Mack says: With a dog, you always play the same role: boss. With cats, it varies.

The only variation is that sometimes a cat wants something, and demands that you obey. At other times, the cat doesn't particularly care if you exist and allows you to do other things that don't concern the cat. Sometimes things you do to the cat aren't of any particular interest to the cat, so it looks as though the cat is "permitting you" to act on your own; but in truth it's permitted only because the cat doesn't particularly care.

John