Fantasy or science fiction with conscious dogs (or cats)

Because of their exposure to magic, there are dogs in the Iron Druid Chronicles and a dog in the Young Wizards world that develop self consciousness and can converse with their humans. (The Young Wizards also has wizard cats and whales.). David Brin’s Uplift Wars have enhanced chimpanzees and whales.
And then there is Cats in Space.

I’ve already read Dean Koontz’ Watchers, and found only the dog worth spending time with; and Fifteen Dogs, which I didn’t like at all.

Can you point me to others that I can try?

How about City by Clifford D. Simak?

If just one dog is OK then Sirius by Olaf Stapledon; or Irontown Blues by John Varley

Pepper & Carrot is a fantasy webcomic with a very intelligent cat, Carrot, who follows a young witch learning chaos-ah magic. I enjoyed it. The author/artist, David Revoy, put it online free. PepperCarrot.com

Moving Pictures features a talking dog, as well a talking cat and some other animals in minor roles, all because of leaking magic

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. Cat AND rats. Also a great story.

Ah! Riches! Blessings on you all!

Hollow Kingdom - zombie apocalypse with all sorts of sentient animals. S.T., a sentient pet crow is one of my all-time favorite characters.

Finders Seekers is the start of a trilogy by Gayle Greeno. Large, telepathic cats.

Instrumentality of Mankind bycordwainer smith perhaps

I stopped by to mention Sirius and City but someone already got them so... a few others below

There is a whole series of anthologies from DAW: Catfantastic that fit the bill :) Staying with stories, another anthology A Constellation of Cats has some stories that match; so does Dann's Magicats!.

Voyage of the Dogs by Greg van Eekhout? It is a juvenile novel but...

The star reborn as a dog in Dogsbody?
A Night in the Lonesome October is told by the dog :)
Ellison's A Boy and His Dog has a telepathic dog.
There is a talking dog in MacAvoy's Damiano.
And an enhanced one in Varley's Irontown Blues
Tchaikovsky's Dogs of War has a genetically engineered dog as well.
Dibben's Tomorrow has an immortal dog.

>9 Diabolical_DrZ: Cordwainer Smith is one of my favourite SF authors, so I would endorse your recommendation.

Tangentially related: Christopher Moore accurately protrays dog POVs in a couple of books, but it's a regular dog and not one that can communicate via non-dog language: The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and also The Stupidest Angel.

Speaking of dog POVs if not sentient dogs, my favourite chapter of Anna Karenina was from Levin's dog's POV.

I don't read much SF anymore but an early favourite was Catseye by Andre Norton, which had telepathic cats amongst other animals. Then there's always the Cheshire cat.

Dogs
The Companions by Sheri S Tepper
Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne

Cats
Divine Endurance by Gwyneth A. Jones
The Cats of Seroster by Robert Westall

I'm not sure about conscious/intelligent (too long ago), but there is a very nice cat in the Keeper chronicles by Tanya Huff, starting with Summon the keeper.

I second the recommendation of Tchaikovsky's Dogs of War.

A cat is the narrator in The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, which I also highly recommend (even though I am more of a dog person myself!)

He cannot talk, except to other animals, but we see the entire narrative through his eyes, and his perspective.

Breed to Come by Andre Norton

>1 2wonderY:

Vernon Vinge's A fire upon the deep has wonderfully imaginative "Gestalt" protagonists who are actually a collective of several dogs. They are all intelligent but the supra-individual is even more so. That's just one of the species in the book, though.

see this previous thread for 'conscious canines'!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/187536#n5306410

LWMusic (#21)

The Tines are doglike, but not actually dogs, if that matters to the OP.

Decision at Doona by Anne McCaffrey

>23 lorax:

Oh, right, that's good to note.

Which reminds me... Is it odd that no one seems to have mentioned Cherryh's Chanur books, The Pride of Chanur etc.? They were as much intelligent conscious cats as cat-like beings can be, I thought... By the way--it's been a while--but I think Cordwainer Smith's creatures would also be more animal-like than actually animals, or am I misremembering? IIRC they were genetic chimaeras of human and animal, reminiscent of Dr. Moreau's (Wells).

>25 LolaWalser:

I steered away from Cherryh when answering this one because even if some of her races are obviously based on animals, they are really aliens... Other from that - yeah, Chanur can fit if someone wants to extend the question in that direction. :)

>25 LolaWalser:

TBH I was thinking more domestic cats rather than the larger ones and tbh I don't really consider alien analogues to be the same. But if the Kif count for the OP there are plenty of others in that vein. You could also have the Man-Kzin Wars which features a tiger-like alien race called the Kzinti and Lisanne Norman's The Sholan Alliance

Summon the Keeper and sequels, by Tanya Huff. The cat is sarcastic and awesome :)

Hmm.

Star Ka'at by Andre Norton and Dorothy Madlee, and its sequels. Cats on Earth were actually originally star-faring, and came to Earth a long time ago. They've got human level intelligence, but most humans evidently aren't psychic enough to communicate with them. (This was written with a child/YA audience in mind, but I personally don't have a problem with that.)

Andre Norton has quite a few stories with cats in them, often very intelligent cats, although not so many with their points of view. (I am distinguishing actual cats or dogs from catlike aliens who aren't actual cats.)
- You might like The Zero Stone, that said. Eet is more on the intelligent alien side of things but that's rather complicated to explain; turns up about halfway through the story. (There's a sequel, Uncharted Stars, as well.)
- The various Catfantastic anthologies that were edited by Norton. The easiest to find in print would be Catfantastic II, a.k.a. Fantastic Cat.
- Some of the Tales of the Witch World anthologies' stories feature Cat and White Cat in them as characters, who would fit the bill.
- I second the earlier mentions of Breed to Come and Catseye.
- Might also consider Iron Cage, which shows things a bit from the animals' points of view, in a way.
- In Here Abide Monsters, she deliberately put in a dog as well as a cat; they're both human-level intelligent, but they're supporting characters.

The Cat Who Had 14 Tales by Lilian Jackson Braun
This short story collection has a few from the cats' points of view. (In one case - "Phut Phat Concentrates", I think - the cat tries to communicate with his humans, ONE and TWO, but finds it uphill work. Another finds out that the summer place where his humans like to stay has ghosts thanks to an obnoxious visitor messing around.)

Captain Kidd's Cat by Robert Lawson
Mac is the one telling us the story. He knows full well what's going on, although he can't talk to the human characters.

Lawson did a few stories like that:
- Mr Revere and I is told by Paul Revere's horse. Can talk with other horses but not humans.
- Ben and Me is told by Ben Franklin's companion mouse. In Amos' case, he *can* talk to Ben Franklin and takes the credit for a lot of his success.

Conscious dogs, now.

- The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith, and its sequel The Starlight Barking
(I enjoy the animated Disney film but it's a *really* loose adaptation of 101 Dalmatians.)

- Sirius, the Dog Star an anthology edited by Alexander Potter
The level of intelligence of the dog characters varies a good bit from story to story but some should suit.

- In Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, there are:
- the books featuring Gaspode the Wonder Dog, who acts sometimes as a thinking-brain dog for a man who really, really needs the help (see The Truth).
- the books featuring werewolves, such as The Fifth Elephant. One member of a local werewolf family couldn't change to human shape and ran away to have a career as a sheepdog. We generally meet only the ones who can take human shape, although it's clear some of them spend most of their time in wolf shape or have wolflike/doglike behaviours even in human shape.
- I really like Mr Fusspot in Making Money, particularly when he starts flirting with a werewolf member of the City Watch. I couldn't say how intelligent he is, but he's certainly able to hold down a job at a bank.
- The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. Maurice is a cat, and he and the rodents have a tasty little Pied Piper-type scam going on.

Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
The main character is sentenced to be born as a puppy and try to sort out a messy situation he's been blamed for having created. After his trial at the beginning of the story, we pick up with his point of view starting as a puppy. He also interacts with the cats who live in the same place as his human companion later on, as well as with other dogs.

In The Master and Margarita, Behemoth is a talking cat.

I had no idea the choices were so plentiful. I will certainly stay busy on this quest. Thanks!

Since I didn't see them mentioned above, I'd like to add:
Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen from Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Series all have sentient animals who effect the plot heavily.

The books are listed as YA, but they are very adult for YA, and deal with heavy themes like suicide, depression and death.

I just remembered a childhood classic--Hugh Lofting's Dr. Dolittle books! All kinds of talking animals with human-like intelligence. However, keep in mind these are quite old and probably dated in all kinds of ways...

>34 LolaWalser:

Yep Dr Doolittle is pretty racist. I would not really recommend it.

:( I was afraid of that... haven't read them since I was a kid but just yesterday one popped up in my pile o' stragglers... *SIGH*

I haven't read it yet, but Jane Smiley's new book, Perestroika in Paris features a talking horse.

Of course, there are the Rita Mae Brown Mrs. Murphy series of books that feature Mrs. Murphy, the cat, and other sentient animals, but those are light mysteries.

And the unforgettable Watership Down.

Divine Endurance by Gwyneth Jones has an android cat as one of the main characters. Though it's not a biological cat it's very catlike. :-) (I've just noticed that it has already been mentioned in the thread but would like to add that I strongly recommend both the book and the cat. ) I'm also very fond of Mogget in the Garth Nix Old Kingdom books.

Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov - not entirely what you're looking for, but maybe close enough?

For conscious dogs, I enjoyed Amber Polo's Shapeshifter Library series. It's a sweet urban fantasy with a touch of romance featuring shapeshifting dog librarians and book burning werewolves. There are four in the series: Released, Retrieved, Recovered, Reprinted.

Fifteen Dogs was going to be my recommendation but noticed you didn’t like it :(
Call of the Wild , White Fang ,Cujo . Young readers might like The Warriors series.

Richard Adamson's The Plague Dogs about dogs that escaped from a lab where their brains were experimented on (a pretty tough read from memory), and Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh about rats and a mouse who developed a community after escaping a similar lab

>40 jawallac27:. Those look like fun.

Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis. Better than average.

Wild Road by Gabriel King is an Arthurian-type quest with conscious cats as the main characters in real-world England.

>10 AnnieMod: The dog in Harlan Ellison's A Boy and His Dog is not telepathic—it does have an enhanced brain and voicebox, so can read and speak.

It is a post-acopalyspe story about a very deep bond between the boy and his dog, but it is not about telepathy.

In Robin Hobbs' first Farseer trilogy (particularly book 3, Royal assassin), some people and animals bond with the Wit and can communicate with the animal they bond with.

>46 KevinKarplus:

Shows you how long ago I read that one. :) Still fits the topic and sounds like I need to reread it. :)

There are some wonderful stray dogs who can talk to each other in Matt Ruff's debut novel, The Fool on the Hill.

Team Red series by T. Hammond is 6-books with romance and some doggie humor, where the dog and his blind owner share a telepathic bond. Here's the Goodreads link>>>https://www.goodreads.com/series/130271-team-red. I was disappointed that the series ended.

Robin Owens' on-going futuristic series Celta's HeartMates has telepathic cats. Sixteen books so far. Here's the Goodreads link>>>https://www.goodreads.com/series/42709-celta-s-heartmates. I look forward to each of the books in this series, which come out about once a year.

>50 jemedwards: I came here just to mention Robin D. Owen's! Love her FamCats! Especially Zanth!

Treecats in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber

Engine Summer by John Crowley involves large, intelligent cats in a post-apocalyptic setting.

What? You want SPACE KITTIES!?!?!?!!??! Well here they ARE!!!!

These two are waaaaay good; hence me getting 2nd book
https://www.librarything.com/work/2322814
https://www.librarything.com/work/24131649

These are ok
https://www.librarything.com/work/471730/book/140290962
https://www.librarything.com/work/451653/book/134000832

the YA scared me but it was surprisingly well done
https://www.librarything.com/work/15880276/book/122116675

The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix has both a conscious cat (Mogget) and a dog (Dog). The first book is Sabriel.

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander. A boy learns his cat can not only talk, but time travel.

The Book of Night with Moon by Diane Duane features a team of cat wizards.

Ursula K. Le Guin wrote some charming children's books about flying cats, beginning with Catwings

As a diehard fan of Dean Koontz, I love that many of his books feature special dogs and/or other animals, I found The Darkest Evening of the Year to be "unputdownable.". It walked the line of fantasy/science fiction w/suspense and also included a healthy dose of humor. I believe any animal lover would be entertained as well as touched to the core.

I recommend "The Faithful," a short story by Lester del Rey. The original published version (in Astounding Science-Fiction) is available in PDF format at https://nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/sffaudio-usa/usa-pdfs/TheFaithfulByLesterDel.... del Rey also wrote a novelette, "The Luck of Ignatz," about a Venusian version of an intelligent (by non-speaking) dog.

>1 2wonderY: I love The Speed of Souls by Nick Pirog which includes dogs, a cat and incredible heart. Nick also wrote a series, 3:00 am, that is a wonderful collection that features a dog and a cat.

Mort(e) by Robert Repino. An apocalyptic action adventure story where some animals of many species have been 'enhanced' mentally and physically. It's the first in a series - so far there's also volumes 1.5 and 2.

I recommend 'The Pale' by Clare Rhoden, a post apocalyptic novel, featuring several distinct 'tribes' surviving and interacting in a harsh environment. One of them, the canini, is a pack of dogs which have developed telepathic powers and the ability to speak.

surely one of those two is redundant. Unless it's like sign language during hunting.

Is a canini a small italian dog-shaped pastry?

Tad Williams's Tailchaser's Song

Creatures Great and Small You actually get the thoughts of animals, as well as some 'talking' but her descriptions of our pets, esp for me, the cats, are hysterical and true

Night in the Lonesome October The animals do talk but humans cannot understand them except at midnight. Good fun here, esp for halloween

>63 MrAndrew: Is a canini a small italian dog-shaped pastry?

Hahahaha! thanks for the first laugh of the morning!

Alternatively, a small pastry-shaped italian dog.

>37 vwinsloe: I just finished the Smiley book. In addition to the horse there is also a dog who is very smart. Also a raven and a couple of ducks, a boy, and old lady, and several other humans. The animals talk to one another, but communicate with humans through actions, not speech. It was a fun read.

oh duh Animal Farm

Not fantasy, but cosy crime - Suzette Hill did a very light fluffy series about a murdering vicar told in alternate chapters by his snooty cat and his goofy dog. The first book is A Load Of Old Bones

>47 markon: Similarly, in The Wheel of Time some people can bond and telepathically communicate with wolves.

For cats, Wishing Season by Esther Freisner is fun; a mummified Egyptian cat comes back to life.

There is a human who has been transformed into a dog in Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold by Terry Brooks (but I'd rate the book so-so).

Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky - genetically modified animals, engineered for the battlefield, contemplate the meaning of their existence.

There's the Carbonel series by Barbara Sleigh about the kingdom of cats and the way it's overlaid on the human world. There must be tonnes of others but they're not jumping to the front of my mind at the moment.

Not dogs, but a wolf - Robin Hobb captures wolf consciousness exquisitely in her Farseer Trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, and Assassin's Quest, which I can't recommend highly enough, and an even better job in her Tawny Man Trilogy (Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, and Fool's Fate).

I also highly endorse Hobb's Farseer trilogies. Nighteyes (the wolf) doesn't really talk, but shares a wit-bond with the main character, which is a sort of empathy-telepathy link. Superbly written, with Nighteyes a full-fledged wolf character

Diane Duane did a couple of books about cat wizards living in New York. The book of light with moon and book 2, to visit the queen.

Also the witty pastiche fairy tales by Nicholas Stuart Grey have a lot of mildly diabolical cats, or failing that, mildly feline demons. But NSG is hard to find cheap copies of where i am; library loan might be an option.

>76 nessreader: Hmmm. Nicholas Stuart Grey is not found on LT even. Found his wikipedia page though.

"Diabolical"seems redundant when referring to cats. "Mildly"would be a seldom-used adjective, though.

Nicholas Stuart Gray

Curses. I apologise 2wonderY and MrAndrew. I flipflop badly on American vs Brit spelling.

And I've wasted a lot of time on usedbook dealers' websites spelling Stuart with a W when looking for him so clearly am just an eejit generally with spelling. Wynne Jones + Gaiman both praised him. A lot of his titles are plays for children (meh) and his fantasy novels are so-so, imo, but the short stories are sparkly. If pushed to name a starter title - Mainly in Moonlight

>80 nessreader: Aha! Clarity. Thanks!

>81 2wonderY:
Ahh you're welcome.

The older versions of Tokien's Beren and Luthien story have both a conscious dog and a conscious cat.

>83 merrystar: Speaking of Tolkien, Roverandom would also fit.

Many of Clare Bell's fantasy novels feature cats in some way or another, e.g. Ratha's Creature and its sequels, prehistoric fantasy with intelligent sabre-tooth cats who discover how to use fire.

Natsume Soseki's I am a Cat and Kemal Varol's Wuf both sound interesting, though both books are more "human life as seen through animal eyes" rather than fantasy per se. On a similar note, the Archy and Mehitabel poems are also fun.

What about a German 19th century experimental novel The Life And Opinions Of The Tomcat Murr by E. T. A. Hoffman The central conceit is that 2 unrelated books are bound together in a printing error so the reader jumps randomly from one book to the other.

>85 nessreader: I was just coming back to edit my post to suggest that!

>86 spiphany: lol. You could probably do a better rec for it than I spiphany; it sounds experimental in a way that would drive me spare.

I just found A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons by Chris Behrsin.

Louisa Locke's Caelestis series of the Paradisi Chronicles (a shared world where different authors seem to be writing about different founding families who settled the alien world) has sentient snowcats.

Andre Norton has several more than were mentioned above. Also the Shipscat series of stories by Mercedes Lackey has cats that are genetically engineered to be intelligent enough to travel on space ships safely since vermin continue to be a problem.

I second the Uplift series by Brin although I don't remember any dogs or cats being uplifted, just primates and cetaceans.

It's been a while since I read it, but I do remember being impressed as a child with how Watership Down made an effort to stay true to rabbit behavior while also making them human instead of just making rabbit looking people as most authors do.

Based on real history but told with the wolf (or wolf hybrid) as the main character is The Wolves of Paris by Daniel P Mannix. I have not read it yet but came highly recommended by a friend. Also the Albert Payson Terhune books are told with the dogs as the viewpoint characters although they are realistic fiction about many of the dogs in his kennels. There are also some others from the same era in a similar vein but can't remember most. I thought Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard was one but that is told from the boy's viewpoint.

>89 wartgin: Yes, I’ve read all of the Uplift Wars. Orson Scott Card did a monkey uplift in Lovelock. I think he was a solitary experimental animal; but extremely appealing.

Cant remember the title of the book, but people read it every year on Halloween, has a dog, cat,and other talking creatures...

>91 cindydavid4: Is it A Night in the Lonesome October?

Duh, yes, thanks

an oldie but goodie Creatures Great and Small by Colette

War with No Name series by Repino

I stumbled onto Mort(e) at my local library, attracted by the striking cover portrait of Mort(e). Animals are transformed into speaking creatures with opposable thumbs, and a war with humans results (The War with No Name). Both humans and animals are portrayed in a very realistic manner. Repino understands cats and soldiers, despite, apparently, being neither.
I usually prefer hard science fiction, where the science and tech are made believable. Repino doesn’t bother much with that part of the story, but his storytelling and characters made this a memorable read.
Sebastian is a neutered and declawed housecat when the Change occurs. Despite his disabilities, his exploits lead to him becoming known as Sebastian the Warrior. He becomes a special ops trooper with the Red Sphinx, an all feline unit. This is a perfect touch. If I were recruiting intelligent animal commandos, I know two feral cat colonies where I would start. Sebastian adopts the nom de guerre Mort(e), illustrating both his sardonic sense of humor and erudition, and Repino’s playful use of French.
Mort(e) is the best feline character in fiction. Mort(e)’s story continues in D’Arc, and they should be read in order. Culdesac is a novella that should be read after Mort(e), but not necessarily before D’Arc.
Culdesac is the bobcat who commands Red Sphinx. Mort(e) is only a minor character in this work, but Nox is the second best feline character in fiction. Don’t miss her.
D'Arc is a dog who is Mort(e)'s comrade and platonic (by necessity) love interest..

Ha! Found another. Scout becomes intelligible to Tessa half way through the book.
The New Improved Sorceress

Like the cat in Coraline

Many excellent suggestions in this thread. I have two short stories for you that I haven't seen mentioned:

• "The cat who walked a thousand miles" by Kij Johnson (Free to read on tor.com)
  
• "For he can creep" by Siobhan Carroll (free to read on tor.com)
  

Since my earlier comment, I've also read Beasts by John Crowley, which includes a storyline about a pack of sentient dogs in a decaying city (although the main story focuses on sentient animal-human hybrids).

Would Gobbelino London & a Scourge of Pleasantries or The Familiars fit what you're looking for?

I enjoyed the Alan Dean Foster book Cat-a-lyst. Also Brian Fawcett's Cats in Space...and Other Places

Starter Villain, by John Scalzi. Intelligent cats, as well as dolphins. Great cover art.

There is a wonderful and remarkable, smart, sensitive dog in the current best-seller Lessons in Chemistry.

>102 nrmay: Oh! Right! That’s why I started reading that one. I was really really turned off by the sexism and quit. I might go back for the dog.

yes, please rescue that dog.

>103 2wonderY:
Oh do finish the book. Elizabeth's triumph is magnificent and the dog is brilliant!

There is The Cat Who Saved Books