Cats are, indeed, smarter than dogs in certain ways. For instance, they have better long term memory and are more capable of acquiring food and shelter on their own.
However, dogs have an intelligence advantage in other ways. Dogs are better at being trained and have higher social intelligence.
Overall, asking whether cats are smarter than dogs is like comparing apples to oranges. They’re just different species. Cats and dogs have adapted over time to different stimuli, and so they’re each more intelligent with different things.
The Brains of Cats and Dogs
Brains of all animals are made up of neurons. Neurons transmit information throughout the brain, like chemical messengers.
Scientists were actually able to measure the number of neurons in the brains of cats and dogs. The result? Dogs had nearly twice the number of neurons as cats. Cats have about 250 million neurons while dogs have about 530 million neurons.
So what does it mean to have more neurons in your brain? Well, it’s not necessarily the best measure of intelligence. Dogs have bigger brains, so they’ll naturally have more neurons. What’s important here is the neuron density, meaning how many neurons are packed into each square inch.
Although dog’s brain sizes vary drastically, they tend to have more neural density overall. Some researcher would argue this is one strong indicator that dogs may be smarter than cats. However, the story is a bit more complex than that.
Memory in Cats and Dogs
Let’s compare cats and dogs in terms of intelligence with a different metric: memory. Memory is actually highly correlated with intelligence, as studies show. Being able to remember things, places and people creates an excellent storage of information to draw from.
Cats beat out dogs with their long-term memory abilities. This means that cats are better that recalling facts about their environment or things that happened to them long ago. As such, cat’s learn and adapt more quickly than dogs do. They remember patterns of behavior in their owner, and past environments and experiences they’ve lived through. All this accumulates to more knowledge over time.
Training in Cats and Dogs
Training is considered to be a major factor in intelligence among animals. The ability to be trained, especially in a complex way, exemplifies memory and cognition.
Although dogs are easier to train than cats, it doesn’t mean cats are untrainable. Studies have shown that cats can be trained, they just prefer not to be.
Because dogs are more susceptible to training, they can be trained to do more complex tasks than cats. Form instance, it’s not uncommon to see guide dogs and rescue dogs. Dogs can be trained to pull sleds in a team and sit, stay, shake, and heel, among many other commands.
While cats can be trained as well, they’re more stubborn than dogs and will take much more time and effort to train. It’s more common for cats to be trained in simpler things, like carrier training and to not shred the couch.
Self-sufficiency in Cats and Dogs
Knowing how and when to take care of yourself is a form of intelligence and critical to survival. It’s no surprise that cats are more self-sufficient than dogs. When left without food or shelter, cats will take initiative and hunt for food and seek out shelter.
Dogs, on the other hand, are more dependent on humans for their needs. As such, they’re less likely to fend for themselves when they need to.
Social Tasks in Cats and Dogs
Social intelligence is measured in many animals, including humans, dogs and cats. Dogs are superior in their social abilities to cats. This is a big reason they respond well to training; they want to please their owners!
Dogs are better at reading the emotions and body language of their owners. Because they’re more dependent on humans for their needs, this is an advantage for dogs. Not only that, but dogs are considered pack animals, and can adapt to the behaviors and needs of their pack (other pets and humans).
Even though some cats can be very socially intelligent as well, dogs are simply more so overall. Dogs are more likely to listen to you and even watch what you’re doing.
Domestication in Cats and Dogs
While it’s only partially related to intelligence, domestication plays a role in the smarts of an animal. Cats and dogs have evolved overtime just because of their domestication.
Dogs have been domesticated for much longer than cats. As such, dogs have had more time to adapt to life in a house and to the behaviors of humans. This is why dogs are more social and trainable and cats are more self-sufficient. In fact, domestication has even made dogs digestive tracts better at eating human foods. Cats, on the other hand, are still only carnivores and cannot eat people food.
