PURRaffection

It’s one of those truisms that we tend to take for granted:  cats and dogs fight like, well, cats and dogs.  Everybody knows that cats and dogs don’t get along.  Don’t they?  Isn’t it true?  Well, maybe not.  New research is casting doubt on this age-old stereotype about two of our best friends.

According to researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel, it’s perfectly possible for cats and dogs to get along in the same home.  Researchers interviewed some 200 people who owned both cats and dogs for their study.  Surprisingly, they found that two-thirds of the respondents in the study reported that their cats and dogs got along fine and were friends.

One-fourth of the respondents reported that their pets were indifferent to each other.  And, in 10 percent of the homes, the cats and dogs actively disliked each other.  Aggression and fighting were reported in these homes.

There does appear to be a formula involved for nurturing a successful relationship between cats and dogs in the home.  The researchers reported that successful dog-cat relationships occurred most often when cats and dogs were introduced into the home at a young age (before six months for cats and before one year for dogs); and when the cat was present in the home first.

Researchers involved in the study suggested that one possible reason why cats and dogs have historically had problems getting along well lie with communication difficulties.  Afterall, they are different species with different body language.  For instance, a dog wags his tail to indicate friendship.  A cat swishes his tail to indicate irritation.  Cats and dogs signal aggression, playfulness and other emotions in different ways.  It may be hard for these species to read each other’s body language unless they are raised together from a young age.

Posted in Articles | Tags: cat, kitten, kittens