• Dog vs. Cat: Which is the better pet?
  • Posted on December 10, 2009 by jmullin | 0 Responses

  • A study has taken place to research and compare dog and cat’s character, intelligence and usefulness. Experts compared brain size to environmental impact by looking at different journals completed by scientists over the years. There were eleven categories in which dogs and cats were compared. Dogs came out on top in six categories and cats came out on top in five, therefore dogs were crowned the winners but only by a whisker. New Scientist magazine revealed that cats came out on top for having bigger brains in proportion to their body size. Cat’s have more brain cells than dogs with 1.4million dedicated to complex functions such as memory and attention.

    Cats are apparently more popular as 204 million cats live in the top ten cat-owning nations compared to 173 million dogs in the top ten dog-owning countries. Arguably cats get more attention than dogs from their human owners. A cat’s purr is supposedly irresistible to humans whereas dogs can bark and vary their length, range and pitch of the bark but cannot compete with the attention-seeking of a cat. Cats took the title in the battle of the senses. Cats can see in lower light than dogs and have a larger hearing range and a keener sense of smell. They also triumph in the environmental stakes as cats have a smaller ecological footprint to a dog.

    However on the other hand the dogs triumphed over the small felines. The first category was how long the species has been domesticated. Dogs won hands down as they appeared over 135 000 years ago whereas the cat is relatively new. Dogs win the competition of which pet bonds with their owner best. A four month old puppy would choose a human companion over another dog whereas cats are much more independent. Dogs can understand much more than cats. A border collie called Rico mastered the meaning of over 200 words which supports this fact. Dogs ruled when it came to problem solving activities. For example Labradors are fantastic guide dogs once they have been trained by a human and this also gives dogs another title ‘ease of training. You can teach your dog to sit, lay down, stay etc but this is nearly impossible to teach a cat to do.

    As results now meant dogs had 5 and cats had 5 an eleventh category was introduced – usefulness. New Scientist says “Dogs can hunt, herd and guard. They can sniff out drugs and bombs; they guide blind and deaf people, race for sport, pull sledges, find someone buried by an avalanche, help children learn and possibly even predict earthquakes.” After this statement it won’t come as a surprise to learn that dogs won this category meaning that they won by a whisker: 6-5.

    Whichever pet you own be sure to take out pet insurance. E&L pet insurance starts from £3.65 a month for cats and from £5.87 a month for dogs (online premiums). There are differing levels of cover to choose from including cover for vet fees, public liability (for dogs), boarding kennel and cattery costs if you are hospitalised, fees for advertising and reward plus much more. Visit www.eandl.co.uk/pet to find out more information.

    Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1234568/How-dogs-mans-better-friend-Canines-outclass-cats-whisker-best-pet-test.html, 10th December 2009

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