People who wear ”I love my cat” T-shirts have trouble understanding why dog owners accept a pet they have to walk twice a day, rain or shine.
Likewise, Fido`s family is at a loss to explain why Fluffy`s caretakers put up with an animal who won`t come when it`s called.
Neither group has much compassion for a third category: those who don`t like pets, period.
How do people acquire such strong feelings about pets?
Aline H. Kidd, research professor in psychology at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., and her husband, Robert, found that ”the real influence here is childhood” and that in general, people who had pets as children were more likely to want pets as adults.
Women respondents tended to care more about their pets than did men.
”We found that out based on their ranking of their interest in pets,”
says Kidd whose studies are supported by the Boris M. Levinson Memorial Award, funded by the Purina Pets for People program. ”While women had more interest than men in pets, single people had more interest than married. So the single woman ranked the highest, indicating the most interest in, and care, for her pet.”
Single men and women were more attached to their pets than were married couples, but Kidd found that childless couples cherished their pets more than did families with children.
And when it comes to clean-up, it`s the women who most often tote the pooper-scooper.