by Jules Pierre

Created on: August 07, 2008   Last Updated: December 13, 2009

My first impulse when considering this debate was to side with the male supporters. My family has owned, or, lets be honest, played host to, a number of cats over the years. The males, on average, have tended slightly more to friendliness than their female house mates. Trusting in the simple maths argument we might leave it at that. What confused the issue for me is that the males have all been part Siamese.

I don't want to start another debate on which breed of cat is the friendliest but in my experience, Siamese are up there. I feel kind of bad saying this since all of our cats have condescended to spend moments of their precious awake-time claiming attention from us and even coming when called! At least if they deemed it a worthwhile expenditure of energy to do so. Still, quite an honour when you know cats.

The Siamese have really just left an impression as a bit more outgoing, although prone to a little moodiness. Considering that this is my impression, do you think it's fair that I claim male cats to be more friendly?

Normally, I'd say no. Our female Siamese is as friendly, if not more friendly, than our current half Siamese male. The problem is that I don't think the other cats think so. A funny concept maybe, but no one asked if male cats were more friendly than female cats towards humans! What about their impressions of each other? Everyone, that's every non-human in the household, seems to get on very well with our male cat. This includes the dogs and excludes the cat next door. But let's face it, no one really gets on with the cat next door. Again this is biased because our male cat is the only male pet and we'd hardly expect the female cats to get along.

One last argument stands in the male's favour. Our male cat gets on with all the humans in the family. He'll politely snuggle up to any family member, whether on the couch or in bed, and proceed to gently nudge him or her out of the previously occupied spot. He'll placate you with a few meows and some purring and the job will be done with the friendliest of attitudes. Try to move him and you'll see a totally different side of him. But to be fair, all our cats will hiss when you try to soothingly move them aside to climb into your own bed!

Our female cats are more inclined to enjoy the company of a select group of family members which is, I'm afraid, their downfall in this argument. Males seem to be friendly in a more generic, golden retriever puppy kind of way. The slap each other on the bum and talk about sports for the rest of the evening type way. Females are a bit more selective in their choice of friends but I'm afraid that sways them to the slightly less friendly side.

Quality of friendship is of course not considered here and, therefore, still open to debate.

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