"dogs are much more dependent on humans for survival"... Many feral dogs beg to differ. Conversely, I wonder if cats have the necessary social structure. We've seen other questions whether a feline-like race is even capable of developing "civilization"...

@Matthew That depends entirely on what you mean by 'civilization'. Humans are a herd animal, and have developed a civilization to match. Cats on the other hand are distinctly NOT a herd animal, and their civilization would definitely NOT be based on the same socialization model as humans. So, no, cats would never have a HUMAN civilization, but that does not preclude them having a civilization.

Human-like or not, I have difficulty imagining any kind of "civilization" without cooperation, which requires social interaction. That is the problem you have to solve...

If existing intelligence is a factor, I'd say the order is horses < cats < dogs < dolphins/bonobos. (Cats are much less intelligent than most people think, their problem-solving involves no pre-planning at all, that starts at the dolphin/bonobo level.)

-1, sorry, but the "pigs having achieved the human five year old level" just broke all suspension of disbelief. Five year olds can write, and can play chess. And can hold complex conversations.

@vsz Sorry you lose. Of course there are precocious five-year-olds, There are some five year olds that are smarter than some human adults. But some pigs can problem-solve equivalent to a five year old. Enjoy your bacon. animalwised.com/how-intelligent-are-pigs-2792.html

@JustinThymetheSecond : that's nothing but an opinion article, very far from being a peer-reviewed and widely accepted scientific article. I bet someone could design a puzzle in a deliberate way to be solvable by a dog or a pig easier than by an adult human, but that wouldn't really mean anything.

@vsz Enjoy your bacon, knowing that it came fro an animal as smart as your five year old.

@JustinThymetheSecond : Enjoy blindly believing in anything someone posted on a random website.

@toolforger Sorry, but my ginger cat very definitely pre-plans and conspires. Every time I come up with a method to thwart him from going outside, he comes up with another plan and positions himself accordingly. It is a game, and we keep score. Every time he wins, he just sits on the grass, looking at me with satisfaction. One point for him, none for me.

@Matthew If you have ever witnessed three cats working together to corner the new 'outsider' cat to the household, as I have, you would have a much stronger appreciation for the ability of cats to organize, plan, and coordinate among themselves.

@JustinThymetheSecond Lybian wildcats (Felis lybica) are unusual among felids in that they do form social groups, though not as complex as lions, wolves, or most primates. It's thought to be the reason they were able to be domesticated. Most solitary Felis species don't like being around other animals at all.

@user2352714 A digression - I mention ginger cats, not just because I like them, but because they are unique in the cat world. The gene that produces their ginger color is the same gene that produces gingers in humans. In humans, this same gene also has demonstrable correlations to particular human traits which implicates it as a 'personality gene' as well as a 'hair-color gene'. It is in that aspect a somewhat unique gene among humans, and my hypothesis is that it also contributes to the unique personality of ginger cats. But don't ask me how or when the crossover occurred.

@user2352714 : foxes are also solitary (except when having pups) but there were successful attempts at domesticating them.

"Because the classic pattern is recessive to mackerel tabby, classic tabbies breed true for that pattern." - "This can be seen in feral cats which have reverted to a wilder-looking mackerel tabby pattern that may offer them better camouflage." - In the context of the question, my hypothesis is that gingers are going to be SoL; no longer being bread into stupidity for their color, all surviving cats will look like every cat you've ever seen climb out of a garbage can. messybeast.com

About any domesticated animal this may a good read.

@vsz Yes, but that was with 20th century technology in a laboratory setting where almost every variable could be controlled and was done "because it was cool" rather than in a Neolithic setting where people couldn't afford to waste resources on intractable animals that didn't produce results and had a harder time controlling breeding (especially with a "semi-domesticated" species like housecats).

@Rodolfo Penteado From a reference cited in the article "These functions may serve as base lines for measuring increases or decreases in encephalization during species evolution. Curiously, averaged data from 1,250 domestic cats of 2 breeds can be plotted on a line with slope of 0.67, which is known to define inter- rather than intra-species brain-body weight scaling among mammals.' karger.com/Article/Abstract/121839 Cats are special.

@Mazura Not sure what that has to do with gingers. Almost all gingers are tabbies, but definitely not all tabbies are ginger. The ginger color has nothing to do with being a tabby. Here is more information on the gene en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanocortin_1_receptor

The ginger color has to do with humans interbreeding them for their color, requiring both progenitors to have a recessive gene, presuming several other genes aren't present, one quarter of which will be female. Given that the black-footed cat (the most successful solitary mammalian hunter on the planet) is not available in ginger then we are doing the species a disservice. - I mention gingers because I don't like people breading cats. Out of the 48 cats still up for adoption at tricountyhumanesociety.org, 47 are not gingers.

@Mazura And that is why tri-county has a picture of a ginger tabby on their masthead, first thing you see when you go to the link you provided?