Intelligence & Personality: Cat People vs. Dog People

It’s a trite assumption. You’re either a cat person or you’re a dog person. Yes, species-sided people do exist, but they’re not the norm. Most people don’t place themselves on one side of the aisle or the other. Despite this, a lot of research has been done over the past decades, trying to delve into the differences between cat owners and dog owners, and the results are surprisingly similar. However, there are a few key differences between them.

Cat owners are smarter – well, at least have more formal education. A British poll found 47% of homes with a cat had a person with a college degree, while only 38% of homes with dogs.

Dog owners are more likely to vote red, as in Republican. While a third of dog owners consider themselves republican, only about a quarter of cat owners do.

Dog people are more extroverted & agreeable, while cat people are more neurotic yet more open-minded & creative. Cat people tend to seek out a variety of activities while dog owners’ lives tend to be more routine.

Dog owners that are overweight are more likely to have an overweight dog, versus cat owners who are overweight don’t seem to have any affect on their cat’s weight.

Cat owners are likely to let pets on the bed… or anywhere the cat wants.

Dog owners are likely to treat their pets to rides in the car.

Dog owners expect their pet to come help them in a time of distress. Cat owners expect to get ignored.

About ½ of cat owners think their cat watches TV – only about 1/3 of dog owners think their pet is being entertained by the television.

Now for some similarities:

First of all, just owning a pet means you’re probably a woman. Doesn’t matter if it’s a dog or a cat, women are most often the primary care-giver.

If you own a pet (either cat or dog), you are probably married. However, if you’re single with a pet, it’s more likely you own a cat.

And if you own one pet, you probably own at least another. 64% of pet households have more than one furball running around. However, cat owners are more likely to have multiple pets.

Whether it’s a dog or cat you own (or owns you), consider yourself fortunate. We pet owners get the benefit of lower blood pressure and lower stress levels. So that extra money you spend on your pet, you may be saving more than that on your own health care.