this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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There's a billion quizzes online that say they can help you choose your first pet, and my 45 minutes of googling before posting this did turn up a single blog that suggested that owners of a class of pet share certain personality traits and lifestyles (although they frustratingly seemed to forget that people own things like snakes, ferrets, lizards, rats, frogs, tarantulas, turtles, mice, etc.)

I am certainly willing to buy that people who have the same kind of pet are more likely to have traits in common, but has there been any research into which traits cause people to choose a hamster over a cat, as well as which traits are partially caused/amplified by the ownership of the pet?

If you have access to any psych papers about this subject, please link to a pdf copy of it because I don't know how to pirate research papers

Edit: Specifically I'm curious about "good-faith" personality traits, beliefs, and preferences that could lead to a pet acquisition. I am perfectly aware, for example, that statistically most hamsters are owned by a child whose parents chose it because it is tiny and can be stuffed into a tiny carcinogenic box forever until it dies of stress and malnourisment, as well as that most guinea pigs are bought by parents who want to see if their kid can keep it alive for a while before getting a "real" pet. I dont think those reasons count and am not interested in those.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I remember hearing that dog people like to be looked in the eyes more often than cat people do. Idk about the reliability of this vague memory though.

[–] bemenaker 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I have read in the past that dog owners show co-dependency traits. This would be in the last 5-8 years.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I also vaguely remember coming across a study showing that the previously well-established correlation between pet ownership and overall happiness was largely due to 2 factors:

  • not controlling for preexisting happiness/quality of life, since you are more likely to be happy in the future if you have been happy for a while already, and people are more likely to buy pets when they are financially stable (which is correlated with overall happiness)

  • small data sets not capturing a significant portion of the pet-owning population whose quality of life decreased after getting a pet

Sometimes science is pretty depressing

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

All of my hamster deaths were cat related.

I believe there was an article a few years ago regarding cat/dog people and political party.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I suppose cat-realated deaths are better for the poor hammy than being getting stuck in the legs of Chickenleigh's Tiny Tales^TM^ XL Dinosaur with Activity Center. Or being whipped around the room in a cage that looks like a fire truck or police car.

I swear to God anytime I see a "kid-friendly" hamster cage my blood starts to boil. I mean, the storage tub I keep my hammy in doesnt look super exciting, but it's got lots of space for my little dude to tunnel and a huge wheel so he doesn't get back problems. It's really not that hard.