Mary Allen
Sure, there are many who have both cat and dog and love them just as much, but between cat and dog lovers, the waves of discussion sometimes run high about whether the cat feels the same affection for his human as dogs do. Of course, this is difficult to know, but now a study has been done on the subject.
Research has previously shown that dogs thrive with their humans, for example by secreting the feel-good hormone oxytocin when they are close or caressed by their human. But this type of test has never been done on cats before.
Therefore, in connection with a BBC series “Dogs vs Cats”, the researcher Dr. Paul Zak conducted a study that measured the level of oxytocin in both dogs and cats after they played with their human.
Saliva samples from 10 dogs and 10 cats were taken on two occasions, ten minutes before they played with their owner, and then immediately after they played together.
The results showed that the content of oxytocin increased by an average of 57 percent in dogs, but only by 12 percent in cats. It would thus, at least theoretically, show that dogs love us more than cats do, at least that they like to play with us more.
– I myself was surprised that the dogs produced so much oxytocin, says researcher Paul Zak, 57 percent, just over even, is a very large surcharge. It shows that dogs really care about their owners. But it was also a nice surprise that even the cats got an increase in the feel-good hormone when they interacted with their owner. It shows that cats also have ties to their human. There are those who say that cats do not care about their owners at all, but that is not true, says Paul Zak.
The latter can surely you who have both cat and dog at home can agree with, right? But do you think there are such big differences?