I can think of at least two very rare cat breeds that looks like a dog! There might be more (yes, there is one more: Puppykat!). The first is the Lykoi or werewolf cat or sometimes called the “wolf cat”. With a nickname like that you have to chose this cat as one that looks like a dog 😉
Lykoi Cat
The next is the Poodle Cat. Once again the name forces me to select this extremely rare and unusual cat as a cat that looks like a dog. To be honest there is not much of a likeness 😉 — except for the fur which is Poodle-like.
Poodle Cat
For the sake of extending this page a little bit, there are some cat breeds which are said to be “dog-like”. What does this mean? It is usual refers to cats that play fetch and follow people around but this applies to any cat of any cat breed. It is an individual cat characteristic. On this website there are some examples; a traditional Persian cat living in India is a dog-like cat to his human caretaker: Rudolph. Elisa lives with a dog raised by cats and so behaves like one. The same thing can happen in reverse. Squirrels raised by cats have learnt to purr! And you have cats with squirrel tails too….there are endless variations.
Hope lives with a Maine Coon who behaves like a guard dog.
However, some breeds are talked about in these terms more than others and one of them is the Bengal cat (dog-like Bengal cat), which probably tells us that the wild cat hybrids have a tendency to more interactive (intelligent?) and therefore more like dogs (on occasion) in their interaction with people. They might be more trainable as well and so play fetch more often.
The PetMD website refers to the Manx, Burmese and Abyssinian as dog-like cats. Don’t believe it. It’s more or less made up. Anecdotal mumbo-jumbo. As stated it is about individual cats.
Yes Michael, my 5 year old tomcat “Matata” is more of a dog than a cat in behaviour.He recently survived “Shampoo Poisoning” as the chemicals of the shampoo in which he was given a bathe reacted in a poisonous manner and he vomited for almost 2 days.The chemicals must have got into his system due to self grooming after the bathe.I though that i had lost him since he can’t be taken to a vet as he gets violent when handled by strangers or put into a cat cage.Unless tranquilised he cannot be handled or treated by a veterinarian.Luckily my patience in changing his food intake from solid food to partial liquid food gradually reduced the vomiting and he recovered on his own.He is now hale and hearty back to hid dog mannerisms and habits.
Yes, those spray and treatment shampoos can be dangerous. It must have been unsettling for you and him. What shampoo was it? Was it a flea control shampoo? Years ago I sprayed by cat with a flea spray. Never again. They are nasty poisonous chemicals.
Yas Michael, it was a “FLEA CONTROL SHAMPOO” and meant for both cats and dogs as advertised on it.
I better understand how a cat can take on some behavioral characteristics of a dog and visa versa if they were raised with a different species than their own.
But, it’s really a stretch for me to see any physical likenesses.
Check out Puppykat – one of the mix-n-match crossbreeds. Cats are cats, dogs are dogs. Sigh.
Thanks Sarah. I’ll add it. I actually have the cat on my website! Just forgot about it.