There are a lot of things you can do in your online dating profile that will make you more attractive to the opposite sex, but if you’re a guy, sharing a picture of your cat may not be one of them. A new study out of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University finds that men holding cats in profile pictures can get in the way of them finding love online.
The study asked women ages 18 to 24 to rate the same man posing with or without a cat on his lap. They were asked to judge them on such things like perceived personality, masculinity, whether they were dateable and whether they’d be interested in going out with the person short or long-term.
Results show women looked at the men holding the felines as “less dateable” and “less masculine,” and scored them higher on neuroticism, which means they are more likely to experience anxiety, fear, frustration, envy and low mood. On a positive note, the cat did make the men appear more open and agreeable, as well as more socially-confident and outgoing, as compared to the men posing alone.