Which is a better cat companion – male or female?

People generally think that male cats are better companions than females because they are more affectionate. In a poll on a competitor’s website the results are as follows:

I don’t know the size of the poll, which is an important in respect of reliability. However, I think the results represent the beliefs of the people of most western countries. The people who participated in the poll are probably mainly Americans.

Comment

People commented on the poll…

“Males are far more affectionate than female cats that I have had…”

“There is no winner. It depends on the individual cat (and I presume the person who looks after them)..”

“It depends on what you mean by “better cat”..

One pollster possibly made the most important point. Although the sex of the cat is a factor, there are other bigger factors that determine how cats behave as companions to people. Probably the biggest, and this is my opinion, is how they were socialized by the person who looked after them during the first weeks of life.

The other factor is simply the inherited character of the cat. The individual personality of a cat cuts across the gender, which leads to…

Sexual Orientation

We should be open to the possibility that cats cannot be divided into strict groups of male and female cats. There must be cats that are more male than other male cats and cats that are more female than other female cats. It is a spectrum which prevents putting an individual cat into a pigeon hole concerning sexual orientation or gender.

People’s Objectives and Preferences

The other major factor is what people think a good companion cat is. Clearly if people prefer the male cat because they are more affectionate then they think that being an affectionate cat is the most important personality characteristic of a companion cat. Someone else might say that being slightly aloof and independent is more important for them. Although friendliness should be at the top of the list or thereabouts.

Do Cat Personalities Follow Human Personalities?

There seems to be a correlation between cats and humans in respect of personality characteristics. If people say male cats are more affectionate and “laid back” or less “fiesty” than females this seems to relate to humans, dare I say. Is this an objective assessment or are people anthropomorphizing cats? And are the general differences in personality in cats the same for humans and vice versa? That is a controversial point and one I won’t get into too anymore than stated.

Opposite Sexes

I have generally preferred female cats. I suspect that as cat caretakers are predominantly women there may be a bias towards male cats as it could be argued that women prefer cats of the opposite sex to themselves. An extension of the human relationship.

Personal Experience

I have not looked after enough cats to say for sure that male cats are more affectionate than female cats. But that word “affectionate” pops up as the most notable factor that favours the male cat.

Red Tabby

The red tabby male came up again as a nice cat companion on a couple of occasions in the comments…

“a lot like owning a dog..”