Dogs Smarter Than Cats - news article

pushylady

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Hurumph, well I tell you this: cats are smart enough to get their owners to tend to their every whim!
 

brokenheart

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Originally Posted by pushylady

Hurumph, well I tell you this: cats are smart enough to get their owners to tend to their every whim!
My cat just read the article and was not impressed.




On a more serious note, I do agree that it's good for people to not expect their cats or dogs to think like we do. A lot of times people have unrealistic expectations of their pets and so don't accommodate the pet -- but rather expect the pet to "think" and accommodate them.
 

valanhb

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Well that was a dumb test.
Put a treat on the end of a toy, and let's see how often they decide they actually want the treat and how often they just want the toy (or neither), and then extrapolate intelligence from it.

I can tell you this much - If Trent had been in the study, he never would have cared if he got the treat. The string, on the other hand, would have been hours of chewing entertainment for him (he doesn't care about eating it, just chewing it...obviously we have to watch him VERY carefully). Fish treat? Ophelia and Annie could care less. Depending on the type of treat, Ginger may or may not care, and may or may not care enough to play a silly game with string. Mojo would figure out how to get through the door to get the treats. Forget the silly strings!

This woman made two large bad assumptions. 1) Cats are all food motivated by the same food. 2) Cats give a rip what you want them to do in the first place.
 

brokenheart

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Originally Posted by valanhb

Well that was a dumb test.
Put a treat on the end of a toy, and let's see how often they decide they actually want the treat and how often they just want the toy (or neither), and then extrapolate intelligence from it.

I can tell you this much - If Trent had been in the study, he never would have cared if he got the treat. The string, on the other hand, would have been hours of chewing entertainment for him (he doesn't care about eating it, just chewing it...obviously we have to watch him VERY carefully). Fish treat? Ophelia and Annie could care less. Depending on the type of treat, Ginger may or may not care, and may or may not care enough to play a silly game with string. Mojo would figure out how to get through the door to get the treats. Forget the silly strings!

This woman made two large bad assumptions. 1) Cats are all food motivated by the same food. 2) Cats give a rip what you want them to do in the first place.
That's a really smart point. Overall, cats aren't motivated by food to anywhere near the same degree as dogs. You should email that comment into the paper that printed the article. (Or have your cats do it.
)
 

pushylady

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Originally Posted by Brokenheart

That's a really smart point. Overall, cats aren't motivated by food to anywhere near the same degree as dogs. You should email that comment into the paper that printed the article. (Or have your cats do it.
)
I agree! They did make a few assumptions there and based their results on that.

It's a good point about expectations though. Too often, particularly with dogs, people expect them to understand and behave well from a human point of view. Yes, they are living with humans, but they're still animals!! Treat them as such and don't have such unfair expectations.
 

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That's not a great "intelligence test" at all. Just because a cat doesn't try hard enough to get a treat doesn't mean it's not an incredibly talented creature.
I think the best intelligence tests are the thing our cats do in our households that surprise or exasperate us, not when someone's insisting they jump through hoops for us and then think they're unintelligent when they don't bend over backwards to do it.

P.S.- I absolutely love dogs, but I don't think they're "smarter" than cats.
 

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Psychology lecturer Britta Osthaus says cats do not understand cause-and-effect connections between objects.
Huh? How many of us have dreaded doing something a couple times and found that the cats respond to the point of being a pest? I started giving treats to Much and Carly before going to bed at night. Now every time I open the nightstand drawer, Carly comes expecting a treat.

The study helped show the limits of feline intelligence, said Osthaus, who conducted the research while a teaching fellow at Exeter University. "If we know their limits we won't expect too much of them, which in turn is important for their welfare. I am not trying to say cats are stupid, just they are different. We are so anthropomorphic we can't see the world through their eyes."
All this study showed was the limits of her testing. Intelligence is more than acting like a trained dog.
 

devinlovescats

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Wow, that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. All it proved is that dogs will do anything for a piece of food, and cats are a lot deeper than their stomachs. My cat's open doors, tell me when they want a pouch of soft food, or if a food/water bowl is low, my senior will come GET me, and meow at me until I investigate and fill them back up. That test proved nothing.
 

yayi

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Originally Posted by DevinLovesCats

All it proved is that dogs will do anything for a piece of food, and cats are a lot deeper than their stomachs.
I agree 100%.
 

momofmany

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My apologies for those that have heard me say this before.

There's nothing smarter at being a dog than a dog.

There's nothing smarter at being a cat than a cat.

There's nothing smarter at being a human than a human.

As a human, I'd make a really dumb cat. My dog Sam would also make a really dumb cat.

Trying to compare different species using the same type of testing is quite dumb. That story is a sad statement of human intelligence.
 

Asteria

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

My apologies for those that have heard me say this before.

There's nothing smarter at being a dog than a dog.

There's nothing smarter at being a cat than a cat.

There's nothing smarter at being a human than a human.

As a human, I'd make a really dumb cat. My dog Sam would also make a really dumb cat.

Trying to compare different species using the same type of testing is quite dumb. That story is a sad statement of human intelligence.
Good post.
 

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

My apologies for those that have heard me say this before.

There's nothing smarter at being a dog than a dog.

There's nothing smarter at being a cat than a cat.

There's nothing smarter at being a human than a human.

As a human, I'd make a really dumb cat. My dog Sam would also make a really dumb cat.

Trying to compare different species using the same type of testing is quite dumb. That story is a sad statement of human intelligence.
I think I would be quite a good cat, got the same attitude and love a good nap! I would make a terrible dog, no pack mentality.
 

going nova

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They did assume that the cats would want the treat in the first place.
Another question I have is how a cat's vision would affect their ability to choose between two strings, assuming the cat did want to get the treat?
 

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Originally Posted by Going Nova

They did assume that the cats would want the treat in the first place.
Another question I have is how a cat's vision would affect their ability to choose between two strings, assuming the cat did want to get the treat?
That study is so dumb... If it was me, I would be ashamed of publishing it.
First of: ONE test alone will not test an animal IQ. If we take an IQ test, for example, there will be about 150-200 questions of different types... One test with a few variations is not enough to be considered statistically.
Second: Cat, as we know, are not social. If I take my cats into a "lab" like this for a test, I guarantee you they would all freeze. If the cat is anywhere outside of their comfort zone, they will not function properly. Dogs are not like that at all... anywhere is game for them.
Third: My cats are very specific as far as treats goes - Lucky likes a completely different type of treats that Bugsy, and they don't eat each others' treats. Dogs are much less finicky about their treats.
fourth: a cat thinks like a cat, and a dog like a dog - the same tests shouldn't apply - these humans should be smart enough to figure that out and formulate equivalent tests for each species. I think the humans in this case are dumber than both dogs and cats.
 

allmycats

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Originally Posted by pushylady

I agree! They did make a few assumptions there and based their results on that.

It's a good point about expectations though. Too often, particularly with dogs, people expect them to understand and behave well from a human point of view. Yes, they are living with humans, but they're still animals!! Treat them as such and don't have such unfair expectations.
YES!! I agree 100%. i've heard people say "He/she (dog or cat) peed/tore up/did whatever b/c he/she is mad at me!"...ummm, no. Their minds just don't work that way...they don't plot revenge because you stayed away a few too many hours!
Another thing, if I might add, anthropomorphisis can be a slippery slope towards the animal rights agenda. They are NOT little fur-people! Much as we love them and regard them as family members, we still OWN them and therefore we still have property rights...see where I'm going? I guess I've taken this on a tangent, but the AR agenda is a big achilles heel with me personally and the over-humanizing of animals is part of that.
Cats are clever animals, but DIFFERENT just as the article author said. Cats are not dogs are not people. But each is unique and special and DIFFERENT.
 

allmycats

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Originally Posted by carolinalima

That study is so dumb... If it was me, I would be ashamed of publishing it.
First of: ONE test alone will not test an animal IQ. If we take an IQ test, for example, there will be about 150-200 questions of different types... One test with a few variations is not enough to be considered statistically.
Second: Cat, as we know, are not social. If I take my cats into a "lab" like this for a test, I guarantee you they would all freeze. If the cat is anywhere outside of their comfort zone, they will not function properly. Dogs are not like that at all... anywhere is game for them.
Third: My cats are very specific as far as treats goes - Lucky likes a completely different type of treats that Bugsy, and they don't eat each others' treats. Dogs are much less finicky about their treats.
fourth: a cat thinks like a cat, and a dog like a dog - the same tests shouldn't apply - these humans should be smart enough to figure that out and formulate equivalent tests for each species. I think the humans in this case are dumber than both dogs and cats.
Well said!! IOW, you cannot use the same test for two different species that are going to respond differently. Find an equivocal but cat-appropriate test and THEN compare
 

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Originally Posted by Allmycats

YES!! I agree 100%. i've heard people say "He/she (dog or cat) peed/tore up/did whatever b/c he/she is mad at me!"...ummm, no. Their minds just don't work that way...they don't plot revenge because you stayed away a few too many hours!
Hmmm, share your home with bobcats and you may think differently
That is one reason why I can not stay away all night and leave them home alone. It's not because they are bored, they just hate it when we are gone. If I do not get up in the morning to feed them (if I dare try to sleep in), they will pee on me to wake me up
And I can tell whomever wrote this article this. There is no dog in this world smarter than a bobcat and even a lazy cougar. The things they do will just make you think whom owns who
 

fattykitty

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How dumb. One IQ test is not tell-all. Also, the cat's brain is very, very, very similar to the human brain. Then again, humans need to not judge an animal by its intelligence, because they are SO much better in other ways. No animal can be as mean, cruel, or evil as a human.
 

lawguy

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Originally Posted by fattykitty

How dumb. One IQ test is not tell-all. Also, the cat's brain is very, very, very similar to the human brain. Then again, humans need to not judge an animal by its intelligence, because they are SO much better in other ways. No animal can be as mean, cruel, or evil as a human.
I disagree with the article. If there is one thing that has impressed me about my cats versus my dog, it's how smart they are. I love my dog, but I have to say that my cats are smarter than him. Even when Ally was only a month old, I was impressed with how smart she was for a little furball.

I'm convinced that cats are smarter than dogs.... but then again I'm no scientist.
 
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