Friday, September 28, 2007
The Truth About Cats and Dogs
I'm an unabashed dog person, but there is one terrible, hidden fact that hits me in the gut whenever I look into my own dog's adoring eyes: they are all fake.
This will come as a rude awakening for all you hippies out there, but virtually every "natural" object in our human world is a product of genetic engineering. Every fruit and vegetable, every garden flower, every domesticated animal, every animal food source (with the strange exception of fish) has been meticulously cultivated and cross-bred to serve specifically human purposes. There is evidence that pre-historic man as early as 10,000 years ago was a skilled cross-breeder. Bio-engineering, it seems, is something we humans are just naturally good at.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in dogs, yet most people are in denial about it. Most view dogs' qualities as wonders of nature: their loyalty, their intelligence, their ability to do useful tasks, their great desire to fit in with human families and, above all, their tremendous unconditional love for their human masters.
Fake. Fake, fake, fake, fake. Everything about dogs was designed by us. Natural dogs are nasty, feral little creatures, not much different from other canine species. It must have taken generations of cruelty and cross-breeding for our ancient ancestors to beat them into submission and engineer the specific physical and behavioural qualities they wanted.
I'm reminded of a scene in the science-fiction classic Bladerunner, in which reclusive android designer J.F. Sebastian explains his social life:
Pris: Must get lonely here, J.F.Dogs are the same. "Man's best friend" is made to order.
J.F. Sebastian: Not really. I MAKE friends. They're toys. My friends are toys. I make them. It's a hobby. I'm a genetic designer.
But, as difficult as it is to stomach this realization about dogs, it begs an even more perplexing question:
How could we have gone so terribly wrong with cats?
Once again, I must admit my bias. To the same degree that I like dogs, I dislike cats. I'm terribly allergic to them, so of course that has coloured my view of the creatures (although our blog friend Cindy has some cute kitten pics that have melted my cat-hating heart on occasion.)
Biases aside, you can't escape the fact that cats are useless. They're lazy, untrainable, selfish and aloof. Where dogs thrive on human contact, cats seem merely to tolerate it.
Yet, just like dogs, cats are designed. We made them act that way. We took normal, ferocious wild felines, beat almost all of the hunting skills out of them and purposely engineered a species of surly layabouts.
What in heaven's name would have possessed us to do that?
It's not a rhetorical question. I'm opening the flood-gates to the always popular "cats vs. dogs" debate. Put yourself in the shoes ... well, fur leggings, maybe ... of a primitive human and give me your best theory for the original product design and marketing of CatTM .
posted by Mentok @ 9:49 a.m.,
12 Comments:
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At 11:11 a.m.,
FiL said...
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Why don't you look on Wikipedia ;-)
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At 2:23 p.m.,
Rachel said...
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Well that was rather depressing...Thanks Mentok! I kid, I kid.
I am not bias to either cats or dogs I love both species regardless of our genetic cross-breeding engineering. Dogs do entail more work and dedication, but it is well worth it. Shane has wanted to get a couple of dogs but right now it just isn't the right time. But we do however have three cats one of them being my beloved Puma girl who does not just lie around and admire herself she is the sweetest cat and the biggest love. She has converted cat haters into cat lovers. It just depends I think on the cat, cats definitely have different personalities. -
At 3:57 p.m.,
drainpip said...
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Wild cats still exist in Africa iirc... We (as in ancient folk) must have seen how well they do at killing rodents and/or they saw how well we attract rodents (which makes more sense, don't it?). Taking the latter into account, they're just around for the free food... hell, I know humans like that. But man, our cats kick ass... they even come when you call them... like... most of the time.
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At 3:30 p.m.,
said...
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alas, dear mentok, i'm afraid i have to set you straight regarding the cats.
i think they still retain quite a bit of their original nature, in that if you were to observe say, lions, in nature, they spend about 23 hours a day lounging/resting and the remainder of the time hunting. same with house cats. i had a cat that could take down a rabbit that was her size. and they can be incredibly loving. i've had cats that i've had to push off of me because i was done with the love session and they weren't.
so whereas you may be correct that they have been engineered as far as looks, i don't think their temperaments have been altered all that much. like rachel says, it's really more a matter of personality. and superiority, because frankly, wouldn't you rather have an animal "obey" you because it wanted to and not just because it couldn't help itself? ;-)
p.s. i'm really sorry you have such bad cat allergies. my eyes are itching in empathy. -
At 2:20 p.m.,
Mentok said...
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Aaaagh! Cat people everywhere!
OK, yeah, lions are well-known layabouts. I was hoping to get away without anyone remembering that factoid.
I don't think it can be said that we have bred pets only on appearance. The distinct characters of dog breeds shows we have the power to alter behaviour as well.
On that note, I must admit I generalized about other things as well. The toy breeds of dogs are just as useless as most cats and some dog breeds (e.g. Schnauzers, Scottish Terriers) are much more stubborn and frustrating than any cat could ever be.
On the whole, I think felines and canines are equally trainable and conducive to cross-breeding.
But my question remains: why don't we train and make useful breeds of cat? Why aren't there sheep-cats or watch-cats?
I don't get me started on pet defecation issues. Every spring I have to clean cat crap out of my garden, but god help the dog owner who dares take his dog out in public without adequate 'doggie bags'.
Overall, I think my message is that humans are too indulgent to cats. Cats have to start pulling their weight around here a little more. ;-) -
At 9:42 a.m.,
Rachel said...
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I had a watch Cat, Olie Tiger Two. He used to own the neighborhood he was the last of our outdoor cats and lived a long life. He used stand outside the house in the driveway and just wait for someone to make a wrong move. He was awesome!
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At 11:39 a.m.,
said...
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i had a cat that would go on walks with me, like a dog. and she taught my mother's cat how to climb up a tree and then get on the roof of the house. so i'd say cats are pretty darn useful . . . um, yeah.
about that cat crap--would you really rather have the cat's owner crawling around in your garden looking for it?
and isn't giving love to one's owner the most useful trait of all? ;-) -
At 11:47 a.m.,
Mentok said...
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Rachel - I'm sure that cats could be trained to be excellent watch-animals. They're so nimble they could be the ninjas of watch animals. Although we should start breeding them larger and with longer claws if they're going to do the job really well.
mjrc - I'm impressed that you trained your cat to go for a walk like a dog. Good for you!
No, I'm not suggesting the owners root around in my garden. I'm suggesting that cats be kept on leashes like dogs and not be allowed to roam at large. That's where the double standard comes in. -
At 2:01 p.m.,
said...
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a cat on a leash? the cats of the world are shaking their little heads in dismay. besides that, a cat's independence is one of its best traits. in fact, that's the beauty of a having a cat--you don't have to take care of them and pay attention to them like you do a dog.
oh, and i didn't teach the cat to go for a walk--she did it of her own volition. she was a great cat. she lived fast and hard and died young, kind of like janis joplin . . . ;-) -
At 3:36 p.m.,
Mentok said...
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You had me and you lost me. You were almost starting to turn me on this whole 'value of felines' discussion but then you retreated back to that old "cats are independent" schtick.
By that reasoning, the mice that used to live in my basement were even better pets.
Ah, cat-people, dog-people ... never the twain shall meet! And so the debate continues. ;-) -
At 7:49 a.m.,
cchang said...
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Hee hee (I'm behind on my blog reading so jumping into this discussion late)
I'll acknowledge that dogs are easier to train than cats, but some cats are pretty darn intelligent. Take Etouffee for example. She comes when called. Stays when asked. Will jump in my lap when I tap on my chest. I also wear her as a neck scarf....
I guess my issues with dogs is that they're so *needy.* I'm an introvert and i think of dogs as extroverts, full of energy and constantly wanting attention. That's just my biased opinion. I kind of like to earn my affection with cats, people, etc.
Dogs don't purr. That alone make cats more desireable to me. -
At 12:52 p.m.,
Rachel said...
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DUDE!!!
http://www.gomestic.com/Pets/The-Top-10-Reasons-to-Own-a-Cat.53649
