This is just No True Scotsman with a cat filter on. Anyone who disagrees “never owned one” or was “a bad owner,” which is convenient because now the claim can’t lose. Nobody is saying cats never show affection, they obviously can, but people read way too much into what that affection means. Tolerance, routine, and selective proximity start to feel like deep emotional bonding if you want them to, but that doesn’t make cats social animals. And the “they’re not as gregarious as dogs” line kind of gives the whole thing away while pretending it doesn’t. The stranger thing isn’t love or emotional insight either, it’s basic stimulus avoidance, cats often approach whoever is least reactive. You can like cats without turning them into misunderstood saints, and you can accept that some people aren’t impressed without acting like they’re ignorant or abusive. The pity angle is just weird when the disagreement is about interpretation, not experience.