Image zoom Credit: Illustration by Valeria Petrone
When the kids were little, I craved an extra body in my lap like I craved another hole in my head or more applesauce in my hair. We didn t have a pet and didn t want one. We couldn t deal with anyone else demanding to be fed or entertained or not bathed; we didn t feel like fretting about another creature; and we didn t want to hear more noise coming out of anybody, even if it was just the happy chuffing of another well-loved animal. Our cups were full. Full to overflowing. To be honest, what we needed was not a fuller cup but a mop.
People may commonly say that dog is man s best friend, oft overlooking our furry feline friends and the roles they play in our lives. (For more on that, read our piece I m a Cat Person and Here s What I ve Learned Over the Years.)
But a 2019 study from researchers at Oregon State University s College of Agricultural Sciences published in the journal
Current Biology, indicates that like children and dogs, cats forge a similar attachment to the humans raising them.
“In both dogs and cats, attachment to humans may represent an adaptation of the offspring-caretaker bond,” said Kristyn Vitale, a researcher in the Human-Animal Interaction Lab in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and the study s lead author, in a press release. “Attachment is a biologically relevant behavior. Our study indicates that when cats live in a state of dependency with a human, that attachment behavior is flexible and the majority of cats use humans as a source of comfort.”