# Cats and dogs, do they really get along?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 10, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723 "2011-12-10T12:29:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hoenikker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoenikker)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/1 "2011-12-10T12:29:43Z")
I’ve always wondered this, and I’m sure it’s been asked before, but I want to ask in a slightly more probing manner:
Did cats and dogs evolve together? When did they stop evolving? Did they continue evolving after we domesticated them, or is that tautological? Is there any evolutionary (think group selection, and then think laterally) purpose of dogs and cats chasing each other in circles within human society?
For more context, see [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=634286) and “follow the links”
I have faith you will think of my questions in the proper manner. Hopefully 😛
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### Author:  [@hoenikker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoenikker)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/2 "2011-12-10T12:44:28Z")
Just in case, here’s why I said evolution: behaviors are evolved at some level, right? Instinct are behaviors evolved at a genetic level, explicit personal behaviors are based on evolving pattern recognition within the brain, and social behaviors are based on emergent social evolution dependent on the previous two.
So if dogs and cats don’t get along, was it evolved at some level? Does every species in one genus have a strong disregard to for every species in the other genus? Basically, I really want a good biological answer to this. Anecdotes are OK too.
P.S. I once had a dog that I swear acted like a cat. No joke! Her name was Puff, just like the magic dragon.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/3 "2011-12-10T15:34:17Z")
A student once went to a master and asked how he could attain detachment. The master told him that he must sit down and meditate for a year. After a year of meditating, the student said, “Master, I have now achieved detachment.” The master immediately punched the student in the face. The student asked, “Master, why did you punch me in the face?” The master answered, “To detach you from your detachment.”
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/4 "2011-12-10T15:39:00Z")
Dogs are carnivores. They will kill and eat any animal that they can catch. Cats are small, furry, delicious animals, so dogs see them as prey. A dog that has been raised with cats will “get along” with cats, but generally this doesn’t happen in the wild.
Note that big dogs kill little dogs all the time, so it’s not just dog-on-cat violence you need to worry about.
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### Author:  [@hoenikker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoenikker)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/5 "2011-12-10T15:49:53Z")
> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> A student once went to a master and asked how he could attain detachment. The master told him that he must sit down and meditate for a year. After a year of meditating, the student said, “Master, I have now achieved detachment.” The master immediately punched the student in the face. The student asked, “Master, why did you punch me in the face?” The master answered, “To detach you from your detachment.”
Oh my god. Well thank you for your answer. Do you want me to tell you have many problems I find with it? :o
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### Author:  [@hoenikker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoenikker)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/6 "2011-12-10T15:51:03Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Dogs are carnivores. They will kill and eat any animal that they can catch. Cats are small, furry, delicious animals, so dogs see them as prey. A dog that has been raised with cats will “get along” with cats, but generally this doesn’t happen in the wild.
> Note that big dogs kill little dogs all the time, so it’s not just dog-on-cat violence you need to worry about.
So does this extend to “big” dogs and “big” cats too? Some felines are bigger than some canines.
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### Author:  [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/7 "2011-12-10T15:56:56Z")
Yes, lions will kill wild dogs.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/8 "2011-12-10T16:00:26Z")
> [@hoenikker](#):
>
> So does this extend to “big” dogs and “big” cats too? Some felines are bigger than some canines.
Oh, sure.
Big cats will kill and eat any animal they can, including humans. Tigers that have been raised by humans will not see their owners as prey, but they are still very, very dangerous. Just roughhousing could cause fatal injury…
Remember what happened to [Roy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_%26_Roy).
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### Author:  [@hoenikker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoenikker)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/9 "2011-12-10T16:02:27Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Oh, sure.
> Big cats will kill and eat any animal they can, including humans. Tigers that have been raised by humans will not see their owners as prey, but they are still very, very dangerous. Just roughhousing could cause fatal injury…
>
> Remember what happened to [Roy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_%26_Roy).
Yeah, of course. What a shame when all those magic tricks ended!
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### Author:  [@hoenikker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoenikker)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/10 "2011-12-10T16:03:30Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Oh, sure.
> Big cats will kill and eat any animal they can, including humans. Tigers that have been raised by humans will not see their owners as prey, but they are still very, very dangerous. Just roughhousing could cause fatal injury…
>
> Remember what happened to [Roy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_%26_Roy).
What about packs of dogs versus singular big cats? Sorry to post again, just curious and it came to me after I posted.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/11 "2011-12-10T16:18:42Z")
> [@hoenikker](#):
>
> What about packs of dogs versus singular big cats? Sorry to post again, just curious and it came to me after I posted.
I don’t think this happens in the wild very often.
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### Author:  [@hoenikker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoenikker)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/12 "2011-12-10T16:23:54Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> I don’t think this happens in the wild very often.
Good to know, thanks 😉 How wild is wild though?
I think everywhere on Earth right now is a continuum between wild and tamed, based on human encroachment.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/13 "2011-12-10T16:30:29Z")
> [@hoenikker](#):
>
> Good to know, thanks 😉 How wild is wild though?
>
> I think everywhere on Earth right now is a continuum between wild and tamed, based on human encroachment.
Well, big cats (lions and tigers) will probably be extinct in the wild (outside of zoos) in our lifetime. So, there really aren’t going to be that many chances for the few remaining wild cats to come across a dog pack (dog packs tend to live in or near cities, big cats are not city dwellers).
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-dogs-do-they-really-get-along/605723/14 "2011-12-10T17:17:23Z")
> [@hoenikker](#):
>
> For more context, see [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=634286) and “follow the links”
>
> I have faith you will think of my questions in the proper manner. Hopefully 😛
**Moderator Instructions**
**hoenikker** , whatever it is you think you are doing, knock it off. Stop starting threads in reference to your “kingdom of the blind” thread, which you have already admitted was a joke. You have now started four such threads, in spite of the the first two threads having been closed. If you have a serious question not connected to the “kingdom of the blind,” you may ask it. But starting another in GQ on this will get a warning.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator