Dogs may be man’s best friend, but cats can be just as protective of humans as their canine counterparts.
Four-year-old Jeremy Triantafilo from Bakersfield, Calif., is living proof. The recent viral video of his cat Tara bravely defending him from a vicious neighborhood dog earned her the nickname “Hero Cat” and turned her into an Internet sensation.
The video also contradicts a common misconception of cats as lazy and indifferent. In fact, experts say, they can be as bonded with and protective of their owners as dogs are.
“Even though they don’t wear it on their sleeves like a dog does, cats clearly are attached to their owners,” says Dr. Peter Soboroff, a veterinarian with the New York Cat Hospital, who has witnessed many protective kitties.
Mieshelle Nagelschneider, the author of “The Cat Whisperer: Why Cats Do What They Do — and How to Get Them to Do What You Want,” says felines can be more attached to their owners than their canine counterparts.
“If you wanna talk about physical bonding, I think cats do more of that than dogs,” she says.
And Fluffy can keenly sense when someone she loves is in danger. “Cats are so perceptive; they have senses that are so finely tuned that we can’t even begin to imagine what they’re capable of,” says Dr. Katherine Miller, ASPCA director of Anti-Cruelty Behavior Research. “When [humans’] emotions change, maybe our odor changes a bit, our body movements are different. They would definitely notice a difference.”
But could they be trained to protect, like some dogs? Miller says it’s not impossible. “You can train cats to do a lot of different things, it’s really surprising.”
And, Nagelschneider notes that she’s trained cats to give high-fives and shake, just like dogs.
And while guard cats may not strike the same fear in the hearts of their opponents as a growling dog, they can actually be fiercer than Fido.
“I don’t ever wanna get attacked by a cat,” says Dr. Peter Borchelt, a certified applied animal behaviorist. “They’ve got four hands with knives on the end and they can cut you up pretty badly. Quite frankly, I’d rather be attacked by a dog than a cat.”
In a fight, cats also have one thing dogs don’t: stealth.
“They’ll sneak up and do a quick attack, and that gives them a big advantage over dogs,” says Miller. “That’s part of what you see in the video: The dog ran away because it was so surprised, it was taken aback.”
Jeremy’s dad, Roger Triantafilo, was also shocked at Tara’s ability to fend off his son’s attacker. While the cat has always been affectionate with Jeremy — the kitty even used to sleep in his crib when he was a baby — Roger didn’t know that she’d be able to protect his son.
“We never knew that she would or could make a dog go running for the hills,” he says.