Are you a cat or a dog person? It's the great debate - perhaps the only one worth having - and no doubt has served as the basis for many a bickering match, be it between school friends, couples or family members.
It's not overstating things to say that cat lovers are most often shunted in this conversation, with endless studies published arguing that dogs are better at loving their humans, better at showing affection, just better.
Cat lovers, listen up: there's a study for you.
Researchers say they have proved that cats form attachments to their caregivers much like dogs and children, including something called "secure attachment", which is when the presence of a caregiver (or "human") helps them feel calm, safe and comfortable enough to roam about their environment.
So, not at all like the stereotype of the aloof, dismissive and superior cat.
The study was published in the journal Current Biology and led by researchers at Oregon State University, and focused on cat owners and their kittens taking part in a simple exercise.
In what sounds like a torturous act of self-deprivation, each owner spent two minutes with their kitten, then left the room for two minutes, and then returned for a two-minute long reunion. The research team monitored the reactions of 70 kittens throughout.
Their results showed that 64% of the kittens were less stressed during the reunion with their owners than during the separation and, more than this, that when reunited they showed a balance between exploring their space and cuddling up to their owners. This, the researchers say, is proof of secure attachment.
Of the 70 kittens, 36% showed signs of "insecure attachment" by staying stressed when reunited with their owners and either avoiding contact or seeming unsure of what to do.
Researchers noted that a similar split in secure and insecure attachment was seen in 38 adult cats, and also can be seen in previous research with children and dogs and their "humans".
The team found that this was less to do with training as it was to do with lasting attachment. When they followed up with a subset of the kittens, training them and socialising with them, there was little change in their attachment styles. This, the researchers believe, proves that once the bonds are established between a cat and a caregiver, it is rarely changed.
"This may suggest that heritable factors, such as temperament, also influence attachment style and could contribute to its stability," they write.
"Despite fewer studies, research suggests we may be underestimating cats' sociocognitive abilities," they add.
At least one academic is not convinced. Quoted in The Guardian, Prof Daniel Mills, an expert in veterinary behavioural medicine from the University of Lincoln who has studied the relationship between cats and their owners, finds fault in the study.
He suggests that the study could have tested their experiment with strangers, or tested for other kinds of attachments. Without this, he says, the study may be showing only that cats respond positively to human support, not personal and emotional bonds to specific people.
We're still counting this as a much-needed win for the cat lover community.
