Why are domestic dogs larger than domestic cats but wild cats are larger than wild dogs?

Answer 1

dogs have been artificially bred to have certain size and characteristics. So there are very tiny dogs and very large dogs.

there are also very large and very small cats in nature, i'm not sure which wild cat was bred for domestication.
In AZ we have a bob tail cat a bit larger than a large pet cat

Answer 2

Dogs are pack animals and, as such, they tend not to be aggressive towards their keepers. Furthermore, dogs have been thoroughly domesticated and bred for certain traits.
Cats, on the other hand, are barely domesticated. They are more or less like an immature wild cat. They are tame and not shy largely because they have the personality traits of a kitten. But even a kitten can bite and scratch. A domestic cat that was as big as a Husky, for instance, would be pretty dangerous to its owner. Dogs typically don't hurt their owners, but the owners of cats do get the occasional scratch. You wouldn't want to risk that with a bigger animal. Also, domestic cats can't resist chasing and preying upon small animals. How could you have a big cat in the house? They could kill young children and other pets. That's why people have not bred larger cats as pet. It isn't practical.

Answer 3

Domestic dogs, Canis familiaris, are descended from wolves (Canis lupus), and have been selectively bred for many different purposes - for example, large dogs have been bred for guarding, and small dogs for lap-dogs. Thus there are some breeds that are larger than their ancestor, and some that are much smaller.

Domestic cats, Felis catus, are descended from the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), which is about the same size as an average domestic cat. They were originally domesticated for hunting rodents (e.g. to protect people's grain stores from rats and mice and suchlike). Since their ancestor was already well equipped for this task, domestic cats did not need to be bred into such a range of sizes as dogs.

Also, there is considerable variation in size amongst both wild cats and wild dogs. Cats range in size from the tiger (Panthera tigris), which can weigh up to 660 pounds, to the black-footed cat (Felis nigripes), which is around half the size of a domestic cat. Dogs range from the wolf, weighing up to 175 pounds, to the fennec fox (Vulpes zerda), which is also smaller than a domestic cat.

And remember that not all breeds of dog are larger than domestic cats - the Chihuahua is smaller than most cats.

Answer 4

"Wild cats" is a specific category of cats. It includes the European wild cat, the Asian wild cat, and the African wild cat. All of which are about the size of a domestic cat. Leopards, lions, and tigers are generally refered to as "big cats" and if you want to refer to all species of cats you typically just say "felines" or "cats". Wild dogs are certainly larger than wild cats (i.e. those specific three species).

I'm assuming that you mean "canines" vs "felines".

Obviously, there are some species of domestic dogs which are smaller than your domestic cat. In addition, many species of felines (bobcats, lynx, ocelot, margay, wild cats, etc.) are smaller than most canines (and certainly the wolf). Even saying 'most' might not be technically accurate since I would expect that there are far more wolves than any other canine species and far greater numbers of smaller felines in the wild than the big cats.

However...

Domestic dogs come from domesticated wolves. In fact they are the same species. Only selective breeding has produced the smaller dog breeds you see today. Most breeds tend to be reasonable sized and ferrel dogs quickly revert to larger sizes.

Domestic cats from the the African wild cat. It is one of three modern wild cat species and is almost identical to the modern domestic cat in terms of size and physical characteristics. Big cats (such as lions and tigers) decend from miacids which one has to go a long way back in the fossil record to find possible common ancestors to the wild cats.

Domestic dogs are larger than domestic cats because they started from a larger base animal (wolf vs. african wild cat). The last two source links provide pictures of a typical wolf and the Asian wild cat.

Answer 5

Not all wild cats are larger than wild dogs.

Of the forty species of cat, there are only a handful that would be considered 'big cats'.

The lion, leopard, tiger, and jaguar are the ones usually considered as the big cats, and the cheetah, puma, and snow leopard would also usually be considered to be larger than dogs.

Most of the others though, from lynx and bobcat down to the European wild cat, sand cat, golden cat, Pallas cat, and others are much smaller.

Domestic cats are likely descended from the European wild cat (Felis sylvestris), and other members of the Felis genus (i.e. the sand cat Felis margarita, and the black-footed cat Felis nigripes). These cats are small, rodent-hunting species about the same size or smaller than the average domestic cat today.

Domestic dogs are descended from wolves - which are larger than the Felis cats. So it stands to reason that their descendents would also be larger.

Here are some pictures of some of the wild cats:

Sand cat
http://www.bigcatrescue.org/images/SandCat.jpg
http://www.breedingcentresharjah.com/images/Mammals/Sand%20cat.jpg
http://www.agirlsworld.com/amy/fun-facts/pix/sandcat.jpg

Wild cat
http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/photos/others/wild-cat-20503.jpg
http://www.sa-venues.com/wildlife/gallery/african-wild-cat-01.jpg
http://www.sacrs.org.za/ecm21/gallery/african-wild-cat-01300010b.jpg

Black-footed cat
http://www.wildcatsanctuary.org/jpegs/for%20web/BlackFootedCat1.jpg
http://www.santabarbarazoo.org/images/animals/blk_footed.jpg
http://www.felidtag.org/pages/Educational/FactSheets/blkfoot1.jpg

Pallas cat
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/3007161/2/istockphoto_3007161_pallas_cat.jpg
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/pallas_cat.jpg
http://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/10521.jpg

Answer 6

better half and toddlers cats often come from wild cats of an analogous length to our better half and toddlers breeds. some cats different than the massive Cats, might properly be significantly extra suitable than the better half and toddlers cat with a incorrect temperament for domestication. Our residing house cats have been bred for hundreds of years often for pest administration and non secular ideals and private possibilities.

Answer 7

becuase dogs where bred to be bigger. cats where bred to be smaller for household duties.