When I was about 10, we had a very large siamese (at least a 15-pounder), which was extremely protective of it's territory, which she seemed to think included us as well. One day a neighbour's bassett hound, which outweighed the cat at least five to one, made the mistake of following me home from school and coming into the house after me. The cat watched it carefully, right up to when she apparently thought the dog got too close to me, at which point she freaked out and damn near killed the thing.

It was pretty impressive. 30 seconds of nasty ripping noises, blurred motion, and a demonic wailing

The dog ended up at the vet, with severely lacerated ears and nose, a slash on it's belly that needed about 10 stitches, a lot of missing fur and blood, and major psychological trauma.The neighbours weren't at all happy, but the dog never came anywhere near our house again, and steered clear of cats as well.

The cat didn't have a mark on her.

On a different occasion, Pixel did her best to disassemble a cocker spaniel that was several times her size, when I made the mistake of jokingly telling her to "get it". Off the bed and out the door like a shot, followed by loud yips and clouds of fur. The owners of the dog were really pissed off, but I had told them that if they didn't stop their dog crapping in our yard I'd set the cat on it.

Pound for pound, cats are far more dangerous than dogs. They are, in my experience, at least as loyal to a family or person, but from a completely different point of view.

Mind you, I've known some very nice dogs, but on the whole I prefer cats.

pca