By Susan Milius
The most common myth that people have about cats is that they’re solitary, asocial creatures, fumes Sharon L. Crowell-Davis, a behavioral veterinarian at the University of Georgia in Athens.
Supposed standoffishness hurts an animal’s image, says Crowell-Davis, and she diagnoses the perceived aloofness of Felis catus as the main contributor to outbursts of anticatism. Which species provided the devious villains in the recent movie Cats & Dogs, for example? Not the romping, barking pack. And don’t even get her started on the humor book that lists a hundred and one uses for a dead cat.