why not both? they are murderous little killers and yet very sweet to us.
I have a cat who learned how to open doors. None of the others could do it, despite watching him in action.
And at the local animal shelter, some cats manage to open their cages, which are not easy to open from the inside. You have to put pressure on the door just the right way. The shelter has to close their doors with an extra lock.
I lived with cats for a few years. One preferred me over my ex. He was a sweet cat, but he’d never survive in the wild. I have interacted with cats plenty over the years, as I know way more cat people than dog people, and I actually like cats. I just also think cats are aloof murderous assholes. Sort of like dogs are lovey-dovey slobbery assholes.
At our shelter they had a number of tall cat perches. One of their cats figured out not only how to lift a ceiling tile far enough to crawl up into the ceiling, but also how to raise one in a different room of the shelter and let himself back into that room. They discovered it when they kept finding the cat in a different room of the shelter than the one he was in when they left at the end of the day.
We did not inquire whether that cat was still there. I hope he’s not the one we brought home…
I currently have a dog pretending to be a cat curled up in my lap. However he’s does not like it if I start to count his neurons.
The researcher’s anti-cat bias is evident in the exclusion of large cats from the study, while including large dogs.
Miaow-hiss!
Oh, now you’re getting all ‘smarty pants’. Relax and drink some ‘Brawndo’.
I have to rethink this… where’s my Brawndo?
I believe the absolute number of neurons an animal has, especially in the cerebral cortex, determines the richness of their internal mental state and their ability to predict what is about to happen in their environment based on past experience
Okay, yes, you’ve got extra processing power. But the dogs seem to be putting most of that brainpower into sucking up to humans by dedicating it to human facial/body expression reading and emotional manipulation. Which I guess technically makes them ‘smarter’, but is dedicating half your brain to being a (literal) ass-kisser really what we mean when we say smarter?
I’ve owned and known dogs that are dumber than bags of hammers and cats that are smarter than most dogs (Japanese bobtails can be very smart, had one that could open doors), though sure, I’d agree that the average border collie is smarter than the average cat. Which is why they’re prone to being neurotic, obsessive, and hyper.
Well, after seeing those graphics I will agree and laugh and drink my Brawndo. Although, my cats never go outside. I keep them locked up like little criminals in prison and they have never murdered anything! Although, I did notice my one cat’s eyes glow in the dark, perhaps plotting to murder me!
Are we taking about people here? Because there’s a wide variation.
Also with dogs - some dogs are shepherds, some are chasers and catchers. They have rather different intelligence and rather different goals. Ours simply wants to keep his flock together, others are ball fixated. But some of this seems to be due to selective breeding rather than early neuroplasticity. (Not always; we had a cocker spaniel, rehomed, who had never experienced chasing balls, or stairs. He learnt rapidly to climb stairs but never got the hang of balls.)
I don’t think I see the same range of behaviours in cats.
PHBs certainly seem to think so.
My dog loved this piece.
Mine, too. I feel like I’m under near-constant surveillance in my own home. If I leave a room for more than 10 minutes, she finds me. My cat only weighs 5 lbs., but she uses leverage or momentum depending on the type of door. The only thing that stops her is a lock.
So, on a scale:
Humans
Dogs
Cats
Trump
Got it.
“…my compassion for someone is not limited to my estimate of their intelligence.” ~ Doctor Gillian Taylor, Star Trek IV
I think this is probably accurate. Dogs are pack animals, which is why they tend to be more loyal to their food source.
We had a dog who, when boarding let not just himself but all of the other dogs into an enclosed area. That must have been quite the party.
I wish that I didn’t see it. My cat “herds” me. She follows me like a dog from room to room. If I go somewhere she doesn’t like, she yowls at me until I return. She sits on me to keep me from moving. She enjoys chasing and catching a ball, but not as much as chasing and catching/sitting on me. Maybe she hung around with dogs as a kitten, because I’ve never had a cat like her before. She’s 18 now, so I’ve given up on changing her behavior.
