Evaluation of Characteristics Associated with Self-Identified Cat or Dog Preference in Pet Owners and Correlation of Preference with Pet Interactions and Care: An Exploratory Study
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Department of Veterinary Behavior Medicine, Heart of Chelsea Veterinary Group, 257 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011, USA
2
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, C247 Veterinary Medical Center, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Animals 2024, 14(17), 2534; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14172534
Submission received: 24 July 2024
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Revised: 14 August 2024
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Accepted: 28 August 2024
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Published: 31 August 2024
(This article belongs to the Section Companion Animals)
Simple Summary
There is evidence that cat and dog preferences are correlated with human personality traits, but little information exists on how these preferences develop and change over time and if preference impacts pet care, particularly of the “less preferred” species in a multispecies household. By using an internet survey, we found some differences in demographics and exposure to cats or dogs when young and those who prefer cats or dogs as adults. Species preference for dogs remained consistent from youth to adulthood, but for those that changed preference, we found that lack of childhood exposure impacted the formation of a cat-species preference but not of a dog-species preference. We also found that pet owners spent more time with their preferred species, cat people were more likely to feed their cats a prescription diet, and dog people were more likely to feed both their cats and dogs raw diets. Species preferences may result in preferential treatment of the owner’s preferred species and identified a potential risk for welfare concerns in multispecies households. More studies are needed to further examine the development and impact of species preferences.
Abstract
Dog and cat preference has been associated with a few factors, like owner personality traits, but data regarding other aspects of preference ontogeny and the impact of preferences on pet wellbeing have yet to be examined. In this exploratory study, several of these characteristics, such as exposure to pets when young and as adults and current pet interactions and diet were analyzed from internet survey data. We found that more people identified as dog people (63.3%) versus cat people (36.7%) and preference for dogs remained consistent from childhood to adulthood compared with cats. In individuals who changed species preference, a lack of childhood exposure to cats (47.2%) was significantly associated with the group that changed preferences from dogs to cats from childhood to adulthood, compared with dog ownership as a child in the group that changed preferences from cats to dogs (24.4%). The number of cats and dogs in the home directly correlated with species preference (p < 0.001). Dwelling location was also significantly associated with species preference, with cat people being more likely to live in an urban area and dog people in a rural area (p = 0.002). More time was spent in both active and passive interactions with pets of the preferred species. Cats owned by cat people were more likely to be fed prescription diets compared with cats owned by dog people (p < 0.001). Interestingly, dog people were more likely to feed both their cats (p = 0.012) and dogs (p < 0.001) a raw diet compared with cat people. Additional research is needed to understand the development and impact of owner species preferences on pets to identify risks of suboptimal wellbeing.
