It's raving cats and dogs.
I was directed toward this article in The Washington Times regarding a study from the American Veterinary Medical Association. I can't find the study on the AVMA site, but in essence, it it claims that dog owners love their dogs more than cat owners love their cats, based on 3 criteria: number of vet visits per year, amount of time spent with the animal, and amount of money spent on the animal.
The article made my blood boil. I think it's bunk, and some of the comparisons seem ridiculous and unfair. In many ways, comparing cats to dogs is like comparing, well...cats to dogs. I want to address the 3 areas of the study one at a time. Because it's my journal. And I can.
Yes, this part, about cat owners taking their pets to the vet less often than dog owners (half as often, according to the study), seems alarming at first glance and probably needs to be addressed in the cat-owned community. But I feel like there's something else to it that I'm not seeing. Unless we're talking about puppies and kittens that need specific vaccine series, a healthy, non-accident-prone cat should need the same number of vet visits as a healthy, non-accident-prone dog - 1 per year, right?
Are dogs more prone to illness and injury than cats? Are dog owners quicker about making an appointment at the first hint of trouble? This doesn't mean that cat owners love their cats less. My dad has names for parents who call the pediatrician every time their kid sniffles, and those names are not kind. It's important to know when to take your animal to the vet, but it's equally important to know when a snuffle is just a snuffle. Constantly taking your pet to the vet's office when it's not needed places unnecessary stress on the poor dear.
The "time spent with the animal" part is where I would love to read the study, to see what the authors meant. This is where cat owners could come out looking pretty bad - and pretty unfairly, because a flat minute-to-minute comparison doesn't work. When the authors of the study said "time spent with," did they only mean active interaction, or does "time spent near" count, too?
If Mister Brown jumps into my lap and falls asleep, you better believe I consider that "time spent with" him. But if only "play time" counts, then cats are always going to look like the losers, when the comparison isn't valid. My co-worker says of her dog, "If Sophie doesn't get an hour of play time before bed, she doesn't sleep." Before-bed playtime with Mister Brown lasts about 20 minutes - then he gets bored and wanders away. That doesn't mean that leorathesane and I love Mister Brown less than RaeAnn loves Sophie. Knowing when he's done playing and letting him be is a more loving interaction than forcing him to keep playing just to rack up the minutes.
If you know me, you can guess that the "money spent on pet" portion got me hottest under the collar. It's reflective of our society's flawed "money + stuff = love" equation. Saying that cat owners love our pets less than dog owners because we spend less money on them is one of the most ridiculous and offensive things I've heard in some time.
First off, from what I've seen, dog things are more expensive than cat things. Dog boarding at the Animal Humane Society is $25 per day. Cat boarding is $13 per day. If I board my cat and you board your dog for the same number of days, I'll pay less. How the hell does that equate to me loving my cat less than you love your dog?
It's not just grooming. Dog food costs more than cat food. Dog toys cost more than cat toys. A lot of cat toys also come 2 or 4 to a pack. I can't think of many dog toys that come 4 to a pack.
Secondly, the study doesn't address the fact that many cats' favorite toy didn't come from the pet store. Mister Brown is obsessed with twist-ties - especially the wide ones from grocery store bulk bins. It doesn't matter how many store-bought toys are scattered around the room; if Mister Brown gets a twist-tie, that's the only thing in the world as far as he's concerned. Patches Em, my childhood cat, loved nothing in the world more than the plastic rings off of milk jugs.
Gina Spadafori, an animal behaviorist and co-author of Cats for Dummies, runs a website called Pet Connection. She once asked cat owners what their cats' favorite toys were. 7 of the top 10 vote-getters were common household items like pen caps and paper towel rolls. The study doesn't consider the possibility that not only do cat owners treat our animals every bit as well as dog owners do, but that we're also very creative about what form that treatment takes.
I adamantly oppose the "I buy you stuff to prove I love you" mentality, and it's just as insidious when the recipient is a pet as when it's a human. Yeah, we may have work to do on the veterinary care front. But don't tell me I don't love my little man as much as the dog owner down the street loves his just because I don't buy him as much "stuff."