Why are wild cats stronger than wild dogs but not the other way around?

[Deleted]

Your dog would probably rip the cat to shreds if it wanted to. There's no way a cat would win a fight against a dog, unless its a small "handbag dog", dogs just have too much power in their jaws for cats to even stand a chance.

That power isn't of much use if he can't catch the cat. As with all animals, some are better hunters/fighters than others. Most wild cats and domesticated outdoors cats are incredibly cunning while hunting/fighting, much like a trained hunting dog. They know what they can or can't do on targets bigger than themselves and they either flee or aim at weak spots, such as eyes and nose. A good paw strike at a dogs eyes can potentionally kill it and a good hit on the nose will make most run away in pain, no matter of size.

You'd be amazed of how much power a small tabby can produce with a punch, now add 1inch razor blades on the working end of that punch, not to talk about the speed they can dish those punches out with.
But again, it's all about the experience and mentality of the animals.

Edit: Also, a domesticated animal doesn't have anything to lose so they tend to be less careful and generally don't care if they get injured. It's not like they have to hunt for their food if they have a home to go to.

[Balazaar]

A pack of dogs can bring down a bear. It isn't even a contest unless the bear gets its back to something. Cats fight solo and are better at that, unless the dog gets hold of them in which case it's bye bye cat.

[Deleted]

I love Karelian Bear Dogs, they're fearless. Last three dogs my father has had were of that breed.

[Deleted]

I hate this this kind of dog vs cat arguments. There are many factors which affect the outcome of such a fight. Most importantly- both species undestand the what-is-worth-fighting-for concept. Take for an example my cat. I have seen it chase off a german shephard off our front yard with the dog running with his tail between its legs. Does it mean that my cat can overpower it? Hell no! From the dog's point of view entering a fight for a new territory can have two outcomes- it either overpowers the home-owner, so to speak, or leaves with a lot of wounds and scars. Then he weights out if the fight is really worth it and decides either to fight or bail. My cat, on the other hand, has no options. It is genetically programmed to defend its territory with its dear life. It has a lot to lose and therefore will put much more effort into defending its home. On the other hand, I do not even wish to think what would that shephard do if my cat entered his territory uninvited and decided it would stand up for itself.

Cats hit fast and can do a lot of damage in a small amount of time. That is true. But every dog of comparable fighting skills knows that and does its best to protect its own weak spots. Do not go for the "one swipe from my cat and x dog would run off". That would be so if the cat actually manages to reach a weak spot. Dogs pack hell of alot more lethal blows if they, too, manage to catch the cat. It really goes down to what the animal fights for, its mentallity and its actual fighting skills.

Tl;dr : There can never be a clean fight between a dog and a cat in which both pets fight with the same instinct. There is always the "invader" and the "defender". Thus their fighting performances are not comparable.

[Rocket Surgeon]

Why is everyone talking about lions being the tough guys of the feline family? They're kittens in comparison to tigers

Actually no, a big male lion is about the same size as the average tiger (600lbs+), and lions usually dominate tigers when they encounter each other in captivity. The mane is quite intimidating, and protects the neck from injury in combat as well. Lions usually win in fights.

---------- Post added 2012-09-17 at 04:38 AM ----------

You're comparing Hyena (scavenger) to wolves (hunters).

Hyenas actually hunt their own food more often than they scavenge it, and are usually more successful than lions at it.

EDIT: They also hunt in a manner similar to wolves (chasing down their prey and attacking it when its exhausted) so my comparison was pretty accurate.

[Eroginous]

Hyenas actually hunt their own food more often than they scavenge it, and are usually more successful than lions at it.

EDIT: They also hunt in a manner similar to wolves (chasing down their prey and attacking it when its exhausted) so my comparison was pretty accurate.

Only Spotted hyenas tend to hunter more often than they scavenge. Even then, they don't go after the type of game that can put up a good fight. They always go for the weaker target, even when they do hunt. Other types of hyenas tend to mostly scavenge and only take on live game when they clearly have the advantage.

Wolves, on the other hand, will attack things like Moose and Byson (much bigger and more dangerous), and their coordination and general hunting skills far surpass those of any hyena. So when you compare Hyena to Wolves, you're not really looking at it from a correct angle.

Both wolves and lions will take on prey much larger than themselves, but the wolves will actually have the stamina and skill to bring down that larger animal, where the lions would give up if they couldn't do within a few minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vl9F...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSWxXZ2Hi4

Lions give up after a minute, wolves score a kill after 8 minutes. 99% sure the wolves would outlast the lions.

[Rocket Surgeon]

Only Spotted hyenas tend to hunter more often than they scavenge. Even then, they don't go after the type of game that can put up a good fight. They always go for the weaker target, even when they do hunt. Other types of hyenas tend to mostly scavenge and only take on live game when they clearly have the advantage.

Wolves, on the other hand, will attack things like Moose and Byson (much bigger and more dangerous), and their coordination and general hunting skills far surpass those of any hyena. So when you compare Hyena to Wolves, you're not really looking at it from a correct angle.

Both wolves and lions will take on prey much larger than themselves, but the wolves will actually have the stamina and skill to bring down that larger animal, where the lions would give up if they couldn't do within a few minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vl9F...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSWxXZ2Hi4

Lions give up after a minute, wolves score a kill after 8 minutes. 99% sure the wolves would outlast the lions.

Wolves are designed to bring down prey that is exhausted from a long chase, those that stand their ground are much more likely to survive. The lions are MUCH more powerful, and in a straight fight have a huge advantage over the wolves. Unless the lions all start running from the wolves that are a fraction of their size when they'll usually stand their ground when outnumbered by hyenas who hunt in a similar fashion and are almost twice as large, the lions win.

Also, these:www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH27MC9KQUY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lU8HcxIAw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh2i5TaaxEw
That last one's to show that hyenas ARE capable of killing lions, but they generally only try confronting a pride if they outnumber the lions 4 to 1 and the big males are absent.

[Deleted]

Hyenas are not canines.

[Rocket Surgeon]

Hyenas are not canines, people.

I know, but their lifestyle and hunting technique is very similar, especially with the spotted hyena.

[Deleted]

Hyenas are not canines.

Didn't know that. Apparently they are more closely related to cats and mongoose than to dogs. You learn as long as you live

[Jackmoves]

Your dog would probably rip the cat to shreds if it wanted to. There's no way a cat would win a fight against a dog, unless its a small "handbag dog", dogs just have too much power in their jaws for cats to even stand a chance.

It's about intimidation and about being aggressive(kind of like when humans fight), a cat can be extremely fierce, sure if the dog got nowhere to run they might fight for their life but if they can retreat I can promise you dogs will quite often leg it. I've seen it happen quite a few times(read my first post in this thread).

So it's not just a matter of size and power, the mentality and attitude of the animals are really important as well.

[Reeve]

I wonder why predators like lions, panthers, and tigers are stronger than wolves and foxes. Yet Domestic cats are the enemies of domestic dogs?

Why is this? What happened to cats when they domesticated that caused them to become weaker than dogs? Also why are dogs even rivals with cats in the 1st place? Did something happen in there natural habitat? I mean if a wolf picked a fight with a lion he would lose. Any idea why wild cats are stronger than wild dogs but domestic cats aren't nearly as powerful as there wild counterparts?

It has more to do with humans tending to want to domesticate animals that can't eat them. It's not like someone a long time ago domesticated a lion or a jaguar, and then over time and breeded, those animals became tabby cats. It's that tabby cats tended to be useful for killing rats while at the same time not being a danger to humans, while dogs were useful for hunting and herding while not being a danger to humans.

Also, I've known dogs and cats to get along pretty well most of the time. The few times I've seen where they didn't, it was because the cat felt threatened by the dog, which is bigger and capable of eating the cat.

[Deleted]

It's apples and oranges. Cats are not universally stronger than dogs, or vice versa. Just about every dog you see is bred by humans for a specific purpose, so if you take a dog bred for a specific purpose, they'll outperform a cat without competition at that purpose. Take, for instance a Jack Russell Terrier, which is bred for pulling prey (badgers, fox, rabbits, etc) out of their dens. The dog is small, sturdy and has a strong chest and legs, and the backwards pull of a 15 lbs dog is surprisingly larger and a cat of the same weight wouldn't get close to matching it. However, if you switch the exercise to pulling itself up by the front legs in a tree, the cat has the home field and would leave the dog eating its dust. Strong is all about the exercise. A good working bulldog or rottweiler will be able to pull harder than a wolf, but won't be as fast, etc.

The wild, big cats are several times larger than the largest wild canine, so no wonder they possess more raw strength. Dogs are engineered, cats are adapted to nature.

[Holofernes]

house cats win against house dogs.
actually we had to protect our dog from the cat (and he was at least 5 times bigger), by removing her from her claimed place, which was the dog basket.
The dog tried to get rid of her, but the cat won and conquered it. Dog noses are easy to hurt.

Evolutionary said, dogs are very social. They depend on the group.
Cats are mostly solo, they only mate for short times, with lions being an exception. So they know very well how to take care of themselfes.

[Lothaeryn]

When the two animals were domesticated the cat was there as a modern family pet and/or something to have chase the rats, thus they were small to be cuddle-able and quick, a lion probably makes a poor rat hunter due to its size and inability to get into tight spaces where rats live. Dogs were at first hunting companions and helped guard property or similar. I can't really explain why it was easier to tame wolves back then that it was to tame cats, but I guess that the lack of naturally small dogs (I honestly don't know of any small races today that aren't so because of breeding throughout the centuries) but an abundance of naturally small cats (not so much today, most small cats have been domesticated) is quite a selling point.

When Wolves were first tamed, mankind was still in its infancy, and as a result, humans in those days were far more agressive than humans now. The agression they showed towards wolves helped mankind domesticate wolves into subordinate pets who could be used to help on hunts and to protect family members (this is also because wolves already are born with a pack mentality, making the transition easier to begin with)

Cats were domesticated in Modern Day Turkey, originally they were small mammals that were found hunting even smaller prey, natives of the area found that their hunting prowess could come in handy for keeping mice and other rodents out of their settlements, and as such worked towards domesticating them.

The natives found that Cats not only were effective for keeping pests away, but they were also easier to maintain compared to other pets, since cats are normally solo predators in the wild, they did not have complete reliance on humans in the way canines do.

Over the centuries it became apparent that Wolves when bred in domestic circles could be adapted to other uses, slowly evolving into the dogs we know today.

However, in comparison to cats, there are fewer cat breeds than dog breeds, and this is due to the fact that cats generally are not as malleable as a pet compared to a dog.

Overall, cats have changed very little over the centuries compared to dogs, and as such still have their predatory instincts in tact, whereas dogs have almost all but forgotten their aggression that was key to their ancestor's survival.

You'll find that a cat will bring you mice more often than a dog bringing you a dead bird.

TL;DR, cats haven't evolved as much as dogs, and thus have more of their predatory instincts in comparison.


As for wild animals? They're wild animals; cats usually being alot larger, OFC they are more powerful.

[Jackmoves]

house cats win against house dogs.
actually we had to protect our dog from the cat (and he was at least 5 times bigger), by removing her from her claimed place, which was the dog basket.
The dog tried to get rid of her, but the cat won and conquered it. Dog noses are easy to hurt.

It's important for them to establish a pecking order, once thats done both dogs and cats will know their place and can co-exist quite peacefully in the same house.