Do Cats get away with more?

I was watching "My Cat from Hell" on animal planet and it got me thinking.  Cats seem to get away with things a dog never would.  On this show some of the cat bite scratch, steal food, and pee where the shouldn't just to name a few.  You know if a dog did those things they most likely be out the door in no time.  So what so different about a cat that we let them get away with murder?

Exotic Shorthair Cat

I have been thinking about getting a cat instead of a dog after my cat Jellybean passes away and my money sitation improves.  I used the Cat Breed Selector on the animal planet website.  I then looked at the top results and what look like the best one was at number 1 was the Exotic Shorthair.