Are You and Your Cat Alike?

My human recently came across an article about a study that said cats mirror their humans’ behavior. Researchers from Nottingham Trent University and the University of Lincoln in the UK talked with over 3,000 people with cats and came to some conclusions about what they heard. According to them, neurotic people are more likely to have neurotic cats, and people who were conscientious had cats that were more outgoing and less aggressive and fearful. You can read the whole story here.

You would think this meant you can figure out a cat’s personality by its human’s behavior and vice versa, but I have my doubts about this study. My human, for example, has had six longterm cats in her life. (I’m leaving out temporary fosters, and one cat that only lived a little over a year and died because she had cancer.) And they have all been extremely different from each other. Here’s the rundown.

Cat #1, her only male, was an all-black part Siamese cat who was completely quirky and neurotic. He destroyed lots of my human’s things, either by knocking them down and breaking them or throwing up on them. He was unnaturally attached to my human, in spite of her frequent traveling and chaotic life as a freelancer in the film and music industries.

Cat #2, her “heart” cat, was a beautiful, longhaired calico with an angelic face. She was also a feisty, cold-blooded killer who insisted on being an indoor/ outdoor cat. She was an expert hunter, street-wise (something my human definitely is not), and would turn on you without warning. She was also utterly devoted to my human, and hated cat #1. The two cats only barely tolerated each other, and she practically jumped for joy when he passed away of old age and kidney disease.

Cat #3… was Binga. Bossy, full of tortitude, owner of everything she surveyed. Would bite unexpectedly. In spite of a variety of seemingly unpleasant traits, she managed to charm all humans she met, and even those who only knew her on the internet. She was the greeter, who always had to hang out with visitors to the house. She and cat #2 lived together concurrently for a couple of years, and yes, they loathed each other.

Cat #4 is Boodie. She was semi-feral when my human brought her home. She was afraid of people and would hiss at them if they got too near her. My human had to isolate her from Binga for a week to make sure she got to know the humans of the house first before she got to hang out with another cat. Even so, when she was released from solitary confinement, she hid behind the washer and dryer for two days. For many years, she was one of those cats that guests never saw. “You said you have three cats but I’ve only seen two.” You know, that cat. It took years (and losing her hearing) for her to become sort of friendly.

Cat # 5 was Sparkle. Sparkle didn’t really like people and definitely looked down on my human. She was a Somali (like me) and they say that Somalis bond with their humans. Sparkle bonded with my human like a fractious 13-year-old — resentful, but sort of needy underneath it all. She delighted in annoying Binga, even though she generally got a dose of the whapping paw for her efforts. Sparkle actually didn’t like the spotlight all that much and for the last couple of years of her life, my human often debated about retiring her from the blog.

Cat #6 is me. And you pretty much know all about me. I love people, I love being the center of attention, I love treats, and I even love children. I travel well if it involves flying, and I love hotel rooms, dressing up, and walking on my leash. I’m sweet, even tempered (very unlike my human!), a generally happy cat and I think life is pretty awesome!

So as you can see, all my human’s cats are different from each other, and none of them (with the possible exception of cat #1) even remotely resembles my human’s personality!

So what about you guys? Are you cats like your humans, and vice versa — or, like me, do you think this study needs a second opinion?

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