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Cats may be better emotional support animals than dogs for certain people

By Mallika Marshall, MD

October 31, 2022 / 5:36 PM EDT / CBS Boston

HeathWatch: Potential RSV vaccine coming; benefits of emotional support cats

BOSTON -- When you think of emotional support animals, you often think of dogs. But cats may provide even greater comfort for some people.

Colleges and universities provide opportunities for students to relieve stress by spending time with an animal, usually a dog.

A new survey found that students and staff who exhibit the Big 5 emotionality traits, which are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, may be more interested in interacting with cats.

The researchers think that having high emotionality may cause people to respond passionately to more subtle cues like those displayed by cats.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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