[torbid]

I don't see why bird ownership wasn't similar to cat.. Would mammal be important or would there be a hidden variable in being able to house a dog or cat as one sometimes needs less permissions for smaller animals in rental agreements, etc..

[fisherjeff]

Survivorship bias: Cat owners with stronger cognitive skills are more likely to notice and evade their cats’ murder attempts.

[MandieD]

That they didn’t break down the bird owners between parrots and canaries/finches was a major oversight - while some canary/finch owners do let their birds out and handle them, parrots (even budgies) tend to interact far more with human keepers than finches and canaries do.

[m463]

Some parrots are out of their cage all the time and interact quite well with the family, like potty-trained 3-d dogs.

It is harder to take them outside for a walk though (although there are bird leashes). This sort of limits the outdoor social interaction that dogs confer.

and yes, some smaller birds are treated more like fish that a member of the family.

[cosmic_cheese]

The difference may lie in how as mammals, living with a dog or especially a cat is more similar to living with another person. Intelligent birds require a lot of interaction which is good for reducing mental decline, but the relationship is different — most birds spend a substantial amount of time in a cage and generally need to be controlled more, whereas cats and dogs usually freely roam about the house with a few areas that are off-limits.

[ozim]

I would wonder about dog vs other animals.

With dog you have to walk outside even if you have a garden, a dog needs a daily walk a bit further around.

Cat doesn’t need a walk, well it requires play time but I would say walking around the block should do more for person health than playing around with cat in-house.

[godelski]

Have you ever had a cat?

I ask because people are often surprised at how social cats are. Sure, some are extroverts and just love everyone like any golden retriever would. But most cats will want to be in the same room if you even if they aren't cuddly (all the time). They greet you at the door and like to play with you. They're just introverted and need time to warm up

[torbid]

Sure, but have you ever seen a pet parrot with the person it bonded to?

I've had cats that were affectionate and cats that came to the house only for food.

The overall problem with this study is that it does nothing to try to categorize the relationship to the pets or eliminate the correlation problems like almost no one has an outdoor cat in an urban environment or any cat in an urban studio apartment.

[dugmartin]

Our 15 year old part Maine Coon that passed away last year was a massive extrovert. He would sit on our front porch waiting for strangers to walk by just so he could run out and flop down on the sidewalk for belly pets. I used to tell him he was going to get kicked out of the Cat Union for doing it.

[Marsymars]

One of our cats fit that description to an exaggerated amount. She didn’t like cuddling or pets, but she’d follow us around the house and just curl up next to us.

[fhe]

I wonder if it's really just a function of how much work is involved in taking care of pets. I have had pet turtles and cats for years. Cats easily require 10x the amount of work to keep them happy and healthy.

[sandwichsphinx]

would be interesting to see rabbits included as well, it's a social mammal and does well in rentals