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A study, published in the journal of the Association for Psychological Studies (http://www.livescience.com/45894-dog-cat-people-personalities.html), which looked at 600 college students, found that the personalities of cat and dog owners differed. Canine lovers were more energetic and tended to be rule followers. Lovers of felines were more intelligent and preferred expedience to rules.
As explained by researcher Denise Guastello of Carroll University, "It makes sense that a dog person is going to be more lively, because they're going to want to be out there, outside, talking to people, bringing their dog." Guastello adds, "Whereas, if you're more introverted, and sensitive, maybe you're more at home reading a book, and your cat doesn't need to go outside for a walk."
So you would think that being intelligent, cat owners would be swayed by facts. Not so. Devotion to pets outweighed the evidence that letting their cats roam the neighborhood was bad for both the cats, as they were subject to larger prey and accidents, and the environment by the loss of birds.
Another journal article, in Ecology and Evolution (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.1553/full), surveyed cat owners who allowed their pets to roam outside and asked them to estimate the amount of hunting their pets engaged in. They were also asked whether they believed their cats had an impact of the environment. The final question was “knowing the damage cats are causing, in particular to the bird population, are you willing to keep you car indoors during the prime hunting hours, dusk to dawn?”
By recording the actual behavior of cats, the study found that owners underestimated the amount of killing their cats had done. Owners were good at estimating how much prey the cats brought home but what they didn’t know was how much killing went on without the cat bringing home the prey. Cats, it turns out, bring home only about half of the prey.
Faced with the evidence that that their cats killed many more animals than they had thought, owners rejected the findings. Not only did they not believe their cats were responsible for such killings, they said that despite the incontrovertible evidence regarding their cats’ real behavior, they wouldn’t consider keeping their cats indoors.
This study is another example of how hard it is to act upon objective facts when they go contrary to the heart’s desire. Love wears rose-colored glasses and generally this is a good thing. Love, after all, is something more than a calculation. We all want someone who cheers us on despite our flaws, one person who still stand beside us as we stumble, as we always must.
The hue of love’s glasses may be so dark as to prevent us from seeing the larger picture. An objective observer may help to set things right. A friend or counselor can help align our feelings and our moral values.
Cat lovers (and I confess I am one and am gaga over my Mwema), don’t need to love their cats less but other animals more. For the sake of our aviary friends (and to keep your cat safer), keeping a cat indoor is a double blessing.
