Kitty Power - A Woman's Best asset
Posted: December 14, 2006 2:07 pm
Once seen as the preserve of the spinster class, felines have become young females' pet of choice - prompting one cat-food brand to invest millions to win their business.
... dogs may still command the honorific, "man's best friend", but they can no longer claim to be companion of choice for the average, upwardly-mobile female.
... that distinction now rests with the humble cat, a pet that outnumbers its canine rival in this country by a million and a half. Not only do an estimated 4.7 million women in the UK own cats - almost four times the number of men - but developments in the £7m-a-year cat-food market suggest an ever-increasing proportion are drawn from the trendiest sections of society.
This week, the makers of Sheba announced they had hired a Hollywood director to film a new advertising campaign aimed at attracting, "stylish" and "independent" women to their product. The£1m, three-part commercial based on Alice in Wonderland, will be directed by Martha Fiennes, sister of the actor Ralph. It stars the ballerina Monica Zamora, together with two sought-after models: Eva Imsa and Meritxell.
...
According to experts, this reversal of fortunes is in part due to low-maintenance ownership, which lends itself to the lifestyle of upwardly-mobile career women. Men, who tend to want unconditional loyalty in their pets, still prefer a dog. "There used to be this stereotype of the post-menopausal spinster of this parish, who would live with 15 cats and was ever so slightly mad," says the cat behaviour counsellor, Vicky Halls. "But it's just not so any more, in my professional experience.
"Nowadays, you get a lot of stylish, successful and independent women whose Achilles heel is their cat. They can be strong and self-assured and in control, and then a cat comes into their life and they suddenly become all gooey."
...
To some observers - many of them male - cats offer childless single women a low-rent alternative to a baby. But Ms Halls, the author of Cat Counsellor, believes the relationship between a woman and her cat cannot be explained away so easily.
"There's a bit of the mother/child relationship there, but its too simplistic to put the entire thing down to that: if women want a baby then in this day and age they can jolly well go out and have one."
"Actually, cats have a rakish attitude, and sometimes it seems that they're not a child substitute, but a male relationship replacement. They have the appeal of a dismissive bad boy: they'll ignore you 95 per cent of the time but then rub up and down your leg and you'll think 'wow!'.
... dogs may still command the honorific, "man's best friend", but they can no longer claim to be companion of choice for the average, upwardly-mobile female.
... that distinction now rests with the humble cat, a pet that outnumbers its canine rival in this country by a million and a half. Not only do an estimated 4.7 million women in the UK own cats - almost four times the number of men - but developments in the £7m-a-year cat-food market suggest an ever-increasing proportion are drawn from the trendiest sections of society.
This week, the makers of Sheba announced they had hired a Hollywood director to film a new advertising campaign aimed at attracting, "stylish" and "independent" women to their product. The£1m, three-part commercial based on Alice in Wonderland, will be directed by Martha Fiennes, sister of the actor Ralph. It stars the ballerina Monica Zamora, together with two sought-after models: Eva Imsa and Meritxell.
...
According to experts, this reversal of fortunes is in part due to low-maintenance ownership, which lends itself to the lifestyle of upwardly-mobile career women. Men, who tend to want unconditional loyalty in their pets, still prefer a dog. "There used to be this stereotype of the post-menopausal spinster of this parish, who would live with 15 cats and was ever so slightly mad," says the cat behaviour counsellor, Vicky Halls. "But it's just not so any more, in my professional experience.
"Nowadays, you get a lot of stylish, successful and independent women whose Achilles heel is their cat. They can be strong and self-assured and in control, and then a cat comes into their life and they suddenly become all gooey."
...
To some observers - many of them male - cats offer childless single women a low-rent alternative to a baby. But Ms Halls, the author of Cat Counsellor, believes the relationship between a woman and her cat cannot be explained away so easily.
"There's a bit of the mother/child relationship there, but its too simplistic to put the entire thing down to that: if women want a baby then in this day and age they can jolly well go out and have one."
"Actually, cats have a rakish attitude, and sometimes it seems that they're not a child substitute, but a male relationship replacement. They have the appeal of a dismissive bad boy: they'll ignore you 95 per cent of the time but then rub up and down your leg and you'll think 'wow!'.
