Posted on 01/31/2016 7:33:29 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Are you a dog or cat person? Does a dog's eager friendliness make him superior to an elegantly aloof feline, or vice versa? It's a debate that has divided animal lovers for generations.
Now a new BBC documentary is seeking to resolve the question by discovering definitively which species has the edge: Britain's eight million cats, or its nine million canines.
In Cats Vs Dogs, animal experts Chris Packham and Liz Bonnin team up with scientists and vets to put our two favourite pets to the test in a host of different categories.
Think you know which one will win? Don't bet on it. Here are some of the findings . . .
Dogs: Almost everything dogs do, from excitedly greeting their owner at the door to lying loyally at their feet, seems to be indisputable evidence of their love.
Cats, on the other hand, are more inscrutable and independent. They decide when their owners are granted a stroke or cuddle. Most owners, however, are convinced their puss loves them but just isn't as demonstrative as a dog.
But are they right? Scientists have already discovered that dogs do seem to love their owners -- studies have found that both produce the 'love hormone' oxytocin when together. It's the same hormone that pregnant women release during birth and breastfeeding to help them bond with their baby.
But cats have never been tested for this. So the show asked U.S. neuroscientist Dr Paul Zak to test both types of animal to solve the eternal question.
'We have pretty good evidence that dogs actually love their humans,' he says. 'A couple of small-scale studies have shown that when owners interact with their dogs, the human and their dog appear to release oxytocin.
It's one of the chemical measures of love in mammals.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The hard part...depending on how much you hate cats and your own personal makeup...is making sure the beastie doesn’t, or can’t return. If you catch my drift.
Having both cats and dogs throughout my life, I agree thet have their own personalities. So to say one is better than the other is B.S. My personal preference draws me towards cats, mostly because of my own introvert personality. I have had great dogs, bad dogs, great cats, horrible cats (currently), but there is still a symbiotic love present. To counter the argument of cats not loving their owners, let me tell you a quick story. Blurry screen warning.
Many years ago the neighbor called my folks and let them know they were having kittens. I asked if I could go over there and ended up staying on their couch overnight (this is when you could actually trust your neighbor) while she had the kittens. When they were weaned I got the first choice, and I picked the runt of the litter, last one out, a pretty little Persian calico that I named Calli. Growing up, that cat was always excited when I came home from school or later on when I came home to visit my parents after moving out. I could sneak into the house, sit on the couch and instantly she would be on my lap, almost like she had a lowjack implanted in me. After 19 years of companionship my parents told me she was in bad shape, so I went and visited. She was too weak to move around , but thankfully not in pain, she just laid on a towel in front of the pellet stove. Carefully I cradeled her up in the towel went to the couch and put her on my lap, after a while of her trying to purr and me petting her, she looked up at me with that Persian cat smile then put her head down and passed away. I was there when she came into the world, and was there when she left. Greatest cat I have ever had.
Crap! Now my screen has gone all blurry.
Homosexual beard and build ?
But he owns a cat! Er, his cat owns him.
When I had a cat it would not lay down its life for me. My dogs will.
Your average American alleycat was bred for generations to be a mouser not to cuddle.
I adopted a parking lot cat once, took me me four months to get that cat to trust me and when I got her home she turned into eight. She was more like a dog than a cat, greeted me at the door, played fetch until I was burned out and wanted to be on me every chance she got. I would have thought that she was a Ragdoll from her looks and demeanor but not one of the kittens shared her traits.
I just got a dog yesterday.
Brought him home, introduced him to the Cat.
The dog got trained, pronto.
Actually, a certain vulgar expression, initials p.w., comes to mind.
I think he’d havee more viewers if his chosen looks were not nausea inducing.
My husband & I are cat & dog lovers. We have watched this guy several times & he is the real deal when it comes to crazed cats. It’s amazing to see the transformation from demon to a great cat.
I just have to chuckle when I see people walking their dogs in 10 below zero weather. I loved my Briard, but all I had to do was open the back door of the farmhouse. But I’ve loved all my cats, and they’ve all demonstrated their love for me in obvious ways. Some people just don’t know how to raise cats. I’ve had my own cats since I was 2. Talked a feral tomcat outa the bushes.
I’m with you on that. Not only are journalists borderline illiterate at times, they are also innumerate. Copy writers are just as bad, if not worse.
There is no such thing as five times less, there is one-fifth as much. Mrs. Olsen of Folgers fame said it correctly, but the ads that express ratios and proportions correctly are few and far between.
I see and hear this kind of poor language all the time now, on the TV, in advertisements, and in conversations of those around me.
I blame public schools and their poor language and arithmetic/mathematic training.
I’m glad it’s not just me. I’m 10 times less tolerant of poor writing than I used to be, not including spell check “corrections.” :)
Which just proves how dumb and liberalesque dogs are!
As are dogs. Hence why we get maulings by dogs.
-“...FIVE times less...�
Twice as small.
Three times shorter.
Four times thinner.-
And Can katz make that much hormone that quickly? I’ve read a few Brit articles on pets, and I have to wonder whether the researchers have ever even had pets!
The guy is too weird for me. Not that he doesn’t handle cats OK.
But when an early episode featured homo women and made nice nice out of it, that was the deal-breaker.
I knew I could draw the language police like me into the dog v cat battle! :)
I guess if journalists were smarter or better writers, they would have picked some better way to make money besides reporting stuff or rabble rousing! Zing!
I swear you guys are the only ones that keep me sane sometimes. Thanks!
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