Most [all?] cultures agree. "Dog" is an insult across many languages, which indicates it's lower status. Never heard of "cat" being a standalone insult.
Of course not (which I indicated fairly clearly too). To make a fair comparison you want to consider what kind of a feeling or connotation "You're a dog" vs "You're a cat" invokes. Variations on the sentence are okay too, like, say "You're such a dog" or "Come here dog". I didn't contest 'gata', gender specificity does make it non-ideal, but I'll take it.
"You're such a pussy" or "Don't be a pussy" can definitely be used in a derogatory fashion, especially in groups in which social status is dominated by masculinity.
It can mean, for example, variations on "Don't be so timid", "Stop expressing your fears", and "Take more risks".
Indeed, I have heard "Don't be a bitch" be used in almost the exact same way.
Let me introduce you to the word “pusillanimous”. It means showing a lack of courage or determination, or being timid.
So when you call somebody a 'pussy' for not having the courage to do something that has _nothing_ to do with felines or vaginas. (As most people commonly seem to think). Being a 'pussy' is short for 'pusillanimous', nothing to do with cats at all…
By "gender specificity", do you mean the word itself, or the people targeted by the insult? Using the word "gato" to describe a woman would be nonsensical, and I don't think that a word predominantly being used to insult only one gender (such as "bastard") makes it any less of an insult.
Just the fact that it's conjugated. And the female gendering of a word often having a diminutive effect in languages too. All in all it does seem fair (and suprising to me) given how similar the female form is, google says French has the same thing too. But yea, ideally you'd want the standard form being negative. Or both the male and female being negative.
As a side note - I've particularly become interested in the negativity of "dog" after trying to trace the origin of the proverb "The Dogs Bark but the Caravan Moves On", which is pretty common in my language (not common in English). Was surprised to find out it originated in Arabic and found it's way to many other languages.
What's up dawg? That pussy looks like a catty bitch.
I feel like it's a wash. Dogs have more favorable sentiments expressed about them, and more negative ones, because they have SUCH personalities that it's polarizing.
A cat that has an outgoing personality will often be compared to a dog, conversely, only a meek, quiet dog would be referred to as a cat.
Because a dog has been a part of the human social hierarchy in many cultures. Calling someone a dog alludes to various social characteristics. Calling somebody a cat is just non-sensical.
I suppose there could have been cultures where a cat occupied a place in the day-to-day social hierarchy (and not just in a religious sense). But if so that sense has been lost to us. For obvious reasons I wouldn't expect such a relationship to have been anywhere near as pervasive as with dogs.
"You're a pussycat", is a classic saying that you extremely gentle and nothing to worry about (not necessarily bad I know).
"You're a dog", is generally a comment about someone doing anything to get what they want, for entrepreneurs this is probably a good thing. I've often heard this used in a respectful way in meaning that even though you bent the rules, you came out on the winning end.
Also, "cathouse" is another name for whorehouse.