Pet families by numbers

Pets are central to the lives of many of us. Studying the composition of a pet family comes with very interesting insights. Do we usually have just one pet or more? Are most homes, dog-only or cat-only or a cats and dogs living together is common? It is common for pets of different gender to live together?

This report examines the composition of pet-families which we define as “pets living under the same roof”. The analysis provides very insightful information and corrects many wrong beliefs. The results focus on Dogs and Cats. The rest of the species are included in the “Others” category.

Multi-species culture?

Are we really either “dog people” or “cat people” or it is common for families to have both dogs and cats? What about other species? Actually, the terms “dog-person” and “cat-person” are there for a reason. 88% of us have either only dogs or only cats. 6% of the homes have only other species, that is, neither nor a cat. As for the homes that host more than one species, they are just 1 out of 16, i.e. 6%.

Dog-only homes

Dog-only homes are the most common scenario among the homes with pets. Actually, they represent two of every three cases. The question is how many dogs are in these houses. Do most of these dogs live alone or they are accompanied by other dogs?

The vast majority of the dog-only homes have only one dog. A 13% of these homes has two dogs. An even smaller percentage, a 3%, has 3 dogs whereas a 2% of lucky homes, have more than 3 dogs.

For the homes with only one dog, there is no preference between boys and girls; 50% of the single-dog homes have a boy and 50% a girl. The same 50-50 equilibrium between genders can be observed when looking at the general population of dogs.

The next natural question is the gender breakdown in the homes with multiple dogs. Actually, one might expect that a home would either have only girls or only boys. The reality however is completely different, having both girls and boys is the common case. 61% of the dog-only homes with multiple dogs, have a least one male and one female. As for the girls-only homes, they are the 24% whereas the boys-only ones are the least common accounting for a 15%.

Cat-only homes

The cat-only homes are the 22% of the homes with pets. The cat-only families have different characteristics when compared to the dog-only ones. More specifically, if a home has cats, they do tend to have more than one.

Whereas single-dog homes are 82% of the only-dog homes, this number drops to 65% for cats. Homes with 2 cats are 24% of the cat-only home with the corresponding number for dogs, being 13%. A 5% of these homes have 3 cats and finally, a 2% have more than 3.

Gender-wise the situation is quite similar between dogs-only and cat-only homes. The majority of the homes, 62% of them, have both a male and a female. As for the homes that have only cats of the same gender, there are slightly more girl-homes than boy homes (20% compared to 18%).

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