Do Cats Prefer Female Owners?

Cats and Their Female Owners in History

We all have heard about the sexist ‘crazy cat lady’ trope, proven wrong by science yet haunting single women who own cats. The early church demonised independent women by calling them witches, and often, the textual or visual depiction of a witch from those days would show her having a devilish cat. This hostility had its roots in the Christian animosity towards pagan worship, where sometimes the cat was a deity of fertility. By the 18th century, spinsters and cats were stereotyped as having a mutual affinity and bonding and the relationship was viewed as a sign of sadness and loneliness in a spinster’s life. Later, women writers and artists turned this notion upside down and celebrated the cat-woman bond as a joyful partnership through their writings and art.

Socio-cultural history aside, studies have shown that cats exhibit a special liking towards women, and there is a scientific explanation for this.

Gender-Based Human Behavioural Differences Matter in Cat Interactions

Even early researchers noticed the connection between cats and women. St. George Jackson Mivart, the author of the 19th-century book, ‘The Cat: An Introduction to the Study of Backboned Animals, Especially Mammals’, observed,

“The cat also is favoured by that half of the human race which is the more concerned with domestic cares, for it is a home-loving animal and one exceptionally clean and orderly in its habits, and thus naturally commands itself to the goodwill of the thrifty housewife.” (p.1).

As early as 1988, a study was conducted to understand cat preferences towards human gender and age. In this study, when cats were introduced to both men and women, without the humans initiating any interaction, the felines did not show any preferential behaviour. However, when humans were then allowed to initiate interaction, the cats were more at ease with women. This led the researchers to conclude that it is the difference in the behaviour of men and women that made the difference. When asked to interact with the cats, many men remained in their seats, but many women went towards them and went down on the floor. Also, women were more vocal towards cats than men.

In 2011, the journal Behavioural Processes published a study concluding that cats get attached more to women than men. However, the reason behind this was cited as this- women interact more with their pet cats than men do.

A 2020 study was curiously titled, ‘Where There Are Girls, There Are Cats’. The study was basically about the free-ranging cat density in 30 universities in Nanjing, China. The study revealed that women were more concerned about the living conditions and well-being of cats than men and that cats were more sociable towards women. This study also showed that the density of free-ranging cats in the university campuses studied was directly proportional to the percentage of female students on campus.

A 2021 study published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science suggests that, inherently, cats have no gender preference in their relationship with humans, but they reciprocate to females more because of the specific ways in which female humans interact with them. The study points out that the mutual interactions between a man and a cat and a woman and a cat have different characteristics. Similarly, cats interact in a certain way with older adults and in a different way with younger adults. Again, the reason is not an age preference inherent to cats but the differences in the ways young humans and adult humans behave to them.

The Kinds of Behaviour That Cats Like

Speaking to Cats

Subsequent studies also supported the conclusions of the earlier research. Women speak more to cats than men when at home. Some studies also found that women owners led a more structured relationship with cats, but male owners were more unpredictable in their behaviour towards cats. This could be one strong reason cats seem to prefer female owners.

Predictable Behaviour of Female Owners

Cats are always on the alert to detect potential threats approaching and surrounding them. Unpredictable behaviour will be the last thing that they would want to see in their owners. Some studies show women, more than men, believe their cats to be communicative and empathetic.

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Emotional Reciprocation

Another curious research finding is that women, when depressed, respond more positively to a cat trying to interact with them than men in a similar situation.

Voice Pitch

Cats have been found to prefer high-pitched voices to low-pitched ones. This could be one reason why cats respond better to women, who generally have a high-pitched voice as compared to men.

Contradicting Studies

A 2022 study refuted the earlier findings that cats behave differently towards men and women. However, the study conceded that the effect of the demographics of cat owners on cat behaviour is still a topic that demands further investigation.

All facts discussed here point to certain behavioural traits of humans that cats prefer rather than the gender choices of cats concerning their owners. Ultimately, they are looking for gentleness, affection, and bonding, irrespective of human gender or age.

References

Mertens, C. and Turner, D.C. (1988) Experimental analysis of human-cat interactions during first encounters. Anthrozoos. Vol.2, pp.83-97.

Leech et al., (March 2022). The effects of owner and domestic cat (Felis Catus)demographics on cat personality traits, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Vol. 248.

Mivart, St. George Jackson (1881) The Cat: An introduction to the study of backboned animals, especially mammals, Scribner’s Sons.

Li et al. (2020). Where there are girls, there are cats, Biological Conservation.