I had a bug idea, a bug strip. I submitted a lot of ideas to newspaper syndicates and finally an editor said, "Your scripts are great but bugs? Nobody can relate." So I took a long hard look at the comics and I thought, "Dogs are doing really well. Snoopy, Marmaduke and so on." So if dogs were doing well, I thought maybe people would want to see cats.

Garfield Creator Jim Davis On His Creation[indiewire.com]