!) in the extreme.
If you want to choose a cat based on personality (which I think is an excellent way to proceed!) one way is to invest a little time volunteering at your local shelter. You will have ample opportunity to get to interact with a large number of cats, and you can get to know the different personalities quickly. This strategy has worked well for me in the past.
I definitely agree with checking for a confident, loving cat at the shelter.
None of my purebred Siamese have been neurotic at all, nor biters, but I imagine that selecting the breeder carefully, much as with dogs, makes a difference. There are good catteries and bad out there. My Coda was just described last week as “a dog in cat fur.”
But while all Siamese I’ve had have had BIG personalities, they are different. Like people. Not one standard “Siamese” personality, just that whatever personality that cat had was dialed up several notches from the same personality I’d encountered in similar non Siamese individuals. And not all BIG personalities will be best friends with a dog. Rosalind tolerated the dog at best (though Rosalind ideally, I think, would like to live in a world populated by only me and herself. She’s not neurotic at all. She’s just Queen Victoria). I agree that you’re looking for the individual, regardless of breed. Good luck!
Definitely agree on the shelter cat. Beyond that, if you see one there, I’m another vote for a Maine Coon. My parents had two MCs from the shelter and both had fabulous personalities. My first cat on my own was part MC and very sweet and affectionate, and I took home a Maine Coon that got dumped at my barn and gave him to a friend, and he’s also very dog-like. They’re ginormous and mellow and play fetch. 
Maine Coon or Ragdoll.
I would look into rescues/shelter cats.
wow, thank you everyone for the great advice! How important is it to pick a declawed one for kids? There are a bunch of MC mixes on petfinder. I like that MC’s are larger for little kids
Yes, Siamese are just dogs in a different body. Plus if raised with dogs, they will act like dogs, walk on leases, ride in cars without crates, chase poodles who come in the yard, chase squirrels with dogs, etc. (OK that chasing squirrels did not work out well even when siamese went up the tree behind the squirrels while dogs were held at the base of tree.) And maine coon cats are pretty much like that too.
But any cat with a good personality will do. Shelter cats can be great. At one barn,one barn cat was so great. Unfortunately, the BO ran over him in the barn aisle. That mixed breed short haired tomcat (fixed) was a big funny guy with lots of personality. And warmbloods did not cross him. The other 2 tomcats were boring, including the one siamese.
As others have said, go visit and hang out with cats and kittens at the pound, at shelters, and at rescues. You never know where you’ll find just the right cat.
[QUOTE=bluedapple;7409726]
wow, thank you everyone for the great advice! How important is it to pick a declawed one for kids? There are a bunch of MC mixes on petfinder. I like that MC’s are larger for little kids[/QUOTE]
Educate yourself a little bit about declawing you may find you wholly disagree with the practice. I do. A kid friendly cat is kid friendly with all his joints and appendages. As an alternative, if you amputate all your kids’ fingers off at the first joint, they won’t be able to poke/torment the cat (I kid, I kid, obviously-- but do look up the actual procedure of declawing and all the side effects-- perhaps the worst for your situation being that declawed cats often turn into biters, and a cat bite is MUCH worse than a scratch).
Honestly, if you’re looking for a cat with a “dog-like” personality, then you should definitely look at the MCs. They are very vocal, get to be very big, and are VERY playful. However, they also have long hair that easily mats, and so require a lot of brushing and grooming. My brother’s was so big that they had to go buy one of those larger, low sided Rubbermaid containers to use as a litter box.
However, if you’re looking for a really, really GOOD cat, one that is super friendly and wants to hang out with you (without the WE MUST PLAY ALL THE TIME demand from the MC), I would third, fourth or fifth an orange tabby boy. I have had many cats in my life, and I have to say that my orange tabby is the absolute best cat I’ve ever had. Super friendly, loves my son, other cats and my dogs with no prejudice. He’s 6 now, very playful still but is a real lovebug. Wants to be on my lap all the time, sleeps with me every night (and has to touch me), and just a great cat.
http://flic.kr/p/jHTLnb
http://flic.kr/p/jHT8q3
[QUOTE=Perfect10;7408905]
A big orange tabby male. Can’t go wrong with one of those.[/QUOTE]
You almost have this perfect. A big orange tabby Maine Coon male is what you want.
The dog-friendly aspect depends on the cat and the dog. The dog either has to not be a wretched cat-chaser or has to be a good learner. If the cat beats up the dog twenty times and the dog chases the cat twenty-one times, your cat will become neurotic, or kill the dog. (This depends on the size of the cat, the size of the dog, and whether or not the cat hunts.) You can make this better by reinforcing good behavior from both parties.
Another vote for a Maine Coon. That’s what SO & I have agreed we will get next, when one of our shelter kitties passes on.
Re:declawing: big fat no to declawing, if you’re concerned about scratching just take 5 minutes out every week or so and clip the sharp ends off the cat’s claws.
[QUOTE=vxf111;7409752]
Educate yourself a little bit about declawing you may find you wholly disagree with the practice. I do. A kid friendly cat is kid friendly with all his joints and appendages…but do look up the actual procedure of declawing and all the side effects-- perhaps the worst for your situation being that declawed cats often turn into biters, and a cat bite is MUCH worse than a scratch).[/QUOTE]
Yes, pain from toe amputation often redirects itself as biting. And cats are seldom declawed on all four – a cat can do a fair amount of damage by latching on with its mouth and rabbit kicking with the claws on the back legs. Ask me how I know that. 
Even if the cat doesn’t pick up a biting habit, the pain from the procedure can cause problems in other areas – aversion to using the litter box, inability to properly balance while walking, etc.
So with the above in mind, if you head to the shelter to look for a cat that fits your personality needs, paw test them. Will the cat let you touch his or her paws without too much issue? If you can touch the paws and spread the pads, you’ll be able to do routine trimmings (trimming cat claws are super simple since you can easily see the nail bed). Allowing the cat access to a scratching post between trimmings help to round things over as well.
Often-trimmed claws will not hurt skin!
Yeah, de-clawed won’t help you but will hurt kitteh…. which may hurt you in the end.
Also, non-clawing is in the little cat head, not the paws.
You need me to send you one of mine. But I won’t, because they’re that good.
Best cats I’ve ever had were ferals/cats that adopted me. I assume those can be found in shelters. While I’m sure you can find breed-specific traits, I don’t believe it’s necessary. You can get the same thing at a greatly reduced price through adoption.
Allow me to throw my hat in the ring for the black male kitties. I’ve had three, all by accident (in other words, I didn’t choose for color, they chose me because I suited them). I’ve had a pinto, a tuxedo, and a mostly-black fellow. The less white, the more gregarious, but I suspect that had to do with the age at which they adopted me-- the older they were at “domestication,” the more dominant and “dog-like” they were.
Regardless of breed or color, you really can’t go wrong with a cat. Spend the time to get to know them, and the right one will select you. Your participation in the matter is minimal.
Maine Coon! They are dogs in cat suits ;). I’ve had three over the years and, to a cat, they loved dogs…liked to sit near them, play with them and would even egg the dogs on to chase them, then hide behind the furniture and grab the dogs tail as it went by. Two out of the three played fetch!
And, yes, NO to declawing. It is cruel, it is bascially amputating the end of each toe. Plus it leaves the cat defenseless, unable to climb and unable to defend itself. A declawed cat around dogs, absolutely not. Even a dog loving cat needs a way to signal that it has had enough of a particular play session.
Cats with kids is a matter of teaching the kid how to interact with the cat. The only one who ever got scratched by my cats was me…because I was always the one doing medical things to them and washing them when they got sprayed by a skunk. Kids learned to read cat body language and what made cats angry and avoided doing those things.
