We’ve all heard the phrase “fight like cats and dogs.”
But do cats and dogs really hate each other as much as everyone says they do?
The cartoons might have told us so but science tells a more complex story…
An online survey of 748 homeowners in the U.K., U.S., Australia, Canada, and Europe found that 80 percent of homeowners said their cat and dogs get along just fine. A mere 3 percent said that the two species weren’t getting along under the same roof.
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“They are often portrayed as the worst of enemies, but that isn’t always the case,” said the study’s co-author Sophie Hall.
While they do get along, for the most part, it isn’t always smooth sailing.
“They found that while cats might rightly feel the more nervous of the species, they appeared to have little trouble in asserting themselves,” The Guardian reports. “Homeowners reported that cats were three times more likely to threaten their canine housemates than vice versa, and 10 times more likely to injure them in a fight.”
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More than a fifth of study participants found that dogs wanted to play with cats by showing them a toy, but only 6 percent of cats did the same with their doggo counterparts.
“It’s easier for dogs to be happier around cats than for cats to be happy around dogs,” Hall told The Guardian.
The study, which was published in the Journal of Veterinary Behaviour, believes that the reasons that dogs are less aggressive with cats than cats are with them because they have been domesticated for longer, are more easily trained, and can control their behavior better.
The best way to ensure that your cat and dog will get along is if you introduce your cat to your dog at a younger age.
“Owners shouldn’t be deterred from having both cats and dogs,” she said.
“In general, both animals are seen as being really comfortable around each other which goes against what we might think. We shouldn’t think that they can’t live happily together.”
Nova and Mango’s relationship is the perfect example of this. Nova, a dog, and Mango, a cat, love each other to bits. You’ll often find them snuggling close together on the couch.
But Nova doesn’t always want to admit just how much she loves her Mango. She likes to keep it a secret sometimes. She likes to keep it on “the low.”
When no one is watching, Nova will take it upon herself to make sure that Mango stays nice and clean. She even grooms Mango herself!
And she was caught in the act on video, to her dismay. In the video, her mom is calling her but she doesn’t even hear her. She’s in Heaven, snuggled up with her Mango exactly where she wants to be.
And she is cleaning Mango’s head really well.
After a minute she realizes she’s caught mid-lick. And she just pauses there… mid-lick. It’s adorably hilarious.
Check it out in the video below.
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