Both cat owners and dog owners will swear up and down that one animal learns much more quickly than the other. There’s no denying that the bond between owner and pet is special, but some animal lovers are looking for a more concrete and scientific answer. So, what does the research tell us?
The answer: It’s complicated. But it helps if you break the question down by specifying what type of learning you’re talking about. Here’s a closer look!
Who Has Better Short-Term Memory?
A strong short-term memory is generally critical for effective learning. To understand differences in the rate of learning in dogs and cats, we need to know who has the advantage in this department. And modern research points to cats being the winners here.
Studies have reported that cats’ short-term memory can extend up to 16 hours. On the other hand, most dogs have a short-term memory span of around 2 minutes; a huge difference, to say the least!
Now, this disparity in short-term memory capacity doesn’t mean cats are smarter than dogs. Rather, it shows that cats have a stronger foundation for storing recent information for later recall. That memory can make learning speedier, but there are other factors that come into play.
A huge variable to consider is the type of information the animal is trying to learn. You can break down animal learning into a massive set of categories, from visual to social to linguistic to puzzle-solving. So, let’s do just that!
Visual Learning in Cats
One of the most fundamental and frequent types of information cats and dogs can learn from is visual data. And, in this area, cats have a few strengths that give them a definite edge. Cats are, for example, thought to have superior spatial memory compared to dogs. This makes it easier for them to remember things like where their food bowl is, or to navigate a new home.
There are most likely several reasons for cats’ spatial memory skills, but their brain anatomy plays a large role. Relative to dogs, cats have a more sophisticated hippocampus. That part of the brain is heavily responsible for navigation and spatial comprehension, so it’s no wonder that the animals have an advantage there!
Besides sheer brain wiring, cats see color in slightly more detail than dogs, which helps differentiate between objects. Likewise, their eyes are structured to allow for more efficient nighttime vision. That said, it’s also worth noting that dogs have a substantially larger field of view than cats, which gives them some unique benefits for visual processing.
Dogs’ Verbal and Social Intelligence
So far, I’ve mostly discussed the ways that cats are able to learn more quickly than dogs. Don’t get a skewed picture, though; there are plenty of areas where dogs are fast learners! A particularly consequential area for pet owners to consider is dogs’ rapid ability to interpret and express communication cues.
Most research points to dogs having more advanced linguistic abilities than cats. The average dog, for instance, can learn around 165 words. Compare this to the average cat, who can learn roughly 25 to 40 words, and the canine language advantage becomes clear.
Both dogs and cats communicate using instinctive social intelligence. However, the natural proficiency of dogs to understand social cues (between each other and their owners) is much sharper. Pet dogs vocalize a wide range of noises, all of which can express distinct messages. Barks, growls, yelps, and howls can be used to indicate friendliness, fear, anger, territorial warnings, pleading, and everything in between.
Training a Pet Cat or Dog
Another way to gauge learning speed is trainability. Now, I should preface this by saying that an ability to learn isn’t the only thing that goes into training. An animal also has to be willing to learn something new from their owner. And dogs (no surprise here!) usually have a stronger drive to please their owner than cats.
But, even when you consider this “desire to please” factor, dogs still seem to just have an innate ability to train more quickly than cats. Teaching a dog tricks, for example, is a mostly painless process, so long as the trick is simple and you use an effective training method.
Cats, on the contrary, are a different story. You can still absolutely teach your cat tricks, but it tends to be a more drawn-out process. To make matters more difficult, few cats even have the motivation to learn more complex routines!
Who Solves Puzzles Faster?
Puzzles are a common method researchers use to test rates of learning in animals. And here, cats seem to show a slight advantage. Many pet cats can, for example, solve food puzzles quickly and easily. In fact, one study showed that almost a third of cat owners use food puzzles with their cats.
Dogs can also solve food puzzles, but they tend to give up more easily. A lot of pet dog owners report that their dog initially starts a puzzle with great enthusiasm, but then rapidly gets bored and moves on to something else. Cats, on the other hand, usually persevere until they’ve figured out the puzzle and found their treat.
This discrepancy in puzzle-solving abilities might have to do with the natural foraging behavior of cats. Since cats are generally solitary creatures and don’t rely as much on pack cohesion, working to find their own food source could be a deeply-ingrained instinct.
