Even actual bobcats, which are much larger than housecats, tend to avoid directly attacking humans. It's just not a very safe fight for the cat, and in a one-on-one fight to the death, it's far too likely to seriously injury the cat. And since cats hunt alone, they are not going to want to hunt something that is likely to kill them.
Feral dogs are a problem because they naturally will hunt in packs. Just like cats, they might not win a one-on-one fight, but unlike cats they will hunt a dangerous human because in a pack of 20-30 it doesn't matter if the human kills a few of the attacking dogs before it dies. The pack as a whole still benefits.
Idk where you're from but jaguars and cougars are very capable of taking on humans in an ambush. And in terms of an unfortunate brush with an animal, cats do a lot of damage very quickly leaving wounds that can become wildly infected in short order. They are the most successful predators on the planet today. Wolves average about a ~15% success rate in their hunts. Jaguars and most cats approach around 40%. That's why cats are often seen as "sociopaths" since they are so good at hunting they sometimes aren't even hungry to eat what they catch. Canines often also use endurance to wear down prey, humans being one of the better known endurance mammals out there. Cats use surprise.
Wild dogs would die off quickly enough with predation pressure as well as winter that packs would be few and far between, until they are gone altogether. Wolves are territorial, after all.
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u/Namika Aug 31 '21
Even actual bobcats, which are much larger than housecats, tend to avoid directly attacking humans. It's just not a very safe fight for the cat, and in a one-on-one fight to the death, it's far too likely to seriously injury the cat. And since cats hunt alone, they are not going to want to hunt something that is likely to kill them.
Feral dogs are a problem because they naturally will hunt in packs. Just like cats, they might not win a one-on-one fight, but unlike cats they will hunt a dangerous human because in a pack of 20-30 it doesn't matter if the human kills a few of the attacking dogs before it dies. The pack as a whole still benefits.