dog vs. cat - who would win in a steel-cage death match?

Factual Questions
41

The circumstances of an average pet dog and average pet cat weigh heavily in favor of the dog, based on what seems like a universal estimation of the dog being much larger. But that would be an unfair fight. Pound for pound the question is tougher. Someone already mentioned that felis and canis varieties of similar size avoid each other in the wild. Most predators prefer smaller prey. Wolves, as a pack, might go after a solitary puma, with the advantage in numbers, but even then the wolves would probably be cautious about getting close to another animal with large teeth.

So in the hypothetical cage match between a dog and cat of the same size what would happen? Let’s assume we have picked a dog breed that has some instincts and ability for a one on one fight. All cats seem to have approximately the same methods and resources for killing, but let’s keep it close and chose a leopard, solitary, in the size range of dogs. The leopard is known for its intelligence, but giving IQ tests to cats is difficult, and it would only determine how well the cats are at taking IQ tests, but leopard’s certainly wouldn’t be categorized as the dumbest cat. Let’s assume also that the animals have equal experience at fighting, but not against the other specie specifically.

The cat has teeth and claws for weapons. I suspect the cat is more agile, but maybe not enough to get the upper hand. The dog has a more powerful jaw and neck, and a body designed to take advantage of that. The dog may have an edge intelligence, but in the heat of battle it probably doesn’t help much.

I call it for the dog. If the dog gets his jaws on any part of the cat, he can hang on, shake and swing the cat around, and kill the cat. The cat’s teeth and claws aren’t strong enough to control the dog, or deliver a kill in one shot. Big cats kill comparable sized and larger prey by strangulation via the snout or throat, a slow process. The fight is close though. If the cat can under the dog, it might get its jaws into the dogs throat in a manner that leaves the dog without any more offense. So if a series of fights were held, the outcome wouldn’t always be the same.

I mentioned before that the animals had no experience fighting the other’s kind. If either were well trained in dealing with the other’s tactics, it may become a dead heat. Dog’s are easily fooled and distracted. A cat that can learn to say ‘Look at the curls on that French Poodle’ might have an obvious advantage. On the other hand, skillful manipulation of a dog’s tail can mesmerize a cat. If either species can imitate the sound of a can opener, it will win every time.

42

It boggles my mind that anyone thinks the average pet cat could do anything to the average pet dog. I’m confident that 99% of dogs, excluding breeds like chihuahuas, would destroy 99% of house cats. Dogs kill people. The dog would lift the cat off the ground, regardless of how badly its face is being shredded, and slam the thing into the ground. It would maul the fuck out of it. The sheer weight of it would just bulldoze the cat.

43

Throw in Travis the chimp, with a big brain and opposable thumbs and we’d have a real donnybrook on our hands!

44

Yup. These cat owners with their stories of how their super-ninja cat faced off some dogs don’t realise that the dogs let their cats live. The cats are only still alive because the dog chose not to fight - mainly because, like people, they don’t have the desire to kill, kill, kill and would rather avoid a scratch. It’ll back off in face of an angry cat because it’s not worth it. This simply means a dog is better natured, not that it is incapable of demolishing that cat.

I mean, I guess you can use nonsense like “pound for pound”. Who is tougher, a human or an elephant? “Well, pound for pound.…”

Sure there are occasions where a REALLY BIG cat might be able to beat a REALLY SMALL dog. I’m sure anyone can skew as many things in favour of the cat as they need to - a GIANT TIGER who’s been starved for a week vs. a teeny puppy who’s tied up and has been drugged into a stupor. Sure, then the “cat” wins.

But average domestic cat vs. average domestic dog? There’s a reason cats usually run away from dogs.

We had a dog and a cat. The cat was older, and resented the new puppy. For the first few months, while the puppy was still a teeny puppy, he’d try to make friends with that cat; the cat would swipe at him and he’d run off crying. One day he suddenly realised he was bigger, stronger and - I dare say - faster than that cat. It swiped at him one day and was met with the full fury of big teeth and loud growls - a canine tornado of doom. It was outclassed, utterly. The dog had it in a corner, while it squirmed and desperately tried to escape. If I hadn’t heard it and physically rescued that cat, it would be no more.

It spent the next two years upstairs under the bed. It knew better after that. I’d say it brought it upon itself, but it’s hard to attach blame to animals - they just do what they need to do.

Those who have supernatural opinions of their cats’ ninja skills have probably never seen a dog get angry. That is scary - not just to a cat, but to people. Seriously scary. A housecat just doesn’t even come close. If their super-ninja cat met a German Shepherd or something in an aggressive mood, it would have no choice but to escape.

45

I agree that there’s a lot a wishful thinking by cat owners in this thread.

Consider dachshunds for example – silly, yappy little wiener dogs right? Except they were originally bred to kill badgers. I doubt many house cats are as nasty as a wild badger, and yet dachshunds have been bred to have the viciousness and tenacity to take one on and win.

46

If General Woundwort could hold up against a dog, though, I’m sure a cat could!

All right, I’ll stop citing General Woundwort as a typical rabbit…

47

Well to be fair a european badger. Not an american badger or god help them, a ratel.

48

Might as well throw this link in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_baiting

49

Not if the dog is facing a rooster.
:smiley:

50

Wow. The world of monkey gladiators is one I was very unaware of!

51

My money is on the hippo.

52

Against you, I’d bet on the roadrunner.
:smiley:

53

I don’t think anyone’s disputing that an average dog would have an overwhelming advantage over an average cat. This is clearly true, because an average dog is overwhelmingly larger than an average cat. Since this question is trivial and boring, people are instead answering the more interesting question of a cat and dog of comparable size. And I still say that, in that situation, the winner is whichever one started the fight. Note that this is consistent with almost all of the anecdotes posted so far, both the ones where the dog wins and where the cat wins.

54

Cats are certainly getting larger. I’ve a 15 pound cat. Hes not very inclined to fight or hunt though he has a vicious streak at times. Just now I checked his teeth and his fangs are about an inch long. Hes a big cat. Even in a human an inch deep puncture can be fatal. The trick is in the application though, isnt it? He likely couldnt bite me in a fatal way.

My smaller cat, about 9 pounds, is the mouser. Hes simply more ambitious.

The thing with cats though is that they attack first with their claws. They want to grasp their prey.

Big kitty understands the rudiments of the kill. When I got the little guy he would flip him(with barely an effort) and clamp his neck with a leg and bite down. The smaller cat eventually wised up and started twisting out. But then the larger cat started knocking him down, standing on his back and biting the base of the skull. I had to pull him off.

Eventually they became friends.

I got the larger cat(spook) at the pound, and he had been a registered cat who was abandoned and he must have been feral for a bit.

So a cat has one advantage not mentioned yet: They can exert a hell of a lot of force with their limbs. More than a dogs? I dont know, but certainly a lot more aptly and explosively. Spook is quite capable of slamming the little cat face down on the floor with a blow. Another cat I had could make a 9 foot jump if motivated.

A big house cat like spook could leave some grievous wounds in a comparable sized dog. Hes got better reach than a badger too. If that little dog didnt take him by surprise he’d be sliced open and knocked over.

Still? Sorry folks, my money is on the dogs.

Now a wolf against a comparable sized cat? Goodbye wolf. All their weaponry is comparable in size and the cat is much stronger. Probably a little faster too.

Cats and dogs are different in that a dog has no stalking instinct and must learn it by example. But it does have the instinct to shake and kill. You can see them do this as puppies. They just know.

Cats on the other hand have instinctive stalking, but they have to learn to kill. Thats part of the reason house cats toy with their prey. They simply dont know how to finish it efficiently.

55

What do you mean? An American or European Badger? :smiley:

56

“There’s no need to fear…”

57

Well to expand a bit on this apparently the dachshunds that actually hunted were a bit bigger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachshunds#History so that needs to be said. (Plus it’s not like they went hunting a ratel or something. Basically when surveyed about it wolverines generally described the honey badger as “Those a**holes” :smiley: )