If you think that cats are smarter than dogs,think again,for a new study has shattered he myth after it found that it's the opposite. Researchers at Canterbury Christ Church University in Britain have carried out the study and found that dogs are smarter than cats,a finding which they claim could come as a surprise to many. "This finding is somehow surprising as cats regularly use their paws and claws to pull things towards them during play and hunting," lead researcher Britta Osthaus was quoted by 'The Daily Telegraph' as saying. For the study,the thought processes of 15 cats were tested by attaching food to the end of lengths of string and observing whether they could figure out that pulling the line brought the treats closer. The cats had no problem with tackling single pieces of string. However,when faced with two options,unlike their canine counterparts,cats were unable to consistently pick a baited string over a dummy,the study found. "They performed even worse than dogs,which can at least solve the parallel string task," Osthaus said. According to the researchers,the results show that cats do not understand cause-and-effect connections between objects. The experiments involved attaching fish and biscuit treats to one end of a piece of string,placing them under a plastic screen to make them unreachable. They were tested in three ways,using a single baited string,two parallel strings where only one was baited,and two crossed strings where only one was baited. With two crossed strings,one cat always made the wrong choice and others succeeded no more than might be expected by chance. "If we know their limits we won't expect too much of them,which in turn is important for their welfare. I am not trying to say cats are stupid,just they are different. We are so anthropomorphic we can't see the world through their eyes," Osthaus said.
