Why cats are better than dogs

Over at Why Evolution is True, Jerry Coyne is looking for people to answer the following:

"1. For those who love cats and dogs: what is it about cats that make them especially appealing or endearing to you?
2. For those (like me) who favor cats over dogs? Why do you prefer the moggies over the doggies?"

So, with tongue slightly in cheek...

Cats are better than dogs. This is not a subjective opinion (though the subjective parts of my argument will come first), but an objective fact.

I have been fortunate enough to have had pet cats around me all my life until I fled the nest, and the reason I have none now is that my landlord doesn't allow pets, and, I am not in a position to afford one (seriously, if you can't afford veterinary fees and such, don't get a pet). Would my personal preference have been different had I grown up with cats? Well, who knows, but this is probably a causative factor in my subjective preference to cats.

I find cats more aesthetically pleasing. Sure, dogs can be cute, or handsome, or beautiful etc, but cats are more so. They look more graceful when they move, they look more elegant when they sleep, and basically are much more pleasing to my eyes. Whilst I'm not sure it's true that "The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry" is a French proverb (my only source is a fridge magnet I saw), the sentiment certainly is.

Also, cats are just the right size, and feel more comfortable curled up on my lap than dogs have done. Dogs can be a bit too big, or a bit too small. Cats are just right.

Wet cats: don't really smell. Wet dogs: a bad smell, so much so, it's used an expression of derision.

Dogs are coprophages. I know we need things to break feces down, but from my perspective as a human being eating poop is yucky, especially when said dog also likes to lick you.

Purring - I love the sound of it, I love resting my hand on a purring cat and feeling it, and I find it very relaxing. There's a lot of nonsense online that purring can heal bones and similar dubious claims (hence why this is in the subjective part - if I found decent links to the benefits of purring it would be another objective claim, as only cats purr).

In Star Trek, Data could have chosen any pet in the *entire* known universe, and opted for a cat.

I like that cats are more independent - dogs are pack animals and behave as such, cats are their own boss.

Despite all this subjectivity, a look at the evidence clearly shows that cats are best, objectively. So what about objective facts?

Well, firstly let's start with a heavy hitter: Dogs kill more people than cats.

Using google, I couldn't find anything on fatalities caused by pet cats. However, there were 256 fatalities caused by dog bites in the USA between 2000 - 2009. Indeed a google search for "pet dog kills" gives 69,200,000 results, but "pet cat kills" yields only 11,500,000 results. Wikipedia's "Deaths due to animals" doesn't even include cats. Given the scarcity of decent data on cat related deaths, but the wealth of decent (and poorer) sources for data on dog deaths, it seems safe to conclude that dogs kill more people than cats. And of course, I hope you've all seen "Hero Cat" saving a child from an otherwise potentially fatal dog attack.

Now, some may point to cats indirectly affecting health through Toxoplasmosis (after all, isn't that what killed that guy in Trainspotting?). Well yes, coming into contact with cat feces is a vector for Toxoplasmosis, but then coming into contact with dog (and cat and fox) feces is a vector for toxocariasis. In both cases however, hand washing etc can avoid such things, as can providing a litter tray for your cat, and cleaning up after your dog. We are talking about the animals themselves, not the personal hygiene habits of their owners.

Whilst we talk about hygiene - dogs and cats will both lick you, but I'd much rather be licked by a cat. There's considerably less slobber, and you can also be sure that a cat hasn't just eaten some feces. Cats of course lick you, as they are actually trying to do you a favour and groom you, much like they groom themselves. Because cats are cleaner than dogs in that regard.

Owning a dog or a cat has benefits to the owner's health. Of course, owning a dog has potentially more benefits, as they need to be taken for walks (indeed, obesity in dogs is unsurprisingly associated with obesity in their owners). Now some might argue that these walks confer extra health advantages (over and above those from cats) to their owners, and this makes dogs better. They are half right. The walking is indeed a good health bonus for the dog owner, but cats are obviously better as they can exercise themselves. This also means that cat owners that want to exercise can do more than walk or run as dog owners are forced to do - like swimming perhaps. You might argue that dogs mean that their owners have to go out and exercise, and this too is true. But if a cat owner chooses not to exercise, the fault sits with them. We're talking about cats being better, not humans. But whilst we're on the subject of humans, surely the cat owner that regularly exercises for health is better at taking care of themselves than the dog owner who does it because they are forced to for the needs of their dog (much like those who do good things because they are good being more ethical than those who do good things because they will be rewarded, or to avoid punishment, but I digress...).

Whilst we're talking about humans though, what will it cost you to own a cat or a dog? Pet Education gives a range of $4,242 to $38,905 (with the author's cost $12,468) for a dog over 14 years, but $4,521 to $18,322 (with the author's cost $7,713) for a cat over 14 years. Cats are clearly better in terms of value for money. Those this is obviously an epiphenomenon, as without humans, this value for money would not be known,

Smart people clearly know that cats are better - Prof. Guastello of Carroll University found that cat people tended to be smarter than dog people. Of course correlation does not imply causation - but it's win win, either cats make people smarter, or it's just that smarter people choose cats.

So there we have it, cats > dogs.