Cats vs Dogs: Which Is the Best Pet?

Dogs and cats are domestic animals of different species. The cat belongs to the feline species and the dog to the canine species.

You can find many differences between a dog and a cat, including their physical characteristics, nature, and character. Well, a difference that can be observed between a dog and a cat is that the first is more of a pack animal, and the other is more solitary. As a pet, the dog loves the company and will never feel bored if someone spends a lot of time with it. On the other hand, cats love to spend a lot of time alone.

Whether you’re cheerful, angry, or tired, it’s less important to them. They’re waiting for you at the door every day. They want food, a bit of attention, and affection. Who waits for you at home is your choice. The dog or cat?

More thoughtful than dogs

A study was published in the UK that took into account the personality, intelligence, and utility of the animals and revealed the net superiority of dogs over cats.

Experts compared 11 particularities, from brain size to environmental impact, gathering information from several research studies published in scientific newspapers and magazines, and dogs came first in six categories. On the other hand, the New Scientist magazine claims, based on a similar study, that cats also have their advantages. The felines have a larger brain compared to the proportion of their body size and it contains several cells intended to perform complex functions.

The memory and attention of a cat are much higher than those of a dog. Cats see better in darkness or dim light, having developed a much better auditory and olfactory sense than dogs.

Selfish, but loving

The purr is a way by which cats attract their masters. Another quality of the felines is that they do not eat very much. Cat lovers say that cats calm them, that their purr is terribly relaxing, and that nothing in the world is compared to the sensation you have when you pet a cat.

Dogs have strong character

Parents know that a dog is welcomed into the family around a child because it is responsible. They have great understanding – they can track human gestures and listen to voice commands. They are healthier and overall better, say most breeders.

A dog does not carry as many germs as a cat, seeing that the feline feces can contain toxoplasmosis. Those who have a dog at home say the barking quadruped is more docile than a cat, and that it is obedient, among other things.

The dog has been tamed about 135.000 years ago, well before the cats, and recent research has shown that it will always choose the company of a human, rather than that of another dog.

COMPARISON

The dog

• It is more docile than a cat, it is obedient, has a great power of understanding – it can follow human gestures and listen to voice commands.
• It is healthier and has a better character. It does not carry as many germs as a cat, as the feces of the feline can contain toxoplasmosis.
• It is more expressive than a cat; you feel and see how happy it is when you come home.
• The dog, because it is more active around a child, is more welcomed to a family because it can make the child more responsible.
• It’s like a toy you don’t start with a key, you just feed it.
• It is attentive to its master’s emotional problems.

Behavior

It is very important that when you try to understand your pet, to consider its natural environment. The cat is used to being a solitary hunter, to watch its prey – most of the time alone, without the help of a pack. Thus, the relationship of a cat with its environment will naturally be more developed than any need to have a relationship with other cats or different creatures.

Your dog on the other hand is a pack animal, accustomed to life in the wild and being in a larger group. This means that it will adapt more easily to changes in its environment. All this also leads to the fact that they are much easier to train compared to cats – because they crave the attention of the pack, in this case, people’s attention.

Physique

Your cat, being the solitary hunter of its prey, will naturally be built differently from the dog, being oriented toward the hunter. The cats, because of their instinctive desire to move in silence to chase, have muscles specially made to jump and move without being noticed or making too much noise. Their construction is specially made for stealing and for being as agile as possible, thus having less brute force and athletic resistance.

On the other hand, your dog has a much less agility-led construction. In the wild, the dog would have relied on its ability to run after its prey for long periods of time rather than on the ability to steal.

Diet

The history of pets has also affected their diet. For example, your cat is a strict carnivore, without exception. Fat meat was the main way for cats to survive in the wild life, and over centuries they have still managed to rely on protein, with meals full of meat to keep themselves in maximum form. Cats also have the habit of eating more frequently than dogs and in smaller portions.

Dogs, on the other hand, are omnivorous animals. Like people, they can live with both meat and vegetables. In serious survival situations, dogs are able to support themselves entirely with a plant or fruit-based diet, although the meat protein works more efficiently. Dogs also have the possibility to eat fewer meals than cats but in larger portions. The digestion of dogs is slower than cats, and in crisis situations, they are able to take the necessary energy from their fat reserves.

Other differences

• The cat has retractable claws, thus having the possibility to keep them sharp and deadly in serious situations. The dogs, on the other hand, have very small claws because they use them while walking.
• The cat’s body is designed for climbing and jumping, so it can more easily follow its prey through trees or on other large objects. The dog is designed to be something “earthlier”, which makes it unable to jump or climb onto trees just like a feline.
• Cats generally educate themselves in using the litter. On the other hand, dogs must be trained since they are very young.
• The fully developed cat has 30 teeth and a dog will have 42.
• The cat can digest and metabolize differently some medicine, so, for them, some prove to be toxic, and for dogs and people to be perfectly safe.
• Cats have a much better memory than dogs, they can remember things for 16 hours and dogs for a maximum of 5 minutes.
• Cats see better in dark or dim light, with a much sharper sense of hearing and olfactory than the dogs.
• Cat are quiet and don’t make a mess out of your living place, while your dog can play around with your kids and keep them busy all day long.