Are cats smarter than dogs? A common question but difficult to answer.

People like to ask whether cats are smarter than dogs or vice versa; a topic of debate on the Internet and has been for many years.

The answer depends upon how you measure intelligence as both cats and dogs are intelligent but arguably, they possess different types of cognitive strengths and abilities. This is because dogs have been domesticated for about twice as long as cats (for around 20k years for dogs) and secondly dogs have a background of being working animals, serving their human owner whereas initially cats were working cats employed as rodent killers but nowadays they are companions and entertainers to their human caregiver.

So, these animal species have different purposes in life. This affects their skills and how you measure those skills and therefore how you measure intelligence. Cats are known for their independence and problem-solving skills. They are great hunters with great predatory instincts. They can learn from observation and can manipulate their environment. They often learn from their human caregiver such as when opening internal doors or the fridge door.

A cat's senses are incredible. It is thought that they are sensitive to the Earth's magnetic field which guides them home if they been removed from their home by their owner who is moving to a new home. You may have read the stories of cats going home after their owner has moved. My cat did that actually. This is because cats are attached to their home range - their territory - arguably more than they are attached to their human caregiver!

But we don't read stories of dogs finding their way home on their own using the Earth's magnetic field. That said, dogs are highly social animals and they excel in areas such as social intelligence, they are known for their emotional understanding and their ability to cooperate with humans. They seek guidance from their human caregiver as the alpha dog in the pack.

So, dogs and cats are different in terms of the development of their cognitive abilities due to many thousands of years of domestication and this makes it very difficult to compare intelligence. Essentially, they have evolved different cognitive abilities to suit their respective lifestyles and relationships with people.

Dogs are easier to train because they are pack animals and they look to their owner for guidance whereas cats are more independent as mentioned. But cats can be trained and they develop strong bond with their owners.

And there will be variations between individual animals. Some cats will be smarter than others and some dogs likewise. It is perhaps difficult and unwise to generalise and it is also tricky to compare cat and dog intelligence.

Conclusion

Having studied this aspect of cats and dogs for about 15 years, and read studies, I cannot put my finger on a definitive answer to the question. In the human world, and against my best instincts, I would probably lean towards dogs as being slightly more intelligent than cats but mainly because they are better at relating to humans due to their longer domestication as a species and the fact that they are pack animals.

Why do dogs eat anything but cats are picky?

Cat are not picky eaters per se. There is one major reason and one minor reason why dogs eat anything can cats are pickier:

• Dogs are omnivores which means that they eat a variety of both plant and animal foods and;
• There may be an issue with bitter taste receptors in the cat which makes them pickier.

Strangely, the articles on this topic seem to hint that the major difference is that cats have more bitter taste receptors than dogs but it seems obvious to me that it must be because dogs are omnivores and cats are strict carnivores.

You can almost stop the discussion there because the range of foods available to an omnivore is much wider than that which is available to a carnivore. This naturally means that dogs are able to eat almost anything while cats have to eat prey animals such as mice and birds or manufactured foods that mimic these prey animals. 

Cats might eat a little bit of grass to aid in digestion or to obtain the folic acid from the grass but by and large domestic cats are genuinely carnivorous and you won't see them eating plant type foods. P.S. there are seven possible reasons by cats eat grass - click this to read about them! P.P.S. the snow leopard is the world's best cat plant eater!

It is just not in their character and their character has been created through evolution over eons. Don't forget that the carnivorous nature of domestic cat is directly inherited from the North African wildcat which is a small wildcat living in semiarid conditions.

Click this to read about the bitter taste receptors of cats.

Note: cats are not picky eaters. Just sensible and in line with their evolved anatomy.

Is your cat "just a roommate" or do you get "unconditional love"?

Me and my cat at dawn in the garden on a deck chair enjoying the sun and smells of summer. Selfie by MikeB. Yes, I know I look a mess.

It is up to us to create a relationship with our cat within which they can express their deep friendship with us. We dictate the terms of the relationship. For example, find out what they particularly like doing and enjoy and give it to them. My cat likes me to hold my hand at the back of his head. I do it all the time for him. He feels better and we are closer.

My cat likes me to place my hand at the back of his head. I do it for him and it strengthens our bond. Image: MikeB.

On the Boston.com website there is a discussion about the states of the USA and whether they are cat or dog states. And it leads to a difference in the relationship that people have with their dogs and cats. One commenter, Christopher, said "Cats are just roommates" but that dogs give their owners "unconditional love".

I do not recognise this description of the domestic cat in my relationships with cats over the years. I recognise the general tone of discussion about cats and dogs and that cats are said to be independent and dogs are much closer to their owners. I just don't think that it is true. Domestic cats are not independent or stand-offish. 

Just this minute while I am dictating this, he has come up to me and sat down next to my computer on my lap. He said hello in a cute meow. He's just stretched out his left paw to touch the computer. He is settling in. He wants to be near me. He loves me. I love him. The relationship that I have with my cat is not exceptional. Many millions of cat caregivers have exactly the same relationship.

Perhaps cats give the impression that they don't provide unconditional love but if you have a proper relationship with a domestic cat companion you will have as good a relationship as if it is with a dog. I get masses of unconditional love from my cat.

He comes up to me all the time and constantly head butts me, talks to me, wants to jump on my lap and he stays there for a long time. He's constantly lying all over me. We have conversations. and go for walks together outside. For example, when I go and buy the newspaper in the morning, he walks along with me. It's a bit dangerous but he stops a quarter of the way there and hides under a bush until I return. But he wants to be with me. We have a close relationship.

It is up to each individual to generate this close relationship with their cat companion. If you haven't got it, dare I say, you are failing. Or perhaps you don't want a close relationship with your cat. Perhaps you like the fact that you can keep a bit of distance and freedom. But I don't really get that either because if you have a cat, you have them for companionship so why keep a distance from them?

It is my belief that it is the human who runs the relationship. It is the human who dictates the tone of the relationship and it is up to the human to elicit from their cat companion the friendship and unconditional love that they can provide them.

Janet from Brookline agrees with me. She said "Cats have a deep reservoir of affection without the slavish behaviour of dogs". P.S. I like dogs too.

Dogs can see and are fooled by optical illusions but cats can't see them

This video seems to tell me that dogs see and are therefore fooled by optical illusions i.e. they see them as real whereas cats do not recognise optical illusions and therefore, they ignore them. We see both reactions in this video.

Dog nonplussed by this optical illusion.

Right now, I do not know for sure how to interpret from these differences. I have never seen a test like this before between cats and dogs and how they react to an optical illusion.

Note: This is an embedded video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source or the video is turned into a link which stops it working here. I have no control over this.

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The difference between cat and dog may be the difference between three dogs and one cat i.e. the difference may be on an individual animal basis rather than a species basis although that is unlikely.

Cat cannot see the optical illusion.

A crude deduction might be that dogs are more visually sensitive and aware and cats. But that does not make sense to me. Thinking about it, what may be happening is that dogs believe more in the human environment and are more trusting of it compared to the more independent-minded domestic cat.

Domestic dogs have been domesticated for about 20,000 years or so whereas the cat has been domesticated for about half that time. Perhaps the dog is more in tune with the human environment than the cat even after these thousands of years. And as mentioned they are more trusting. Optical illusions work because the observer trusts that it is real.

They say that the wild cat is just below the surface of the domestic cat. And it is plausible to argue that a wild cat is less likely to appreciate an optical illusion compared to a domestic dog because they are mentally distanced from the human environment. I am, of course, speculating and these ideas have simply flowed from my mind as I am writing this.

I would appreciate input from any visitors to try and explain the difference between cat and dog behaviour under the circumstances.

Note, if the video no longer works let me tell you what it shows. The owner of three dogs and one cat put an optical illusion in the hallway which gave the impression that there was a big hole going through the floor. The dogs observed the hole as genuine and jumped over it and the last dog just stopped before it and looked into the false hole. The cat in contrast, sniffed the object (a rug) and then lay down on it. There was no recognition of it as a hole whatsoever. To the cat it was a rug.