Looking at this picture of Kip from almost three years ago, would you have guessed he would grow up to be like this?

Yeah, I didn’t think so either. Well, apparently, animal shelters are now using pet personality tests to best match a human’s personality with a cat or dog’s personality. Really:

It happens to all of us. You fall in love with someone’s looks… but then he’s not quite what you expected. Even, sometimes, if he’s a cat.

“People come in and say, I had a black and white tuxedo cat before, so that’s what I want,” says Jim Monsma of the Washington Animal Rescue League in Washington, D.C. “But cats are not all the same. They have widely divergent personalities.”

Part of the ASPCA‘s Meet Your Match program, which also includes Canine-ality for dogs, the program assesses a variety of behaviors in individual cats. It rates the animals on confidence and sociability, which Weiss’ research has shown are independent of each other.

The program then tallies those assessments to place the cat into nine personality categories, which can be matched with a family’s situation and desires.

It’s not unlike a magazine quiz to find out, “Which kind of cat are you?”

You can take the cat survey, or the dog survey at the Washington Animal Rescue League. I’ve taken the dog survey and matched purple — meaning, I’m comfortable with canines with a laidback attitude and prefer an easygoing lifestyle — and orange, meaning I am a good fit with middle-of-the-road dogs who are responsive and enjoy regular activity and interaction. Well, duh, I coulda told you that. However, I’m a little afraid to take the cat survey. Heheheh.

Did I ever tell the story here about how I chose Kip? My friend had brought over two kittens, and I chose the one who seemed most laidback, whose first item of business was to find a spot next to Trinity and fall asleep. Yeah, that was a trick. Oh well! Here’s some video too.