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An_Old_Big_Tree wrote

Reply to comment by ziq in Should we own pets? by betterletter

Unlike dogs, cats domesticated themselves because forming bonds with humans was beneficial to them. All my cats were 2 week old wild kittens who were abandoned by their mothers and needed someone to feed them.

There's a decent theory that dogs also domesticated themselves. Basically it goes that there were likely wolf packs that became parasitic on hunter-gatherer groups for scraps, and over time the less violent ones, the more human-friendly ones were tolerated and evolved into dogs that way.
Sounds pretty plausible to me, especially considering how hard it has been for people who have tried to breed wolves.

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ziq wrote

Hunter to scavenger to dependent.

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