This One Factor Determines Whether You’ll Be A Dog Or Cat Person

Think you’re a dog person? You might be living a lie. - by Lucy Bode

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Here’s something all pet owners know to be true: you’re either a cat person or a dog person – there is no in between. But, despite popular belief that your preference for pet dates back to your childhood companion, a team of scientists out of Sweden say it’s actually a case of nature over nurture. Translation: it’s in our DNA.

The team compared the genetic makeup of 35,035 pairs of twins, using data from the Swedish Twin Registry. As a refresher, identical twins share genes, while fraternal twins share half of their genes. This is how the scientists were able to compare how their choice had been affected by their environment vs their genetics.

They established two key factors:

If one identical twin owns a dog, their sibling is also more likely to.
If one fraternal twin owns a dog, their sibling is less likely to own a dog.

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The lead author of the study said the team were “surprised to see that a person’s genetic makeup appears to be a significant influence in whether they own a dog.”

“As such, these findings have major implications in several different fields related to understanding dog-human interaction through history and modern times.”

And while it wasn’t determined exactly which genes affect determine which pet a person is likely to pick, it does prove that it's beyond our control.

Lucy Bode

Lucy is WH’s Digital Editor, Features Writer, social media guru and resident woo. A long black lover and foodie at heart, she considers peanut butter an hourly staple and believes chardonnay is the superior drop. When she's not at the beach, barre or yoga studio you'll find her coming up with new and improved ways to kill her unkillable houseplants