Cat people are independent people

photo by Mathieu Struck

Cat people are different to dog people. Although there is bound to be a lot of middle ground where the person's personality makes him/her suitable to like both cat and dog.

The reason why cat people are different to dog people is because cats are different to dogs. Both see their human owners are parents but the dogs live in packs with status playing an important role. The dog therefore sees a family as a pack and the head of the family as the top dog. Looking at it from the human's point of view the kind of person who wants to have a family is the kind of person who fits into society, accepts society, plays by the rules, has a career and is a group animal. This person will also prefer a dog as the dog thinks along the same lines (i.e. a dog needs a pack or group in which to thrive).

Turning to cats. Although they bond and look to the person as the surrogate parent they are more independent. They don't come to heel and there is no hierarchy or social status. They are individuals doing their thing. This suits the people who keep cats as they tend to be the same, less group orientated, less career minded perhaps and more individual. Cat people are independent people.

Cat people being what they are are less likely to have families. They are also more likely to have less money. This is because they are less interested in playing the company career game. Obviously as mentioned this is not a black and white thing with clearly demarcated boundaries.

This explains why, in the United States, 67% of dog owners are married compared to 61.8% of cat owners. In addition dogs are more likely to be found in larger families (bigger packs). 52.6% of dog owners are in families of 3 or more while only 47% of cat owners are in families of three or more.

83% of dog owners and 64% of cat owners made a trip to the vet at least once per year. Cats owners have less money. That is my theory. For the reasons mentioned.

There are 81.7 million cats and 72.1 million dogs in the USA. Dogs and cats can get along fine if socialized to it. Source for the above figures: U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, visit http://www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/sourcebook.asp.

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