To solve this, let's set up a ratio of Ali's dog's weight to Ali's cat's weight. This will be:
8:1
So we need to find two numbers that add up to 54 that follow this ratio.
This is simple! Add 1 and 8 together to get nine total units. Now we can divide 54 by nine, which gives us 6. Multiply this by eight (from the ratio) and you get 48.
The answer is 48 pounds!
Hope this helps :)