Dogs are smarter than cats, study shows

If you’re a dog lover, this should come as no surprise: A new study out of Great Britain claims dogs are smarter than cats.

Dr. Britta Osthaus, of the Canterbury Christ Church University in England, tested the intelligence of domestic pets to determine their process of thinking in terms of cause and effect.

Osthaus performed several tests to see if the pets could retrieve unreachable food from under a plastic screen. In one test, one string had a treat on it. Another test called for two parallel strings with a treat tied to one. The third test used two crossed strings with a treat attached to one.

All of the cats were successful with the single string test. However, none of them consistently selected the correct string in the second test. In the test with the crossed strings, one cat continuously chose the wrong string, while the others performed haphazardly. The dogs, meanwhile performed much better.