by Scottie Westfall

Created on: February 25, 2009

The Ethology of Cat and Dog Loyalty

When we discuss loyalty in cats and dogs, we must keep in mind that we are comparing apples to oranges. The two species have very different instincts, different evolutionary histories, and different ecological niches. Further, humans have selectively bred for different characteristics in these animals, which further distorts how we perceive their loyalty to us. In order to have a full exploration of the question of loyalty, we must understand that cats and dogs are loyal but in very different ways.

Evolutionary History

Domestic dogs and cats come from two very different wild ancestors. Domestic dogs are derived from wolves, which were the top predator in most of Eurasia and North America. They had little to fear from any animal. Further, wolves maintain vast home ranges, which are hundreds of square miles in size. They might as well be considered semi-nomadic, for they travel such great distances in search of prey. When wolves disperse from their natal packs, they often travel hundreds of miles until they come across suitable territory of their own.

The wolves that evolved into dogs attached to humans very early on. Different dates of this early attachment have been postulated, ranging from 15,000 to 135,000 years ago. Dogs were with people before just about anything else. They were there before there were farms, cities, cows, sheep, and nation-states. They were with us when we were hunter-gatherer nomads.

Because wolves live in family groups, they attach more strongly to each other than they do to places. When they lived with nomadic hunter-gatherer, they attached to their family groups. These proto-dogs evolved to bond with people. Those that could not, simply left and joined the wild wolves.

Cats, on the other hand, are a more recent addition to our lives. Cats may have been domesticated as early as 9500 B.C. A cat was found buried near a human grave in Cyprus. However, keeping pets is well-known among many hunter-gatherer cultures, and it is possible that this cat was an unusual pet. The first truly significant attempt to domesticate the cat was in the Fertile Crescent, which is the first place to have agriculture. The date for this domestication was around 10,000 years ago, which roughly corresponds with the beginnings of agriculture. Those early granaries attracted rats and mice, which the cats ate. The cats were then tolerated because of their rodent killing prowess.

The African wildcat, which ranges into the Fertile Crescent,

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