These days, having a house is no longer the ultimate bragging right. The true sign of a life well-lived is having both a cat and a dog. Whether it’s the aloof cat or the loyal dog, both are adored by people. Pet owners often endure the haughty attitudes of cats, loving them as if they were their first crush, and forgive the destructive tendencies of dogs, even when they dismantle the house.
But even among beloved pets, there are differences. Dogs, it seems, are more pampered than cats.
Dogs: "Oh yeah, my owner loves spending money on me!"
Colleen P. Kirk of the New York Institute of Technology conducted a series of studies and found that dog owners are more willing to spend money on their pets. Participants were asked to imagine various scenarios:
- Your pet needs an expensive surgery. How much are you willing to spend?
- You can DIY a special bowl for your pet. How much would you spend?
- An artist paints a portrait of your pet. How much would you pay for it?
On average, dog owners were willing to spend $10,689 to save their pets, whereas cat owners were willing to spend $5,174—less than half. The median amounts spent were $3,000 for dogs and $1,800 for cats, indicating that the higher spending isn’t just skewed by outliers.
Kirk ruled out factors like wealth and pet size, confirming that people just prefer spending more on dogs.
Dogs: "I'm closer to my owner!"
Kirk theorized that pet owners are more willing to spend on dogs because they feel a stronger sense of "psychological ownership" over them. This concept includes three components: intimate knowledge, self-investment, and control.
To test this, she conducted an experiment dividing participants into dog and cat owners. Each group was then split again. One half was asked to imagine their pet had a previous owner who trained them to have certain behaviors. The other half proceeded without this preamble.
In the "imagine a previous owner" group, there was no significant difference in spending between cat and dog owners. In the control group, dog owners were willing to spend more. This suggests that imagining a previous owner diminished the sense of psychological ownership, equalizing spending.
Dogs provide a sense of control and loyalty, enhancing the owner-pet bond and leading to higher spending on dogs.
Cats: "Food is more important than anything."
Japanese researchers studied the behavior of dogs and cats in social scenarios. Dog owners asked for help, and the responses were categorized as helpful, indifferent, or neutral. Dogs preferred food from those who helped their owners and avoided those who were indifferent.
When cats faced the same scenarios, they showed no preference, accepting food from anyone regardless of their behavior towards the owner.
While dogs seem more loyal, they might simply be better at reading human cues and understanding social interactions.
Conclusion
Cats have never been truly domesticated, and owners might not feel the same sense of control over them. Cats might view humans more as roommates than owners. This difference in perceived ownership and control can explain why dog owners are more willing to spend money on their pets.
References
- Chijiiwa, H., Kuroshima, H., Hori, Y., Anderson, J. R., & Fujita, K. (2015). Dogs avoid people who behave negatively to their owner: third-party affective evaluation. Animal Behaviour, 106, 123–127.
- Chijiiwa, H., Takagi, S., Arahori, M., Anderson, J. R., Fujita, K., & Kuroshima, H. (2021). Cats (Felis catus) Show No Avoidance of People Who Behave Negatively to Their Owner. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 8(1), 23–35.
- Kirk, C. P. (2019). Dogs have masters, cats have staff: Consumers’ psychological ownership and their economic valuation of pets. Journal of Business Research, 99(July 2018), 306–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.02.057