Are you Team Dog or Team Cat?

  Posted on March 25, 2014  by joyofliving  No comments

Party Marty here, the rocking feline! Hey! Who took Spring away?  I was really looking forward to napping in the warm sunshine, but it actually snowed here yesterday! Oh, well, that gave me time to do some research for today’s post.

I was wondering why some folks have dogs and others have cats…and why others have, well, not cats and dogs!  According to everydayheatlh.com, roughly 39 percent of households in the United States own dogs while 33 percent have cats.  However, the dog-loving household tends to have just one dog while those with cats frequently have more than one, thus making the cat population in the US much larger than the dog population. Yeah, we totally rule!

What I want to understand is why some people gravitate towards dogs while others gravitate towards the cool pets…I mean, cats!

Well, some research has suggested that one’s background, environment, personality and even stage of life determine if that person is more likely to own a dog or a cat. (Guess only cool people own cats, huh? Just my humble opinion!)

A study out of the University of Texas at Austin has revealed that people who indicate they are “dog people” tend to be more extroverted, agreeable and conscientious than those who refer to themselves as cat people. (Their observations – not mine! Don’t shoot the messenger!)  And even though the study suggested that cat people tended to be described as more neurotic than dog people, they also were viewed as more open-minded when it comes to experiencing new things.

Another study out of the United Kingdom has revealed that those individuals with more education are more likely to own cats than dogs. Makes sense to me. The study also indicated that older people and people who have lived in a household with a dog were less likely to own a cat. Further, households with young kids were more likely to include cats while larger households opted for the canine kind.

So, how can you determine if you are a dog person?  Well, you may share one or more of the following characteristics with other so-called dog people:

• Outgoing
• Loving
• Loyal
• Structured
• Personable

If you deem yourself to be a cat person, then perhaps some of these characteristics describe you:

• Independence
• Adaptability
• Silly antics
• Poise
• Beauty

Whether you are on TEAM DOG or TEAM CAT, if you love either or even both, then I can honestly say from my experience with the human kind that the common denominator everyone shares here is a heart of compassion for animals. That, my friends, is a pretty cool observation!

Gotta go!  I just saw the sun peek out! Naptime is calling! Later!