The current consensus among scientists and animal experts is that dogs are smarter than cats. The primary reason for this is that dogs are social animals and must solve problems in their interactions with other dogs and humans. Dogs also can be trained to a wider variety of roles.
Cats' brains are smaller than those of dogs even when body size is taken into account but have nearly twice as many neurons in the cerebral cortex, giving them a higher capacity to process information. Some researchers contend that cats simply have a different kind of intelligence than dogs which is evidenced by their curiosity and their ability to care for themselves independently of a social group, reports Joan Liebermann-Smith, Ph.D.k in the Huffington Post. Cats are able to communicate their needs to humans effectively, and cats and dogs kept together learn to read each others' body language and social cues.
