Dear Maggie,

My husband and I get along wonderfully except for one area where we disagree. I love cats, and I have four of them.

He hates cats and wants me to get rid of them. We fight about it constantly. He says they stink up the house, leave hair everywhere, and he’s embarrassed to have people over. I say they use their litter boxes, which I clean daily, so it’s not as bad as he’s making it out to be. And besides, they’re my pets and I love them.

How do we solve this?

Cat-lady

Dear Cat-lady,

This is a doosie, but it’s really not so far different from anything else couples really, really disagree on. It seems like you can’t both have what you want, but I think you can.

Okay, he wants a home that doesn’t smell of cat odor, where he can sit on the sofa and not get up covered in cat hair. You want a home with the animals you love that make you happy.

The first thing is for both of you to try to see it from the other person’s point of view. For you, I have to tell you, I’ve never been inside a house with more than one cat and not been able to tell by the smell that cats were present. No matter how much you clean, four cats is going to leave a distinct scent. And the hairs — well, that’s an ongoing problem too.

For him, I have to say that some people really can’t be happy without a pet, and there are cat people, and there are dog people, and you, his bride, are a cat person. If he wants you to be happy, he’s not going to be able to see that happen without a kitty in the house.