Warning: owning a pet could damage your love life !!

This press release made me smile so I thought I'd share it with you. Just remember, a pet is for life, not just for Christmas, so it's too late to change your minds now if you got one for the kids for Christmas !

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Warning: owning a pet could damage your love life but hamsters, guinea-pigs are safest choice: YouGov poll

• Singletons looking for love should avoid owning a spider, snake or rat

• Girls seldom makes passes at… men who own spiders

• Hamsters or guinea-pigs are safest choice; parrots next best


Owning a pet could damage your love life, according to a poll of British singletons, which finds that owning a spider risks hurting it most of all – even more than keeping a snake, rat or ferret.

Hamsters or guinea-pigs, on the other hand, are the pets likely to do least harm to your dating prospects, according to the online poll of 513 single Britons conducted by YouGov for craigslist (www.craigslist.co.uk), the free classified ads site popular for online dating.

Parrots, however squawky, are the next best bet.

The dating advantage of owning a hamster or guinea-pig compared to, for example, cats or dogs, is significant – particularly so for women.

So, almost three times as many men (28%), would “feel less inclined to date” someone who they discovered was a dog-owner as the number (10%) who would feel the same about a hamster- or guinea-pig-owner. One in four men (25%) would feel likewise about a cat-owner.

Singletons of both sexes should most avoid owning a spider, snake or rat, finds the poll – but men will hurt their prospects even more than women by doing so.

Over half of single women (53%) would “feel less inclined to date” someone who they discovered owned a spider. Almost as many women would cool at the thought of dating someone who they learnt owned a snake (46%), a rat (44%) or even a ferret (34%).
Men held similar attitudes towards the owners of such pets but in smaller numbers.

The findings are clear, says Jim Buckmaster, CEO of craigslist. “Spiders are a turn-off, especially for women. Those who want to own a pet but avoid deterring potential dates should opt for a hamster or guinea-pig.”

The responses of men women differed proportionately most when it came to mice. Almost one in three single women (30%) would feel less inclined to date someone who they learnt owned one or more mice, while only one in five single men (20%) felt the same.

Respondents chose from a list of pets and were asked to predict whether they would feel less inclined to date the owner of each kind.


KEY FINDINGS:

• Singletons of both sexes should most avoid owning a spider, snake or rat – but men should avoid doing so more than women.

• Girls seldom make passes at men (or women) who own spiders: Over half (53%) of single women would feel less inclined to date someone who they learnt owned a spider

• Hamsters and guinea-pigs are the pets likely to do least damage to someone’s dating prospects.


Q. Imagine if you discovered that someone you were thinking of dating/ going on a date with owned one of the following kinds of pets...Which, if any, of these pets would make you feel LESS inclined to date the person in question? (Please tick all that apply.)

All /  Men /Women

Dog(s) 23% / 28% / 19%
Cat(s) 21% /  25%   / 17%
Mice/ a mouse 25% /  20% / 30%
Hamster or Guinea pig(s) 11% /  10% / 13%
Rat(s) 40% /  37% /  44%
Parrot(s) 16% / 13% /  18%
Ferret(s) 31% / 29% /  34%
Snake(s) 41% /  36%   / 46%
Lizard(s) 29% /  27% / 31%
Spider 47% /  41% /  53%
Other 3% /  3% /  2%
Not applicable - no pets would make me less inclined to date someone 32% /  36% / 28%
Don't know 5% /  5% /  5%  
 

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