Bo Obama, the First Canine

Republicans and Democrats tend to disagree about everything, on issues ranging from tax policy to gun control.So it’s no surprise that a study by the American Veterinary Medical Association revealed that, by and large, red states and blue states can be divided by their preference of house pet.

Overwhelmingly, red states have the highest rate of dog ownership while residents of blue states are more likely to keep a cat as a pet.

The study, titled U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, is based off 2011 data and provides statistics on pet ownership by state.

Nine of the top ten states for dog ownership voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012 election – despite the story about Romney strapping his dog Seamus to a carrier on the roof of his car during a 12-hour road trip.

The red states in question are Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, and Oklahoma, while the lone blue (dog) state was New Mexico.

Nine of the ten states with the lowest percentage of households with a pet dog voted Democratic, including strongholds Minnesota, New York, and Rhode Island.

And in spite of the undeniable cuteness of Bo Obama, four out of the top five feline-friendly states voted for the President. Cats are the preferred pet in the blue states of Vermont, Maine, Oregon, and Washington, although South Dakotans also own plenty of felines.

This rule doesn’t appear to hold perfectly  – in particular, there’s no rush to label Dianne Feinstein a DemoCAT. For instance, California (a blue bastion) also has one of the lowest rates of cat ownership, with 28.3 percent of households including a feline in their families.

Another surprising nugget from the study: in America, dogs aren’t a man’s best friend. While there are about 70 million pet dogs in the nation, there are 74.1 million pet cats.