Dogs Smarter Than Cats? Wait, What?

It’s raining cats and dogs! Ever wondered if dogs were smarter than cats? Well, there are a lot of questions that are put on the table as well as debates like, “ My dog can play dead,” or “ My cat knows where to pee” kind of things. Whether a cat or a dog is the best companion, it is more likely a preference, but on the contrary, here is why dogs are smarter than cats.

Study Says Dogs are smarter than cats, what say you?

A study by Frontiers of Neuroanatomy was conducted in 2017 by an international team of researchers who analyzed the outer layers of the brains of various carnivorous animals including dogs and cats. The researchers probed eight different carnivorous animals like the ferret, raccoon, banded mongoose, domestic dog, domestic cat, lion, striped hyena, and brown bear.

The study was implemented in hopes of determining if whether animals who hunt for prey have more cortical neurons, which means which one has more brain power- carnivores or herbivores? Scientists believe that the number of neurons indicates how much processing power the brain has. This neuro count could be an indicator in translating which animal is smarter.

And the results are in! It turns out that cats have approximately 250 million neurons, while dogs have more than twice as much, with 530 million neurons.

According to Suzana Herculano-Houzel, the neurologist who developed a method to accurately measure the number of neurons in brains, the absolute number of neurons an animal has, especially in the cerebral cortex, is a determinant of the richness of an animal’s internal mental state as well as their ability to predict what is about to happen in their environment based on past experiences.

Herculano-Houzel also added that dogs are more biologically capable of doing more complex and flexible things than cats.

However, the study’s first hypothesis was incorrect, and the results ultimately revealed that there was not much difference in brain power between herbivores and carnivores. According to the researchers, the ratio of neurons to the size of the brain in most carnivores was nearly equivalent to animals who only eat plants. It showed that the prey needs just the same amount of brain power to outsmart their predator as hunters need to catch them.

The results showed that cats and brown bears have the same number of cortical neurons.

It also depicted that out of all the carnivores, dogs have the most neurons.

Whether you are a dog person or a cat person, a house is not a home without a pet. So love your pets regardless of the number of neurons they possess- its the company and immeasurable love they give you is what really matters.