Most of the cat beating dog stories seem to involve vicious cat vs docile dog. And this makes some kind of sense as most people make a pretty strong effort to keep dogs from beign aggressive, whereas with cats, well, you can’t really train them and it doesn’t much matter anyway.
The point is, I’m saying that a vicious dog, to me, is a good deal scarrier than a vicious cat. Think of a vicious, 35 pound pit bull terrier and tell me what cat would stand a chance?
The record for maine coon cats is about 35 pounds by the way…
I suppose they got fed up with being repeatedly killed so they decided to stay away.
I know of one tragic case where a Jack Russel killed a Rottweiler who came onto her territory by just biting its throat. Of course, the Rottweiler was not, in this case, being at all aggressive and was taken by surprise so it’s unclear what would have happened in a straight fight.
Very good point. In confined quarters like this, most dogs are going to take some damage. I think the other posts in this thread indicate that said damage probably isn’t going to be fatal, though.
Very good points. I’ve never known a cat to kill a large animal. Dogs do.
Nothing really chilling about it. We’re talking predator animals here, and nothing’s gonna change that. The same instincts that make dogs and cats good pets also make them effective predators. They like us because we feed them; they hunt other animals because other animals are food.
ETA: I seem to recall that some serial killer first demonstrated sociopathic tendencies by putting a dog and a cat in a confined space so the cat could claw the dogs eyes out. Perhaps in a kennel-sized cage, where the dog couldn’t get the neck-breaking action going, the cat would prevail. Dunno; it’s kinda sick to think about at that level.
This is exactly what my Schipperke did to the raccoon. The coon was in HER YARD, damnit, and she was pissed, She cornered the coon, then stayed out of range of the coon’s claws (just as sharp and dangerous as a cat’s) until she saw an opening, and she was IN. Went right for the throat from the back, and pinned the coon to the ground. Since he couldn’t roll over, he couldn’t get teeth or claws at my girl, and she killed his coon-butt right there. She then walked away and left, no desire to eat him at all, just wanted to kill him. She’s never shown any aggression towards humans, our other dogs, etc, but she doesn’t take to any animals not in her pack traipsing into her backyard. Territory is a huge motivator for dogs.
I’m thoroughly convinced your average domestic cat is no match for Mattie. In other words, a dog on his/her turf, and ready to fight for it, will, pound for pound, take a cat down. They may get bloodied in the doing, but it will be done.
Can a cat climb something it can’t sink its claws into, though? A monkey, sure, and probably a raccoon, but I’m not sure cats are capable of climbing that way.
The average cat and the average dog thrown into a cage together may do nothing more than posture at each other - a lot of hissing and spitting from the cat and a lot of barking and bouncing from the dog.
But given that both animals want to engage each other, I think on a pound for pound basis it would really depend on the breed of dog. A mean ass little terrier with the drive and/or experience of killing vermin is going to fare a lot better than a sweet little papillion or nervy little chihuahua against most cats.
If I had the wherewithal to film it and post it, I could show you numerous examples of cats (actually kittens) climbing the doors in our kennels. We put tops on a couple of our kennels because a few cats climbed out. We put our foster kitties in kennel runs so they have more room. Anyway, the bars are fairly wide, not big enough for them to slip through but wide enough that you’d think they couldn’t climb, but they do.
Kittens I have fostered have also quickly learned the proper wire kennel climbing technique and could easily make it over a four foot enclosure. One group also was adept at scaling brick walls, climbing to a height of eight feet in no time. Once a single member of group figures out the method, it is all over.
I am not sure if adult cats share the same ability, though. With their increased mass and higher center of gravity, the same tricks may not work.
Spider-Man wins the first fight, as Batman is typically armed to deal with, at best, ninjas with machine guns, and Spider-Man is enormously stronger and faster.
In the rematch, also Spider-Man. He always wins the rematch.
If Batman is outfitted for a JLA-type mission, Wonder Woman wins, as she separates them by brute force, shakes them up a bit, and makes whoever threw the first punch apologize.
As for the cat-versus-dog batch, unless we’re talking about a toy dog or a bobcat-or-bigger cat, the dog wins easy, though it emerges scathed. The cat obviously starts the fight.
As to the OP, it depends on the dog. My 12 pound Jack Russell killed several stray cats until they stopped coming into the yard. She instinctively knows what to do (Assume am aggressive stance, wait for an opening, dash in, grab the throat and shake until dead.) No cat as yet has ever laid a glove on her.
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I’ve seen my 25-lb. tom cat whup up on my 45 lb. pit bull. He’s quicker than the dog, and while she has amazingly impressive teeth, he tends to be sneakier and ambush her, once almost hamstringing her. That was when we first got him. They’ve learned to tolerate each other – really they just ignore each other. But I wouldn’t think he would have the teeth or jaw strength to do anything fatal to her. Pit bulls are built like Land Rovers and can take a lot of damage. If they were in a cage match, and it was a strange cat (not one Mom had scolded her for attacking), I would bet the house on the pit.
In other words, the cat won because it was prepared.
I love and respect cats, but I think this OP is a lot like “Who wins an off road cross country race: A Lamborghini or a 1984 Toyota 4WD.” Cats are sinewy, quick and highly specialized for killing things about the same size as their heads. Even small dogs are quite robust and have really powerful jaws. A fully roused housecat is, at best, going to inflict a lot of superficial damage. A large experienced tom might inflict a good jugular gash, but it’d have to get awfully close to the dog’s mouth to do it–he’ll have one chance for a perfect hit. The dog, on the other hand, is going to have many opportunities to bite, and crush, a leg or tail. If it executes a good pounce it can pin kitty by the neck and rump and bite through its spine or belly with minimal effort. Even if you dropped an enraged tom onto a sleeping beagle (in either case, by the time the cat hit the dog it would be enraged) you’re only going to see some blood; there won’t be any broken dog bones.
I was thinking more of eye damage, actually, and other sensitive face tissue (the nose, say). If the cat can manage to blind the dog quickly, that’d be enough of a handicap that the cat would probably win eventually. Which is why it matters who starts the fight.
I’ve bred and raised Jack Russell Terriers for years and years. A couple of them just did not like cats. They killed them. I did not like this and I did not encourage it.
It took about 3-5 seconds, and the dogs never got a scratch. Bull-rush, neck grab, neck snap, drop it and walk off. The same way they do rats.
It was not a nice thing to see, but was rather efficient.