Cats or Dogs: Which are Smarter?
Updated: Oct. 04, 2018
Do you think cats or dogs are smarter? We attempt to answer the age-old question by exploring the intelligence of your favourite pets.
The Age-Old Question…
Pet lovers frequently argue about which popular pet is in fact the better companion: Cats or dogs? While the answer to that question is obviously subjective, you would think there’d be a scientific solution to another debate: Which are smarter?
But it turns out science supports both sides. Dr. Joan Liebmann-Smith examined the merits of each animal for The Huffington Post—but to us, it seems like a draw…
3 Ways Dogs Might be Smarter than Cats
Dogs have larger brains than cats, and they have been continually growing, while cat brains have stayed the same size over the past 8,000 years.
Dogs are more social than cats, which actually leads to the increased brain size. Because cats don’t show any signs of improving their social skills, the brain gap is likely to keep widening. Unlike dogs, cats only interact with you when they feel like it. And doing tricks? Sure it’s possible for some, but certainly not likely.
Dogs contribute to the betterment of society. Dr. Stanley Coren, a psychologist and the author of several books on dogs, wisely pointed out: “We never hear about such things as a ‘seeing eye cat,’ ‘police cat’ or ‘search and rescue cat.'” (At Reader’s Digest, however,
Check out our roundup of The World’s Strangest Looking Dog Breeds!
3 Ways Cats Might be Smarter than Dogs
Cats can deliver the mail. According to an 1876 article in the New York Times, an organization known as “the Belgian Society for the Elevation of the Domestic Cat” once decided to use cats as messengers between villages. They tested whether these house cats could find their way back home from a strange location in the middle of nowhere, and what do you know? They did!
Cats have nearly double the neurons in their cerebral cortex as dogs. Cats have 300 million neurons, while dogs have 160 million—meaning kitties have a greater capacity for information processing than dogs. Crazy as it sounds, cats are also susceptible to depression.
Cats can fend for themselves. Most domestic dogs are completely reliant on their owners. Because they are so dependent, scientists say they’ve lost the ability to think for themselves and therefore would be unable to survive in the wild.
