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  2. Lifestyle

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
  • 24 May 2019
This One Factor Determines Whether You’ll Be A Dog Or Cat Person
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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.

RELATED: Could Growing Up With Pets Be The Secret To Health And Happiness?

They established two key factors:

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

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.

RELATED: Science Confirms Pets Really Do Make Workplaces More Productive

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Lucy Bode
Lucy Bode
Lucy is Women Health’s digital editor, social media specialist and the go-to girl for all things holistic wellness. Her background as a journalist and passion for food, fitness and integrative medicine has led her to write for some of Australia’s leading publications over the course of her career.

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