I dont actually think that they are rivals. I think that if you bought a cat and a dog and let them grow up together they would be friends.

What do you think?

IMO It's about them being natural predators. They are animals that follow their instincts.

If you put a domestic cat in front of a mouse, they likely wouldn't even know what to do with it, or know that it is food. Do that with a stray, and the mouse is dead.

Of course if you take two animals that are opposite species, and raised them together, they would get along. They have no other thoughts about that.

I don't think they are. Honestly. They don't seem to clash all that much

Well yeah, I dont think they aren't rivals. When I had a cat, my dog would always bite her all over and still they slept together peacefully. :B

Well, raising that cat and dog together isn't exactly natural. The wild versions of the two tend to not get along well, so in that way I'd say they're "natural rivals", although I don't think "rivals" is quite the right word.

Well, the certainly don't like each other in the wild, but at home then tend to get along just fine. And, seriously, when's the last time you saw a wild dog, not a spray dog, but one that leaves out in the woods with the wolves and stuff? xD

I never thought they were. My dog always loved cats.

No my cats and dogs get along well

i'm not even sure about this question. my grandma and auntie have two cats and two dogs, but they seem to get along on their own time. sometimes the dogs will mess with the cats, but other than that, they're fine with eachother as long as they don't bother eachother. i've seen cases where there'd be some kind of cat laying on top of a dog, the two sleeping together. so i guess it may depend on the pets personality? i dunno. o:

If you raise the two together, it's obvious that they will know that they aren't enemies and learn to live in harmony. In the wild though, I dunno. I'd have to observe cats and dogs in the wild to know. x3

If they are domestic and or young, then no. One being raised together, two they don't have the need to hunt for food.

Wild and or fully grown, yes. Because then the dog would look at the cat as food and not just a play buddy.

Dogs don't really hunt cats, though. Predators will eat other predators, but it's not their desired food because why hunt something that will fight back effectively?

I think the clashes between cats and dogs are more about independent thinker vs pack animal w/complex social status. They just don't understand each other.