I’ve always been in awe of the physical attributes of cats. They are indeed marvels of evolution.
It is silly to discuss house-cats in terms of apex predators. They are certainly adept hunters, but they will lose against wild predators of similar or larger size. Pound for pound, wild animals will almost always win against domesticated animals. Pets may kill for a hobby, but wild animals kill for a living. At the end of the day, if Snowball doesn’t eat a mouse, he’ll still get his bowl of Little Friskies at dinnertime.
The same goes for dogs, even dogs morons breed to fight. Domesticated dogs have little chance of winning against a wild wolf, or hyena of similar size. Against a large cat, they have no chance at all. To put it in perspective, the Dogo Argentino has a strongest bite force of domesticated dogs, at ~500psi. The bite force of a jaguar is ~1500psi. Plus, the cat has 5 sharp weapons at the distal end of each paw, and lightening-quick reflexes. Dogo would be dispatched quickly by the jag’s skull-crushing bite.
But, I don’t like cats because they are efficient little hunters. I like them because they have endearing personalities. They don’t wear their emotions on their sleeves as dogs do, but as mentioned above, they do emote very much, and if you’ve owned cats, you know their emotions are real, not a case of anthropomorphism.
When I look into the lovey-dovey eyes of my cats (they do get misty), I wonder, if I were suddenly shrunk to the size of a mouse, would they bat me around like a toy and eat me, or would my familiar scent save me? When they smack their lips and look at me, I have my doubts.
My understanding is that apex predator is also based on the animals typical range. You don’t put a polar bear and a lion in a jar to see which is the apex predator. North African wildcats may be preyed upon by foxes and large birds when younger (but then lion cubs are also in danger of depredation when young) but adult wildcats don’t have much in the way of natural predators owing in part to their habitat not supporting a lot of large wildlife.
Domesticated cats and dogs don’t have natural ranges and, though both may have descended from apex predators, I don’t think it’s correct to call either an apex predator in its current form. Certainly plenty of coyote danger for smaller dogs around here and the larger dogs don’t do much predation (unlike the cats).
I have never had a dog because they are too much work and barking gets on my nerves, Also cats are much softer and nicer to pet. Besides, they are the right size to cuddle and they come with heat, vibrate and massage modes and are self-cleaning. Dogs don’t massage you and even if they tried their feet are not soft and fluffy. Also cats rarely drool a lot on you.
I like both cats and dogs. I keep cats, because dogs are too much work. Also, I like the independence of cats.
But if I lived with a dog, I’m sure I would enjoy its company. I enjoy hanging out with friend’s dogs.
That’s all true. I put up with all that in babies because I fully expected they would grow into children, and i wouldn’t need to deal with that anymore. I feel like dogs are perpetual babies, and that doesn’t appeal to me.
Except – actually, tiny babies smell wonderful. There’s a smell that wafts off their heads that is really warm and inviting. No animal can match that.
True of some cats more than others. There’s no question that some cats are more human-focused than others, and the human-oriented cats make better pets. My best cats have met me at the door, hung out with me when I watch TV or otherwise am sitting in one place. One used to hang out with me when I did yard work, and would even dig when I was digging, which was cute. My best cats have also been very attentive when I’m sick, which I appreciated.
My worst cats shared space with me and didn’t always use the litter box. Those were not great pets. And because litter-box use is pretty much instinctive, not trained, it’s hard to train a cat who doesn’t use the box. (Staying off the table and coming when called are learned behaviors, in contrast.)
But cats who are good pets are awesome pets. We are currently down to one cat who is really my daughter’s cat, and doesn’t hang out with me much. She’s a great cat for my daughter, but not very present for me. I want kittens.
I love them both and my happiest times are when I had both.
To a large extent which you should have is a lifestyle decision. Cats are absurdly easy to care for. You feed 'em, clean the litter box, and pet them. That’s it; they are self-sufficient animals. You can leave the house for a few days and they’re fine, just leave lots of food and water. If you live alone or in an apartment or travel for business, a cat will get along just fine.
Dogs, obviously, are a way, way bigger investment of time. The rewards, though, can be greater; their loyalty, love and attunement to humans is unlike any other animal.
They’ll probably be fine. If something goes wrong, however, including an unexpected illness, a cat left alone for several days may be dead by the time you get back.
It may seem like a leap to say that domestic house cats are carnivorous beasts at the top of the food chain, but the truth is—cats, too, are apex predators! If humans disappeared off the face of the earth, felines would continue to flourish, surviving off the plethora of rodents, birds, insects, and even reptiles found in almost any ecosystem.
Seems to me they’re mainly referring to suburban/urban areas where larger predators don’t really exist outside of zoos. Feral cats are a huge problem in such areas.
It’s a risk I’m willing to take, and have taken dozens of times. The only animal I’ve known to die while its owner was away is one of my sister’s dogs, whom she left with a reliable pet sitter. The poor woman tried dozens of times to reach my sister, who was out of cell phone range, and finally took the dog to the vet without explicit permission. Sadly, the vet was unable to save the dog, and my sister returned from vacation to an enormous vet bill and a dead dog.
(My sister would have approved the vet bill, and thanked the pet sitter for making the right call. )
They do seem to be talking about the USA; not about some island situation where cats might actually be the apex predator left if humans disappeared. Maybe they live in some highly build up location where the largest creatures surviving other than humans, cats, and dogs are rats and pigeons; but most of the country isn’t like that. And even in those areas – if the people disappeared, whatever dogs survived would hunt cats. At least, until the wolves, cougars, and coyotes moved in and finished the dogs off.
Would some of the cats probably also survive, adding a smaller cat species to the original cougar, lynx, and bobcat? Very likely; but that wouldn’t make them the apex predator.
I think they are reaching a bit. I agree more with Ulfreida and thorny_locust. Felis silvestris are predators, but they are not on the top of their broader ecological zone anywhere really. Larger felids, many canids, the largest raptors and the bigger mustelids are all competitors and can and will kill and eat them if given a chance. Apparently Eurasian lynx (who are themselves the target of larger predators like wolves), who also regularly take smaller predators like foxes, are a particular threat.
Apex predators are a bit more narrow. An osprey is not an apex predator - great horned owls will take them (and many other similar-sized raptors) right off a perch at night. Great horned owls ARE apex predators. Nothing hunts and kills them except incidentally (golden eagles are often listed as the greatest threat, but any take is still incidental). Well, except for other great horned owls . Damn things will kill and eat anything below the size of an eagle, including their own on occasion.
Link #1 is specifically talking about back yards in given locations. It says cats are often the apex predator in a given back yard, which depending on the yard’s location may sometimes be true. Otherwise, it lists not one but half a dozen species – cats, hawks, owls, fox, racoon, and coyote; all of the other five take cats occasionally, and coyote and the largest owls will do so routinely if given the chance.
Link #2 is to a discussion of comic books, and of fictional characters therein. Plus which, mostly when it’s talking about cats as apex predators it’s talking about the big cats, not about house cats; plus which, it says that humans are the actual apex predators. It does contain a sentence saying the house cat is “the apex predator in your house”; which, presuming that we exclude the house’s humans and any large dogs on the grounds that they’re not intending to eat the cats (though they’re capable of it) is quite likely. But they’re saying that specifically as it applies to inside the house. It’s got nothing to do with even the back yard, let alone the local ecology. (Aside from the point that using a comic book discussion site as a cite for how to use an ecological term is quite dubious to start with; and the additional point that they’re clearly in that sentence using it in a joking fashion.)
Link #3 says that in many urban areas of the United States, cats were the apex predator around the beginning of the 20th century because nearly all other wildlife had been wiped out in those specific areas, but since then other species have resurged, and coyote, bear, bobcat, mountain lions, and alligator among others are now becoming common even in relatively urban areas. So they’re not saying that cats are the apex predator now, even in those areas.
– I am willing to grant that you want to use the term as meaning only that house cats are a skilled and efficient predator (some individual cats aren’t, but the species overall is); and don’t want to use the proper technical sense of the term. As long as people understand what you’re talking about, communication is still possible. But you should understand that many others are using the term to mean something much more specific.
Especially since it started with a silly statement that we’re not supposed to find wolves cute because they’re apex predators. I find cute what I wanna find cute.
. Damn things will kill and eat anything below the size of an eagle, including their own on occasion.