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LendEDU Poll Compares Cat and Dog Spending

Pet Age Staff//August 30, 2017//

LendEDU Poll Compares Cat and Dog Spending

Pet Age Staff //August 30, 2017//

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A report published by LendEDU on August 17 found that people who own only dogs were willing to spend more to “save” their pet from a life threatening illness or disease than their counterparts who owned only cats.

“Whether it be a dog, cat, horse or bird (or all four), we all love our pets,” wrote Mike Brown, who posted the poll report to the blog at www.LendEDU.com. “We love our pets so much that we go to great lengths to spoil them, protect them, and sometimes, even save them. And, all of this care can become expensive—really expensive.”

The finding was the result of two individual polls, each answered by 250 respondents. One group had self-identified as dog owners, the other cat owners. Each group was asked, “How much would you be willing to spend to save your [cat/dog] from a life threatening illness or disease?”

On average, the dog owner respondents were willing to spend $7,271.24 more than the cat owner respondents. On average, dog owners stated they’d be willing to spend $10,725.46, while cat owners reported $3,454.22. However, when the question was posed to owners of both cats and dogs, the numbers evened out significantly. Owners of both cats and dogs reported being willing to spend only $192.84 more to treat their dogs, with hypothetical expenditures for each pet exceeding the $10,000 mark.

Taking the research further, the LendEDU poll asked the same two groups (dog owners and cat owners) how much they spent on their pets each year, including “food, toys, healthcare, etc.” Dog owners reported spending $2,033.60 annually, while cat owners reported spending $1,042.53, a difference of $991.07. However, when the group of owners with both cats and dogs was asked the same question, they reported spending more on their cats—$86.85 more, to be exact.