Every day, I spend hours scouring the web for cute pictures of animals — particularly cats. And on National Pet Day (today) I do it even more. Fortunately, there are ample resources:

From cuteboyswithcats.net:

From menandtheirdogs.tumblr.com:

From hotguysholdingcutepuppies.tumblr.com, OMG look it’s Johnny Depp!

From hotguysandbabyanimals.tumblr.com:

But wait a second! You should be thinking now. Why are there only blogs dedicated to hot guys holding animals? There isn’t quite the intrigue if a girl is doing it. If a girl is holding a cat, she’s the crazy cat lady. If a dude is doing it, it’s SQUEEEE adorable!

We’ve covered the “crazy cat lady” thing before. And as Anna David points out, the same does not hold for dogs:

Somehow that evolved into the idea that women who love cats are weird, or at the very least unsexy, while women who love dogs are rustic, athletic and adventurous.

But still, I don’t think girls holding animals (even dogs) causes the same effect. Otherwise, there would be a blog called hotgirlsholdingpuppies.com. And The Date Report’s Editor in Chief Michelle would be on it:

Michelle & Cookie

Is it because animals soften guys, and girls don’t need to be softened? Is a picture of a dude holding a dog proof that he’s not a clumsy, angry, aggressive wombat who kills everything he touches? Is a picture of a girl holding a dog proof that she has zero hobbies and all she does is mouth kiss her puppy on the face all the time so you probably don’t want to go there? Whatever the reason, it just isn’t right.

There are more than enough blogs showcasing animals with casts:


Disapproving rabbits:


Fat cats:

Cats in Tokyo:

Animals with lightsabers:

But I would love to see some pics of hot girls holding animals. Send them to me at lauren@howaboutwe.com and let’s see what we can do about this unfortunate sitch. It’s for the animals! For National Pet Day!

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