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Cat lovers find black cats too aloof
Study: Black cats were seen as more antisocial than other types of cats, along with their white and three-tone brethren.
Wed, Oct 31 2012 at 11:12 AM
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Photo: Noel Kirkpatrick
Black cats may bring bad luck, but to themselves rather than to people. A new study suggests that sable-colored felines are stereotyped as more aloof than their orange peers, a prejudice that may help explain why black cats take longer to be adopted than other colored kitties.
The findings, published in the Dec. 4 issue of the journal Anthrozoos, suggest that prejudice against black cats goes beyond superstition.
"Previous research supports the existence of 'black cat' syndrome, where black and brown cats are less likely to be adopted than cats of other colors," Mikel Delgado, a researcher at University of California at Berkeley, said in a statement. "We were interested in whether people’s perceptions of the interaction between personality and coat color might play a part."
Black cats often languish in shelters, and a 2002 study found that sable-colored kitties are more likely to be euthanized than other cats. Researchers suspected that potential adopters were reacting to the superstition that black cats are bad luck. Since medieval times, cats have been unfairly tarred as familiars, or supernatural creatures who help witches. [13 Halloween Superstitions & Traditions Explained]
But the prejudice against cats with certain coat colors may go beyond superstition. To see how, Delgado found cat lovers on Craigslist and asked them to rate black, multicolored (such as tabby), and orange cats on personality measures such as friendliness, laziness and stubbornness.
All the cat aficionados said personality was the most important factor in choosing a cat. However, kitties of different colors were ascribed different personality traits.
Black cats were seen as more antisocial than other types of cats, along with their white and three-tone brethren. Overall, orange cats were perceived as the friendliest.
Black cats in general had less extreme ratings on most of the measures, perhaps because people viewed these dark kitties as enigmas.
The findings suggest that shelter volunteers may have an uphill battle when convincing people to adopt black cats.
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Related cat story on MNN: 10 fascinating facts about cats
This story was originally written for LiveScience and was reprinted with permission here. Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company.
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My black cat is as personable and friendly as any dog, and certainly more than most any cat I've met of any other color. I find this "research" questionable.
I love black cats, I find they actually have a lot more personality than other cats. My one, for instance, greets me when I come home, goes to the pantry door when she is hungry and is generally extremely affectionate, where as my two tabbies are not so bothered as long as they get fed.
I adopted my first all black cat last summer nad he is one of the best things to ever happen to me! He is SUPER cuddly, VERY friendly and in fact is the most social in my group (3 others). I am sold. He is a dream come true. He is the only one that doesn't hide when people come over, he is the only one that sleeps in my lap, he is the only one I can hold for more than a minute. It is all in the "cat", not in the "color"....just like the rest of the world.
We adopted two solid black cats and l found that black cats are very smart, talkative, independent yet friendly. I hope more people can look beyond the cats color and adopt more black cats.
I have a white cat who is very social with all sorts of people but hates other cats. My black cat is very shy of strangers but loves and plays with any other cat he meets :)
Sounds like two very normal cats to me ! :)
I believe it is more about the way how they have been raised, one of my cats is from the street, i picked him up when he was about 3 months old, so he is spoiled all the way, not needy or anything, my other cat is from the cat camp, who had been abandoned by ex-owner, so he is much more needy and easy to freak out. anyways, now i love them both so much, and i am spoil them as much as i can! cats rock!!
I love black cats, and any that I've ever owned were loving cats. I've owned many different colored cats, but have always found black cats are the smartess. On the other hand I've found black and white cats are the most unloving. The two I've had never wanted to be held or petted. I'd take a black cat any day over all the other colored cats.
As an owner of as black/brown cat and dating someone who owned a black cat I must disagree. They may be stand off-ish at times but in comparison to other cats they have the most personality. They talk the most, and just full of personality.
I've owned three pure black cats and found them to be very loving: Beauty, RIP 1960; Charlie, RIP 1970 and Orfeyo, RIP 2010. My brother has a pure black cat who loves him lots. I will have another black cat when my next cat goes to the Rainbow Bridge. Black cats rock!!! Every witch should have one. Happy Halloween!