Be honest, how much do you talk to your cat?

According to a new survey, American cat owners spend an average of over 3.5 hours per week speaking to their feline companions, and that’s just one of many ways their cat-centric behavior manifests.

As you have likely observed already, one profound outcome of the Internet era is that we now know the degree to which many people really, really like cats. And by using any of the many content sharing and social media platforms, anyone in the world who identifies as a cat person can see that the obsessive, borderline reverential way they engage with their pets is not only far from unusual but also pretty much the norm.  

Hoping to gauge what the average level of cat obsession looks like, the recent poll, conducted by OnePoll, queried 1,000 cat owners. Before we tell you more about the results they shared with us, bear in mind that this research is meant for fun, not peer review, and that it was funded by Mars Petcare, a corporation that owns several major pet food brands and veterinary hospital chains.

After analyzing the responses, the pollsters discovered that participants look at an average of 725 cat pictures and/or videos per year – that's nearly two per day. They also “like” 398 cat-related posts per year, and an impressive 810 of the group reported having a “go-to” GIF or meme that they look at when feeling down.

The data also revealed that cat owners have an average of 13 cat-related items, and that 44 percent of them have a framed photo of their cat. Forty-seven percent claimed that they regularly took photos of their cat, a statistic that many Instagram accounts can corroborate.

Sixty percent of respondents reported that interacting with their cat has helped them cope with loneliness, and 54 percent said that their pet relieved stress related to work. Many people also reported feeling soothed when upset by family or relationship drama or the loss of a loved one. Time spent cuddling their cat(s) averaged out to nine hours per week.

And finally, a whopping 93 percent claimed to have a strong connection to their cat or cats, helping to quash the lame stereotype that felines are too aloof and unloving to form real bonds with humans.

In other fluffy, cat-survey-related news (to read between browsing the r/aww subReddit), a recent poll of 1,700 Australian pet owners found that cat owners drink two times more sparkling wine than dog owners and are more inclined to buy Sauvignon Blanc.  

[H/T: New York Post]