We have cat-astrophic news for animal lovers: Men who like cats are less likely to get a date.
That’s the takeaway from a study by Colorado State University, which found that women are less likely to swipe right — or say yes — to men if they’re posing with a cat in a picture.
Scientists showed hundreds of women photos of two men, both men pictured with and without a furry companion.
Their responses showed that the men’s luck got noticeably worse when women saw the picture with a cat.
The photos used in the study, which revealed women favored pictures of the men without cats.
“Men holding cats were viewed as less masculine; more neurotic, agreeable, and open; and less dateable,”
The authors wrote.
When shown the cat-free picture of one of the subjects, 38% of women said they were likely or very likely to casually date him, while 37% said they’d consider a serious relationship with him.
But a picture of the same man holding a cat gave the respondents paws for thought — and those numbers dropped to 33% for each category. Meanwhile, the proportion of women saying they’d never consider getting involved with him rose from 9% to 14%.