Logical Comparisons

You have higher odds of being injured by a vending machine than a cat.

The sentence has two possible meanings:

You are more likely to be injured by a vending machine than by a cat. 

You (a human) are more likely than a cat (an animal) to be injured by a vending machine. 

To rewrite the sentence with the first meaning, repeat the word “by”: 

You have higher odds of being injured by a vending machine than by a cat. 

To rewrite the sentence with the second meaning, include a verb for the cat (here, “does”) and move the cat earlier in the sentence to emphasize the comparison with “you”:

You have higher odds than a cat does of being injured by a vending machine.

These examples demonstrate that thoughtful attention to word choice and sentence structure lessens the chance of ambiguity in writing.