I was just watching a cat food commercial and it occurred to me advertisers assume that cat people are cat people because the appeal of cats is that they are adorably pathetic as a species. So many cat commercials base the cuteness of cats on how the cat wants to be a lion or a tiger or some other big cat, but isn't. This makes the cat inherently pathetic for not being a bigger, more awesome version of its species, and delusional to boot.
Now, I hear people say that dogs are inferior to cats because the dog freely degrades itself whereas cats maintain a certain level of sophistication and poise. Cats own their people, not the other way around, etc. etc. But I say, hey, at least the dogs are honest. Or at least the advertisers are in acknowledging that these once-noble post-wolves are charmingly, and sometimes embarrassingly, dependent on us, their food-givers and head-scratchers.
Actually, I think the cat food people present cats correctly. Not as animals that wish they were tigers or lions, but as animals that actually know they are tigers or lions - in spite of their own small size. And genetically, this is true. The house cat has far more in common with the tiger, than a domesticated dog has with the wolf.
OTOH, no dog food advertiser can show a dog wanting to be a wolf because that would just scare people.