Cats or Dogs? Who is Man's Best Friend

Cats and dogs offer pet owners different degrees of companionship and personal satisfaction. Most pet owners agree that their cat or dog is the best pet in existence and this is normal because the pet is an extension of their family. However, which one, cat or dog,is man's best friend from a historical perspective is open for debate.

Dogs tend to be needy and they do have to be walked and loved regularly. Cats on the other hand tend to prefer solitude and often only seek out occasional affection. Dogs are certainly more loyal in most respects and have the upper hand in terms of intelligence. They can remember up to 50 commands and learn quickly. Cats remember far fewer commands and many are unable to recognize their owner by sight alone. Meaning if you leave your house and close the door the cat does not understand that you are still outside the door. Dogs on the other hand understand that you will be coming home and anticipate your arrival. However, as we will see cats may have the favorable upper hand from an historical perspective.

Cats were probably the first domesticated animals and have been linked to human activity for over 9,500 years. This mutualistic relationship developed because as humans moved to an agrarian society cats became a critical force in protecting harvests and livestock from vermin. Cats were so valued during early societies that they were also worshiped and given high status in society and culture. During the Middle Ages cat populations declined because of the belief by religious leaders that they were evil. This decline more than probably led to an explosion of the rat population. Where there rats there were fleas, where there were fleas there was the plague. The plague killed millions of individuals and this tragedy may have been avoided if more cats were kept to hunt down one of their most favorite prey, rats.

Farms traditionally keep a pack of cats around and good mousers are still a prized asset. Why? The same reason that cats were domesticated thousands of years ago. Cats are mice and rat killing machines. Two breeding mice can produce 500 offspring in just 21 weeks. In fact rodent control, which otherwise requires costly and potentially harmful poison, is the main factor why outdoor cat populations are tolerated.

Scientists think that dogs were domesticated in China from a small pack of wolves almost 15,000 years ago. It is hard to believe but genetic analysis reveals that 95% of all dogs are probably the direct descendants of only three original "eve" dogs. Other studies have also shown that dogs even as puppies are much more likely to respond to human social cues than our closest primate relative the chimpanzee.

Archaeological finds have revealed that dogs migrated with humans from East Asia to all the parts of the world. Dogs probably slowly became domesticated by helping early humans hunt and protect resources while providing companionship. They must have been valuable assets if the could be controlled. One can imagine dogs alerting early humans to danger or helping early hunters find, collect and kill prey. Dogs have a keen sense of smell and this attribute is often put to the test in trying to find drugs, people and even caches of pirated DVDs.

Today dogs are not only companions but a part of the extended family. They are always happy to see their owners and greet them with a wagging tail. Dogs also warn of impending danger and have been known to try and protect owners and family members from other dogs and animals that appear dangerous. It is hard to believe but dog abuse is a real problem in some areas of the US and in many parts of the world there are no laws to protect them from abusive owners.

In the end the debate between which is man's best friend, cat or dog, is a matter of opinion. Early dogs helped humans hunt and survive. Cats played a pivotal role in human existence but not as direct as dogs. As humans moved to agrarian societies cats were valued as hunters of rodents and became valuable protectors of food stores. Cats saved untold numbers of human lives in doing so. Cats also saved lives by keeping rodent populations low and therefore reducing the severity of disease transmitted by them. As it turns out both cats and dogs provided early humans with significant advantages for survival. Both cats and dogs are deeply entrenched in all the societies and cultures of the world.