Cat dads don’t pay as much attention as cat moms. A new study proves it

For devoted cat dads, this may well be rage bait disguised as research. But here is the inescapable conclusion from a recent study on pet felines: Even cats know that men don’t really listen. The study, conducted in Turkey, recorded the interactions of 31 cat parents with their charges and found that the felines meowed four times as much to get the attention of a male caregiver compared to a female one. The researchers suggest that this is likely because women tend to speak more to their cats and pick up on non-verbal cues more easily. The canny little creatures have cottoned on to this.

The study is fascinating for what it says about how cats interact with people. They may get a bad rap for being aloof and unfriendly, but it turns out that over the course of a thousand-year relationship, cats have shaped themselves to fit snugly into the jagged edges of human nature. Dogs may dominate the public-relations ratings, but with the study of feline behaviour picking up steam in the last couple of decades, cats have been found to be just as attached to their human companions. They can also respond to their names and often prefer interacting with a person over playing with a toy or eating a treat.

And that meow that is directed so much more loudly, and frequently, at men than at women. Turns out, it is a form of communication kittens use to get the attention of their mothers and which adult cats use almost exclusively with people. Because male or female, Homo sapiens as a species is not very good at paying attention, and cats — those close observers of human behaviour — have always known this.