Cat people have been pretty smug since the study finding that they tend to be more intelligent, creative, independent, and rebellious than dog-lovers emerged a while back.

Personally, I don’t see why we can’t love both.

That said, it turns out dog lovers also have a reason to feel good about themselves, too!

The findings are part of a 2017 study out of the University of Florida, Carroll University, and Marquette University, in which 418 undergrads were questioned after declaring themselves cat or dog people.

352 of the participants preferred dogs, with just 66 admitting to liking cats more.

The second group scored higher in a test for reasoning and general intelligence, proved better at abstract thought, self-reliance and keeping an open mind.

But wait!

Dog people were more likely to have extroverted and warm personalities, and are more likely to follow the rules.

“Taken together, these findings describe the personalities of the average cat person as shy, solitary, impersonal, serious, and nonconformist, but also creative, sentimental, independent, and self-sufficient. Conversely, these findings describe dog people as grounded, pragmatic, and dutiful, as well as warm, outgoing, sociable, expressive, and group oriented.”

It’s almost like all people, regardless of their preference of pet, have good qualities!

“The findings suggest that people who score higher on rule consciousness and liveliness tend to prefer dogs and people who score higher on reasoning and emotional sensitivity tend to prefer cats.”

Creativity, they say, is what separates the two down the cleanest lines.

“The personality profiles of creative people and cat people are remarkably similar, suggesting that people who are considered creative may tend to prefer cats as pets.”

I mean, you like what you like and you can do what you want with your life!

Don’t let any scientific study put you in a box.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a quantum computer simulation that has “reversed time” and physics may never be the same.