Jennifer Lawrence is paw-sitive she’s on Team Cat in the cats-vs-dogs showdown -- and her vote comes with a brutally funny backstory involving ditching her dog ... a tale she retells with zero remorse and maximum chaos.

The age-old debate came up during a NYC Q&A for her new film "Die My Love" -- and J-Law didn’t sugarcoat it, saying things took a ruff turn after her dogs started acting scary around her baby son ... before one of them eventually bit him, instantly flipping her entire outlook.

Jennifer broke down the aftermath with her trademark dark humor -- joking that was the exact moment she wanted to come for the dog, "his f***ing family," and, in her words, pretty much obliterate every dog alive!

So, to answer the original question -- dogs are a no-go ... and she added that felines get a bad rap for being "assholes" -- but hey, misunderstood or not, she’s very much a cat person now.

But now it’s up for de-bait -- was she right to paws and get rid of the dog? Or should she have given it another leash on life? Meow's the time to vote in our poll!