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.”