Dogs vs Cats: Some Differences Explained
Why does a cat, who may have been bugging you for awhile to open the door to your porch or the outside, stop and peek out before taking that first step?
Why do dogs go bounding out through the door that you've just opened, even when you didn't intend for the dog to go through it?
Although there are exceptions within each species, these behavior patterns are generally true.
The difference lies in the relationship cats and dogs have with the wild.
In the wild, dogs are basically predators. Unless there's a dog pack, wolf, or coyote around, dogs go generally unchallenged. They are the hunters. They may have competitors for game, but they are not the game itself.
Cats (domestic types) are both predator and prey. They have to check out what may be lurking on the other side of a door because it could be something ready to pounce on them.
When cats are hunting, they know they can easily and quickly become the hunted. They have to have a plan: where to run and hide with multiple exits; trees and other things that can be climbed for safety.
Cats need to be alert for hawks, which in total silence can swoop down from behind a cat and carry it off for a meal or to feed their young.
To call a cautious cat a "scaredy cat" is to demean their natural and quite correct survival skills.
Survival skills are not carried in the genes. They are taught by an experienced parent!
Dogs and cats who live with humans are mostly untrained on how to survive on their own. We steal kittens so young and have kept so many generations from their natural habitat that epigenetics has become a factor limiting their ability to survive.
Mother cats raised in the wild teach their young how to hunt and how to outwit predators. Today, the cat whom some human "dumps" in a rural setting may not have a clue how to hunt prey successfully or how to survive predators. Most don't live very long, often not even 1 year.
In today's world, where humans are reducing the size of the wild habitat and wild animals are showing up in suburban and city neighborhoods, small dogs are also at risk from predators. Do they know how to survive on their own? I don't think so.
Humans have bred the hunter out of most species of dogs, which is why we continue to call them "puppies" even when they are 11 years old. This helps us feel safe with dogs, and any dog who is a threat to a human is in danger of being destroyed if it can't be managed or retrained.
Cats have resisted efforts to breed the predator out of them, but that serves humans well, as cats who hunt help protect our homes and farms from mice, rats, and other rodents.
So cats and dogs are definitely different from each other. Some of this is natural, but we humans have manipulated them through breeding and by interfering in their natural family way of living.
Have you ever wondered what a dog or cat might say if asked these questions:
-- What are the differences between dogs and cats?
-- How do dog or cat mothers used for breeding feel about giving up their babies over and over again?
-- How do rescued cats feel about the "spay, neuter, release" experience?
-- How do cats and dogs feel about being kept indoors and not allowed to hunt or explore?
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