You have to keep a dog on a leash because it wants to explore the world around it. You can train a dog to be by your side no matter what which you definitely cannot do with a cat which definitely needs a leash no matter how hard you’ve worked for its approval.

Cats won’t alarm you if a stranger sneaks into your tribes living area or your apartment. I have a 10 pound mix and I guarantee you she would take on a thousand pound grizzly knowing it was fruitless but in order to protect her pack including me. A cat is going to just run away from things like that and yeah I’ve seen the cat saves toddler from bobcat stories but those are the exception and probably more related to territorial. Who do you want a person who was raised to be a loyal friend and would sacrifice themselves for you or a person who is fickle and hard to win approval of and even when you do win their approval they start eating you within a few hours of your death.