Are cats "smarter"/"as smart" as dogs?

[H.G.P.]

Probably dependent upon the breed(s) of feline/canine, but what are your impressions of feline vs. canine intelligence?

Those we've owned, (in the retriever category canine, and the shorthair feline), I've observed some general behavior that may or may not be classified as "intelligence.": (These are domestic non-feral.)

1. Feline looks us straight in the eyes, canine never as direct.

2. Feline more senses when a family member is not right, perhaps as part of the unit self-preservation, but perhaps something deeper.

3. Canine always apt to please, very reward dependent.

4. Canine eats almost anything, feline as expected very finicky. (nutrition?)

5. "Thoughts": Canine bold risk, feline cautious.

6. One other note: As a far as training audible commands, our cat probably out surpasses canine. (However the canine non-shepherd/police dog type.)



Comments?

[Tobra]

This is a stray dog that my brother found on Watt Ave(Very busy street in Sacramento) Took him home and he weighed 18 pounds(around 45 in this pic) When we moved to California, the dog latched onto my wife. My best friend did not believe that we had not had the dog for years. I would say none of the characterizations you have made about dogs are true of him.

If my wife is ill, he will not leave her side for anything, food, whatever. He looks you in the eye. I could give you more examples, but suffice it to say he is an exceptional animal.

[slodave]

I'm for the "They are equal in intelligence in their own ways.". All my Great Danes were very smart. Both manipulate humans in their own way.

[oldE]

As for the "look you in the eye" thing, that is cultural, not only in dogs, but in humans.
In many cultures, it is a challenge to authority. Most dogs have the same rule.

Our series of dogs (8) and cats (14) over the years lead me to feel there isn't much difference in intelligence between the species, but behaviors vary, largely due to their relative place in the food chain in the past.

Les

[VaSteve]

I have only owned one dog, but several cats. I find the cats to be very cunning, crafty and unpredictable. The dog has been very predictable. I think these same reasons are why many people don't like cats.

[Jims5543]

If any of you had ever worked with a cattle trained Collie, or a schuetzen trained German Shepard or Rottie you would agree dogs are 100x smarter.

I own or have owned cats and dogs BTW.

[Jims5543]

HGP - My dog and cat are opposit of yours.

Currently I have a short hair cat and a Choc. Lab.

1. The choc lab always looks me in the eyes and can cue off of me based on facial expressions. She can tell if I am mad at her or if I am ready to horse around purely on facial expression and not a verbal utterance.

The cat could not give a crap about any of us. She just rubs up against us and decides when she wants interaction if any.

2. My cat could not care less if anyone is sick or not right neither does the dog. At least that how my 2 are.

3. Dog wants to be near us at all times and gets upset if she is not involved any any activity. i.e. she is outside and observes me playing with the 3 y/o inside. She barks to come in and play too. Cat hides.

4. Both are finicky but only get their food. If they do not eat it tough they will eventually.

5. Cat gets stuck on neighbors roof at least once a week and I have to get a ldder and get her down. Dog can escape from back yard if she wanted to but chooses not to. Dog does not like weed eater as soon as she sees it she runs away before I even start it.

6. Dog responds well to not only voice commands but body language. When walking on a leash and I stop she sits when I starts she walks at my right knee always aware of me. I can call cat until I am blue in the face she will only come if she feels like it. Did I mention my dog is a Choc. Lab and they are borderline retarted?

[Drdogface]

If you define 'smart' in this case, as 'the ability to learn' then no question that dogs are smarter. Or you could say that cats frankly just don't give a *****. ;-)

[Christien]

We have 2 cats and a dog, so lots of experience here. No question, dogs are far smarter. Cats don't seem dumb because they keep their mouths shut - that old line about better to keep quiet and look dumb than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

1. Feline looks us straight in the eyes, canine never as direct.

Our dog looks us in the eyes all the time, when we're talking to her or when she wants something

2. Feline more senses when a family member is not right, perhaps as part of the unit self-preservation, but perhaps something deeper.

This is true, and impressive - especially when my wife was pregnant - the cats were all over her. Some say it's pheremones (i.e. more physical than mental)

6. One other note: As a far as training audible commands, our cat probably out surpasses canine.

Wow, I'm surprised. I've never really heard of training cats, outside of using a litter box. Have you ever seen a guide cat? How about a hunting cat? Police cat? Guard cat?

[legion]

I voted cats.

My cat is easy to train. I just look him in the eye and say "No" when he does something bad, and he doesn't do it again.

My cat is smart. He can open doors. He knows that he gets fed at 7:00. He will start "reminding" us to feed him at 6:30. He knows if he gets fed earlier we are going out for a while. (He hates being alone and starts to get super-affectionate, as if to bribe us into staying.) Same when the suitcases come out. When a moth or fly gets into the house, he takes flying leaps and catches it between his paws, pulls the wings off, and sets it free to practice stalking. He also pulls the legs off of spiders...not sure why. He knows what time we go to bed and starts inching towards the stairs until we do.

[cashflyer]

Personally, I have found dogs to be more trainable. (Ever see a bomb sniffing cat?) But I have found that cats are also very intelligent problem solvers.

I voted "seperate but equal".

[nota]

you own the dog
the cat owns you

dogs learn tricks to please you
cats learn tricks to please themselfs

they both come in dumb and smart individuals

some cats bond with a person and care more about that person

when the wife was sick in bed last week
the cat stayed with her

another cat learnd to open doors
by jumping up at the knob
and twisting as he fell with his paws
not taught, he just learned that trick by watching us turn knobs
he also learned to reach under doors to pull them open
that trick all the other cats copyed

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Cats.

I currently have two (with a third hanging around trying to get us to adopt him).

I've also had a couple of dogs which are definitely smart, but I certainly think that the cats have the edge on survival instinct, situational awareness, pattern recognition, response to various situations, etc. The cats have just as good of a vocabulary (both in terms of expressing themselves with various sounds and understanding/responding to various words spoken by us) than our dogs ever did.

Dogs ain't dumb, but I think they allow their constant desire for attention ("pack mentality") to overshadow their otherwise more intelligent characteristics. Cats are a bit more solitary by nature (although they'll cooperate or act collaboratively when it suits them) and this either allows or requires them to be a bit more cunning/calculated in how they deal with things.

Both are smart in their own ways (all animals are) but cats definitely seem to have the upper hand in cognative ability. Their survival instincts are better, too.

[1967 R50/2]

One word: I think STRAY cats are smarter. I've took in a stray once and this cat was super intelligent. Wouldn't play with cat toys, couldn't be fooled into thinking their were real mice...because of course he was outside hunting the real deal. I watched him hunt a few times. Total ambush hunter. He was too big to climb anything.

He would go and sit in the middle of a yard near a bird feeder/bath. The same spot...sometimes for days until the birds thought of him as part of the landscape. Then...boom. Over in an instant.

He was black and white, which might not seem like good camoflage until you tried to follow him through a woods with broken snow or bright light and shadow. He basically disappeared.

Once, we made a mistake and he was left outside on a cold winter night. Came in the next morning, smelling like oil. He had slept on top of somebody's engine. Kept him nice and warm. He was pretty smart...smarter than us apparently.

Oh, yeah he knew how to open drawers.

My sisters "domestic" cats however, are dumb as dirt.

[84porsche]

I am going with dogs because I am a new German Shepherd owner and wow what a manipulative smart dog I have. He waits for me to turn around to do things I have told him not to. He knows when he has done something wrong and tends to hide. But in the past 5 months, he has learned so much and if I consistently train him more, he will just keep learning.

[kang]

Remember Pavlov's dogs? Just because a dog can be trained to sit after hearing the word sit doesn’t mean it’s more intelligent than a cat. It just wants the reward.

A cat is probably better at problem solving. Put a treat up high, and a cat will figure out how to get to it. A dog will just look at it. The dog we had when I was a kid would sit on one side of a fence, wanting to get to the other side. If it had just gone 50 feet down the fence, it would have found the opening, but no, it just sat there. A cat would have figured it out.

[nostatic]

Some of you guys are smokin' crack. I've had both dogs and cats all my life. Hands down cats are smarter. Yes, I've had some dumb ones, but on average no contest. Sure, dogs can be trained to do lots of stuff, and many breeds (the herding dogs especially) do amazing things. But that is largely training. You can train almost anything given enough treats and patience. Cats are better problem solvers, and are too smart to be tricked into doing something they don't want to do.

[serge944]

Who cares who's smarter. Cats are not nearly as useful as [good] dogs, granted your main household problem isn't rodents.

[scottmandue]

Apples and oranges... I had a friend with a boarder collie, would wake him up when the phone rang in the other room, did a variety of interesting behaviors. I got a big yellow collie mutt at the pound, dumb as dirt but super affectionate, I still choke up a little when I think about her ten years after she is gone.

Had a large tabby, could open doors, charmed people who didn't like cats, he would sit with me when I ws depressed. My two current cats the male is very independent but the female is a people person, follows me around, alway in my lap or bed, introduces herself to people when they enter the house.

I voted both smart in their own ways.

[azasadny]

My ferrets are smarter than any of them!