I think the saying about cats comes from people seeing cats get into the most unlikely and risky situations, and still come out OK. Dogs don't seem to get into the same types of mischief, or get out of it so surprisingly.

It is a figure of speech,cats have very fast reflex's and often escape from danger at the very last second,so its like they die but their stll alive??its hard to explain but you get the idea-however,I do not know why they made it 9 lives instead of 13 or 7?

It is like a cat falls from a great height and always lands on its feet. This is not always true but they do have a knack of getting out of dangerous situations , a lot of it due to size of body frame and natural agility, hence they seem to survive a lot of times when you would not expect them to so do. Dogs are not as agile nor do the have the soft frame of a cat so if they get into trouble it is very difficult for them to get out

"The clumsy biped is understandably impressed by the feline arts of stealth, poise and athletic prowess. But why nine? Nine, a trinity of trinities, is a mystical number often invoked in religion and folklore. The cat was once revered in Egypt, and this is probably where its nine lives began. The priesthood in On - known to the Greeks as Heliopolis and now a suburb of Cairo - worshipped Atum-Ra, a sun god who gave life to the gods of air, moisture, earth and sky, who, in turn, produced Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. These gods are collectively known as the Ennead, or the Nine. Atum-Ra, who took the form of a cat for visits to the underworld, embodied nine lives in one creator. A hymn from the fourth century BC says, "O sacred cat! Your mouth is the mouth of the god Atum, the lord of life who has saved you from all taint." Vestiges of this ancient, cat-worshipping religion lingered in Europe until at least the middle ages. The cat was no longer divine but was still regarded as magical and otherworldly. The ailuromorphic gods are long forgotten, but the cat's resilience still inspires fascination, which is why the myth of the cat's nine lives has endured for so long. Medieval Europe was a tough place to be a cat, and they were sometimes thrown from high towers. The origin of these rituals is obscure but the cats often survived the ordeal and seemed to walk away unscathed, much to the amazement of spectators." http://www.moggies.co.uk/html/9_lives.html

Have you SEEN what cats do???? They NEED 9 lives in order to keep up with just one life of a dog! :o)

Both animals only have 1 life. Cats are much more agile; therefore, they are said to have 9 lives. They have the ability to right themselves when falling and land on their feet (sometimes they do not, though). This seems to defy death.

Who said dogs only have one life?

not sure why

There is no such thing as a cat having 9 lives. It's just an old wives tale, an urban myth and a down right lie. It ranks right in there with black cats being unlucky or 7 years bad luck if you break a mirror.