Second Chance: Dog v. Cat People

02 Sep Second Chance: Dog v. Cat People

Second Chance Humane Society’s Animal Resource Center and Thrift Shops have been serving San Miguel, Ouray & Montrose Counties for over 26 years. Call 626-2273 to report a lost pet, learn about adopting a homeless pet, or about Emergency Response, Community Medical, Spay/Neuter, Volunteer, and other services. View shelter pets and services online: www.adoptmountainpets.org.

I want to weigh in on this whole cat people versus dog people debate, because I think it is just a bunch of poppycock, and sorry no, I don’t actually know what poppycock is. Pitting one stereotype against another to determine which self-identifiable group really has life figured out? Come on people. But just for those who have been suckered by the diabolical plot to divide animal lovers from one another, I have dug into the research on this phenomena and come up with, pretty much, urr, poppycock…

On the Google thing you all rely upon for “facts” there were many references to a study that was done back in 2014 using a survey of 650 college students. Now there is a diverse study pool (insert eye roll emoji here). The scary thing was that this “research study” was referenced in a factual manner by a number of other news articles on this topic.

For example the results were factually offered by CBS News, stating that people who identified as dog lovers tended to be more lively, energetic and outgoing, yet rule followers. Self-identified cat lovers, on the other hand, were concluded to be more introverted, open-minded and sensitive than dog lovers. Results also rated cat people as non-conformists.

Is it lost on anyone that these characteristics of dog or cat people are the same basic stereotypical differences between dogs and cats? Oh, but wait there is more, this study (and the many subsequent articles on the subject) also claim that cat lovers scored higher on intelligence than dog lovers (ok, as a feline I have to appreciate this a little bit, that you have to be dumb to be a dog person, even though it is clearly rubbish).

As I scoured the Google thing, the only other “research” I was able to uncover was a reference to a survey done by a pet product company, no conflict of interest there, that only leads to an error page if you try to read the actual study. The article referencing this “survey” makes ludicrous claims like, “dog owners are more likely to work in finance and cat owners are more likely to work in a creative field”or “dog owners prefer horror and action films while cat owners prefer documentaries.”

So dog people are cerebral financiers who prefer violence, while cat people are creative intellects? Yeah Google. So what about people who like both dogs and cats, where to they fit in all of this? Are they dim, untalented and unsuccessful?

So here is my suggestion, how about you all just remove the boxes and let each other just be people with varying interests and characteristics who may or may not like pets. Does it all have to mean something or can you just celebrate each other’s differences and uniqueness? Maybe just be who you are and let others do the same.

My name is Tamale (you say Tomato; I say Tamale), a gorgeous 1-year-young curious, quiet, heart-stealing girl looking for my forever home. I love making new friends, including dogs and cats, and celebrating everyone’s differences.

Call the Second Chance Shelter for an appointment to meet me today!

By the way, the Google thing said that poppycock comes from the old Dutch expression zo fijn als gemalen poppekak, translating to “as fine as powdered doll’s excrement.”