Take your cat for a walk in the forest, see how long he sticks around to "communicate" with you.
Funny thing, I do take my cat for walks through the forest, unleashed of course. She hangs out and follows me, and plays on fallen trees and such. I
do it for exercise, but she follows me quite often. I give her complete freedom. Sometimes I have to slow down for her to keep up, but she does
pretty well. I see intelligent animals as individuals. One cat may be a complete polar opposite of another, and same with a dog. Some dogs and cats
are very similar as well. My cat does seem to have a few "dog like" traits. She also grew up with a chocolate lab, which I feel is part of the
reason.
I'd love to see your cat identifying and retrieving items that you point at. You should record this so that scientists around the world can
see it too. They would love this because it would be the ONLY case on record where a cat understands hand gestures.
I didn't say she retrieves items I point at. I said she understands the gesture. Sometimes I'll point at a tree and say "go on up there" or
something similar in a motivating excited voice, and if she's in a playful mood she'll run right up the tree. Sometimes I'll point at a bug or
bird and as soon as she looks and notices it, she'll go after it.
I'm not going to say cats are less intelligent than dogs, just that they are not capable of the types of communication a dog and a human can
share. Again, I know you want to say that your cat understands you, and I'm sure he/she wants to snuggle when you're sad and all of that stuff. That
is not at all what I am talking about. Dogs have evolved to understand forms of human communication that we cannot see with any other animal. Some
animals might be able to do 1 or 2 things a dog can, but no other animal shares the dog's skillset 100%.
I'll agree with that. But no animal can utilize a cats skillset 100% either. A cats skillset is much more valuable than a dogs, IMO, because if
something happens to the owner, the dog will most likely die, while the cat could survive in the wilderness unless they'd been stuck inside their
entire lives and had no contact with the outside world. I'm just saying, my cat understands communication just fine, and communicates with me every
day. She doesn't whine and whimper, but occasionally begs, and is the first to greet me the second I walk in the door from work each day. Cats
aren't the easiest animals to train, yes, but I feel its because they smarter and like freedom, rather than blindly obeying vocal commands. I don't
feel like that because she's cute and cuddly. It's because she has a personality.
This is an attempt to show how dogs have evolved over time to truly be "man's best friend." and how no other animal has evolved in the same
way. This is because dogs and humans have formed a partnership that's lasted for the better part of the last 100k years, or more.
I understand, but a dog will not be mans best friend unless trained and shown love as a puppy. It isn't natural. Yes, dogs have evolved to become
more dependent on humans, but cats have as well. Cats as pets dates back before Sumeria, they have evolved with humans as well.
And just FYI, most of these tests are conducted on PUPPIES that have had no training. Dogs automatically react to human direction. Cats are not
capable of doing the same.
I'd wonder what kind of environment they are testing in. Usually they are not normal environments that are
conducive to building a relationship with a cat. Kittens play with humans without training as well.
Cats couldn't do 90% of what the working dog can because cats are not capable of the same type of animal/human interactions. Once again, FACT
not opinion.
It's not that a cat COULDN'T do it (besides heavy labor obviously), it's that they don't WANT to do it. They see no purpose, they see themselves
as equals, not as submissive slaves like a dog. If you encounter a dog that's been wild its entire life, it would not follow your command
Teach your cat to fetch items on command. Teach your cat a vocabulary of 10 words or more. Post your results. When you can demonstrate that
your cat understands your words, or can tell when you are pointing to a remote object I will believe you that cats are capable of these things. I'd
be amazed to see a cat recognize ONE single word...
Teach your dog to use the toilet. My cat knows more than 10 words/commands. She can even distinguish the difference between "food" and "good
food." I personally feel that a lot of those studies are in controlled environments where you won't find the same result as being in a home with a
loving owner. I'm not trying to say cats are better than dogs, either. Just that you can't generalize an entire species based on a few select
results in controlled settings. Maybe my cat is unique to most others.