I remember when I had cats they could wander the neighborhood without a problem and come home at the end of the day. Relatives cats as well I would see happy live most of their lives out side and always come back never becoming lost. Dogs are another story... what has been your experience with both dogs and cats in terms of them getting or not getting lost?
I do believe cats get lost much less. Cats are smarter in general though. I'm a cat person though so who knows lol.
Having had both cats and dogs as pets, I think it would be hard to make a good comparison. I remember one time we moved from our old home and the cat was out, it hunted us down [10 or so miles from where we'd previously been living] and found us. Dogs can do the same thing, if the family moves without them. I don't know how cats do it but I suppose dogs which have can follow a scent trail, can find their way home easily. So I wouldn't say that cats get lost less.
I love animals but I have never owned a cat or dog. I always see cats and dogs in my neighborhood and wonder if they belonged to someone or just out for a stroll on the town by themselves. Where I live it is very rare to see a cat who doen't have a collar on which tells you its name and where it lives. More dog these days are the ones without any idenification. Depending the type of dog and its upbringing is the deciding factor on wheather or not they are lost and friendly or lost and dangerous.
Cats can always find their way back home. I have three cats. Though sometimes they don't come home for 24 hours, they still get home. Sadly, I have lost two dogs in the past. I do not know why. We already reported it to our community leaders, but they couldn't find them.
I would never let either roam around free. In many places it is against the law. Unfortunately neither will always come home. They can be hit by cars, attacked by other/larger animals, poisoned or otherwise be hurt by bad people. Cats who are allowed outside live an average of only about 5 years, while cats kept strictly inside can live 20 years or more.
I really can't say if cats get lost less when comparing to dogs. I know from experience that once I gave my dog to a friend that was living 10 kilometers away and the dog found his way back to my place, so I guess that says a lot about this topic.
I think it's all subjective. What if the dogs which don't return home are "stolen" and sold of to someone else? A cat would be much harder to catch because it's more agile. I read a story about a dog which separated from the owner [though it wasn't lost] managed to get on a ship unnoticed and found it's owner who was fighting in a war thousands of miles away.
That's why it is very advisable to keep your cats indoors if you can, because they can also catch some diseases that can make them dead sooner, like what happened to our 3 pets. The male cat was fond of roaming, and he infected our 2 pets, 1 cat and 1 dog with some virus, and after a few weeks, all 3 of them just died days apart. Anyway, my cat just goes away for a few hours when he is out, he is never away for too long. I guess cats are more scent-oriented than dogs.
