Do people care more for dogs or cats? Recent research puts this age-old question into focus

 

It’s a debate as old as time – dogs versus cats – and how much their owners care for them.

Are people really either a ‘dog’ or cat’ person? Do they have to be different, and must they be one or the other?

Now new research published in Psychology Today sheds light on owners’ attitudes and devotion to their beloved companions, investigating whether dog or cat owners have a stronger emotional attachment for their respective pets.

A difficult thing to determine, you would think, as it would be based on loyalty, devotion and love for the companion animal. However the study quantified it by asking how much an owner would be prepared to spend on their dog or cat on life-saving veterinary care, should it be needed.

Owners, were asked “if your pet had a life-threatening problem and could be saved by a medical procedure, what would you be willing to pay for treatment?’. 

The amount dog owners were prepared to spend was approximately double that of cat-owners on cats!

However, certain factors need to be considered...

For example, dogs, on average, are taken to the vet twice as often as cats, and are more likely to receive preventative care such as vaccinations and dental treatment. This could show that dog owners are more used to the financial demands of ownership, and therefore more willing to accept that they will pay more for an emergency medical procedure.

Many owners of both dogs and cats have medical insurance, and this is also likely to affect their answer.

Dogs can also be ‘high maintenance’, with owners willing to pay for regular grooming and in some cases day care for walking or drop in visits for their dog. Cats, on the other hand, are usually more ‘low maintenance’, can be groomed by the owner or groom themselves, and being more independent, can be left without company for longer periods.

Whilst the findings are interesting, it is hard to accept that simply because dog owners are willing to spend more on emergency care, it means they are more devoted to their animal companion.

Many cat owners are utterly devoted to their pets, and will do whatever is necessary for them if needed. As a lifelong cat owner, I can certainly vouch for this. The bond that a cat and its owner has is every bit as special as dog and owner. Cats are sometimes more selective about who they give affection to, so to be ‘chosen’ by a cat is indeed special. Cat owners are more likely to have more than one pet, too.

Many people have both cats and dogs (or have owned both but not simultaneously) and love them equally. Those who have both would be unlikely to prioritise one over the other, as they are all part of the family.

So, whilst the research produced interesting findings, it is difficult to quantify by money alone how devoted owners are to their animals. The bond between any good owner and companion, no matter what species or breed, is priceless.

Globetrotting service dog Finnian becomes a social media star

Finnian the Golden Retriever is a medical alert service dog whose primary job is cardiac alert for his owner. 

He has amassed a huge following on Instagram and TikTok, that enjoys seeing his travels around the world with his owners and their two other dogs. Finnian’s family live in Massachusetts, and travel around the US in their converted van, as well as venturing further afield, overseas.

     (c) Finnian, pictured on his travels

Finnian, who has lived with his owner since he was two months old, has formed an extremely strong bond with her, that travelling together has helped to strengthen; she has complete trust in Finnian to alert her should a medical episode occur. Finnian has a fulfilled life, exploring new destinations including Spain, France, Gibraltar, Iceland and Canada, as well as half of the American states. His globe-trotting is captured in photos shared via his social media accounts.

Finnian’s travel companions are Lacey, a six-year-old Pomeranian, and Keegan, a four-year-old Goldendoodle.

Finnian and Lacey are pictured below.

     (c) finnianthegoldie

Finnian has enjoyed trips to several European destinations including Madrid, Spain (below). He enjoys an adventure, and one of the most viewed posts was of him exploring canyons in Utah using an abseiling-type harness that helped him to access the rocks safely.

            (c) finnianthrgoldie

You can follow Finnian’s adventures at:

www.instagram.com/finnianthegoldie

www.tiktok.com/@finnianthegoldie

Sight and scent are strongly connected for dogs

A new study has discovered that dogs have an extensive pathway in their brains that enable them to 'see' as well as sniff with their highly-developed sense of smell.

Scientists in Cornell University, New York, found that sight and scent is integrated in dogs, to the point where even blind dogs can function extremely well by navigating their environment by smell.

All dog owners know how much dogs like to sniff, and navigate their way around by their nose. This new research, carried out on 23 dogs of various breeds, revealed through MRI scans that big neural pathways, or “information highways” exist between the olfactory part of the brain (responsible for interpreting the scents from the nose) and the part of the brain tied to vision. This pathway that links smell to vision isn’t found in people but is “thick and obvious” in the dog’s brain.

This appears to confirm that in dogs, the sense of smell is so highly developed that seeing and smells are interlinked in a dog’s perception.

As humans we can only imagine what the world must be like for dogs. Everything must be ‘hyper-real’ with a scent to accompany all they see. As owners, we must respect the dog’s need to stop and sniff at every opportunity. Sniffing and storing information is an enriching experience for dogs, and we can only admire their sensory powers.

Humans do of course utilise dogs’ highly developed smelling skills for tracking, by training sniffer dogs to search out certain substances or to track missing people.

Sniffer dogs play a vital role at airports

This research is just starting, as the same team want to investigate cats’ link between scent and sight, as it is believed that cats have the same strong neural pathways as dogs. Watch (or sniff!) this space.