Google search trends for cats and dogs show us that the dog is more popular than the cat worldwide and that the internet is a good educator but cultural habits are entrenched.
Google has a new feature – a free service. Using the massive amount of data they collect, they are able to monitor humankind’s trends in respect of their interests. So, for example, there is a downward trend, globally, in people searching for information about dog and cat behavior:
The trend in the number of times people search for information about cats and dogs generally is apparent in the graph below. If you pass your cursor over the graph you’ll get an interactive response. You’ll see numbers, which allow you to measure more precisely the trends. The graph is about flat with a gradual rise. It is interesting to note that information about dogs has consistently and substantially outstripped search information on cats.
My reading of these graphs is that the internet is a great educator on cat and dog behavior. As a consequence there is less of a need to search for this information, whereas overall the general interest in these top companion animals remains stable and is climbing slightly.
The last graph compares trends on different cat topics: emotions, behavior, pain, declawing and hunting.
As mentioned there is big decline in searches for cat behavior. There has been a similar decline in searches for declawing and the number of searches for both these topics are similar and flat. This to indicates that people know much more about declawing but are not changing their ways which supports what I have said all along namely that declawing is an entrenched cultural habit which will take 20 years or more to eradicate if ever.
The regional interest in cat declawing is confined to three countries: USA, Canada and the UK proving that the UK is the powerhouse of the anti-declaw movement outside of North America.
As for searching for information about cat pain there has been a gradual increase indicating a greater awareness I would have thought to the point where there are a similar number of searches for (a) cat pain (b) cat behavior and (c) cat declawing.
As for cat emotions – an important topic as it indicates people are aware that cats have emotions – nobody was searching for information on this topic before 2009 when an interest developed but at a very low level. I’d like to see more people interested in the subject of cat emotions. It would tell me that more people are sensitive to this aspect of their cat companion and work harder to ensure their cat was content.
Do you have any thoughts/observations about these trends?
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