Your profile picture says a lot about you. If you're skiing or on a hike, it shows you're the outdoors type. A picture of you at a music festival shows you enjoy a bit of fun. However, if your picture involves you posing with your cat,chances are the ladies won't swipe for it.
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A study conducted at Colorado State University shows that in heterosexual dating, men who pose with cats on their dating profiles are much less likely to get a match.
In the study, 708 women were shown 18-24 pictures of two men with and without a kitty companion on an online survey.
For one man 38% of people said that they were likely or very likely to casually date him, and 37% stated that would consider a serious relationship with him.
But...
When the same person was holding a cat the results were strangely different, dropping to 33% for each category. Also, the percentage of people that said they would never date the person rose from just 9% to 14%
For the second person, 40% of respondents stated that they would be unlikely or certain not to date him, but when paired with a cat, the numbers rose to 45%.
A study conducted in the past showed that men with dogs in their profiles were more successful on dating sites, but it looks like the opposite is true for cats.
Authors of the Colorado State University study stated:
Prior research suggests that women view pet owners as more attractive and dateable than non-pet owners; however, this effect was strongest with dog owners. We hypothesized that men posing with cats would be more attractive than those posing alone.
However, their hypothesis was proven wrong and they suspect the reason is that posing with a feline makes a male appear more feminine:
Women viewed men as less masculine when holding the cat; higher in neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness; and less dateable. These findings suggest that pets continue to play a role in women’s mate choices and dating preferences, but that a closer look at the effects of different species of pets is warranted.
Although, if you're a cat lover it might be best to stand strong with your kitty as this was a rather small study and it might not be true for everyone. Who knows, you might even find the crazy cat lady of your dreams.
