Can there be friendship between animals that are usually enemies in the animal kingdom? There are certain boundaries that have been established, we may not know about them, but we have certainly seen them. But these boundaries sometimes have exceptions. One of the most common misconceptions is that dogs and cats simply cannot get along.
Growing up, there were a few cartoons that reminded me that this was so. But when I grew up, I found out that this was not necessarily true. Many times, all sorts of animals can get along, but the entertainment industry needs to give a little more drama as a way of finding new storylines for their movies and cartoons. Normally, dogs and cats don’t get along in the wild, or if you are talking about street dogs and cats.
They have no one to give them food, so they need to get it themselves. When a cat or a dog is living in the streets, getting something to eat is more important than making friends. And if we’re talking about rival species, then it gets a little more complicated. Lions and leopards are rivals in the wild. Not because one is the other’s prey, but because they usually compete for the same prey.
If one of them sees the other or the other’s cubs, they will try to reduce each other’s numbers in any way they can. This will ensure better chances of getting to prey first. Would they act the same if their survival didn’t depend on it? This would be debatable. Things like this never really happen in the wild, so it would not be something you could measure or prove.
I have seen several cases of dogs and cats getting along in the household. In all the cases, they have been raised together, often since they were babies. When one is introduced to the other, it would probably take a trained dog and responsible owners a lot of time and effort to socialize the dog from early on in his life. I think this is something which is easier to accomplish than for example, cats with other animals they would normally hunt.
If you have seen cats and dogs in the streets, and I am talking about the ones who are living near humans but not with them, they behave very differently. Dogs eat whatever they can find. They don’t only hunt for their food, but because of their long relationship with humans, know where to find food. Cats are hunters, they love to hunt and are very good at it. So, would a cat and a squirrel get along? You would be surprised to learn that they could. Just watch!
