speculation

 Yet again, my west coast brother comes through.  Today is "What if Cats and Dogs had Opposable Thumbs Day."  My brother's guess is that cats would still sleep 23 hours a day and dogs would still eat anything that falls on the floor, and he's probably right.  But I thought of a few other possibilities.  They could button their own clothes, but I know from childhood experience that cats do not like to play dress up.  I tried to put some doll clothes on Heathcliff, but he made it very clear that that was not going to happen.  It looked so cute in the picture of Sally's cat dressed up and riding in a doll carriage in my Dick and Jane reader, but evidently Heathcliff didn't read the same book.  He could have done if he had opposable thumbs to hold the book.  Actually, if cats and dogs had opposable thumbs we would probably expect more from them.  Open your own cans of food, open the door to let yourself outside.  Bring me a snack (actually I've seen some dogs trained to do that).  But now that I think more about it, with opposable thumbs, they could snap their little furry fingers when they wanted our attention - food, drink, play time, car rides, etc.  Not nearly as cute as giving us big eyed soulful looks or cheerful tail wags to get what they want.  They are probably leading a better life without thumbs.