Cat people worship felines like pharos; dog people talk to hounds like people according to research that shows cat and dog people really are different. “Our studies have shown that there are some interesting differences between cat owners and dog owners,” says James Flanigan, head of marketing at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).
Among the findings are single people are more attracted to cat ownership, while dog owners are married with children. According to the survey, 67 percent of dog owners are married compared to 61.8 percent of cat owners, and 52.6 percent of dog owners are families of three or more, compared to 47.0 percent of cat owners. The data also shows that 82.7 percent of dog owners made at least one annual visit to a veterinarian with their pets, compared to 63.7 percent of cat owners.
There are more cats, 81.7 million compared to 72.1 million dogs, but there are more dog owners, 43 million compared to 37.5 million cat owners. This is because cat owners are more likely to have more than one cat. The AVMA conducts surveys of pet owners every five years, and publishes the results in the U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographic Sourcebook. For more information, go to www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/sourcebook.asp.
