When traveling in the Netherlands and in neighboring countries, one of the things that M and I first notice is whether there are more cats or dogs in the cities we visit. We call it cat vs. dog city. Most cities in the Netherlands are cat cities, except for Amsterdam, which seems to have almost as many dogs as cats.
During a recent business trip to Vichy, France we noticed that it was definitely a dog city with not a cat in sight. While in Brussels, Belgium, we never saw a cat and only an occasional dog being taken for a walk.
When we lived in Utrecht, we had a ground floor door that opened onto a backyard patio. I’d often go downstairs to find a neighborhood cat stalking around the house or eating out of our cat’s dish. Our cat would spend the rest of the day staring at the back door, waiting for the interloper.