Dad a distant 4th place

The Truth about Cats and Dogs... and Mom and Dad

Dogs edge cats by a nose in the human intimacy sweepstakes. Not only are dog owners slightly more likely to think of their pet as family, so too are they more inclined to describe their relationship with their pet as "close" rather than "distant." Some 94 percent of dog owners say this, compared with 84 percent of cat owners.

Needless to say, this finding won't shut down the never-ending, (mostly) friendly competition between dog people and cat people. To the contrary, when paired with another set of responses from the same survey, it just might open an entirely new can of worms.

It turns out when you ask adults about their parents, 87 percent say they feel close to mom and 74 percent say they feel close to dad.

So for anyone keeping score, the family intimacy standings look like this: dog 94 percent; mom 87 percent; cat 84 percent; dad 74 percent.