the thing I'm finding humoris is the cat lovers are all taking about how they would rather take on a large dog than a large cat.... if we're talking about a cheatah or a lion then you're screwed either way, but heck, a large dog doesn't need it's claws (and yes, they can use them... I've gotten torn up by dog claws) to fight against animals... a dog's shere strength if it jumps on you, you're screwed... heck, the cat would be screwed also... the only thing that the cat has in it's favor is that they are smarter and they are fighting for their lives typically against a dog... thus why the dog runs... dogs are stupid and are just toying with the cat... if the cat scratches it, the dog goes, "damn, that hurt... I won't mess with it anymore" but if the dog was fighting for it's life, the cat would be toast... end of story...
take a rot whiler and put it against Eric's cat... the cat would loose... those dogs are fast and strong... plus they can take a beating... one of my buddy's has 2 of them and I'll tell you what, that thing scared the daylights out of me... he had me put him in a choke hold to see what the dogs would do and I thought i was going to die, I've never jumped a fence that fast in my life.
intelligence: cat > dog
fighting ability: dog > cat