In the pet stakes, it’s still reigning cats and dogs

In the perennial argument about which pet makes you happiest — cats or dogs — the data is in. And it looks like dogs are the winners.

Dogs are far and away the most popular pet with almost one in two Australians owning one.

In the perennial argument about which pet makes you happiest — cats or dogs — the data is in. And it looks like dogs are the winners.

Yet if pet owners think the pet-less are missing out on a chance for greater fulfilment, they might want to think again.

The HILDA survey has for the first time surveyed more than 17,000 people about pet ownership, finding 62 per cent of Australians own one, with dogs far and away the most popular pet — almost one in two Australians owns a dog. Among pet owners, 72 per cent are dog owners and 37 per cent are cat owners; 24 per cent of people own two or more types of pet.

Yet owning a pet is no guarantee of higher wellbeing.

“Somewhat surprisingly, pet owners are 2.6 percentage points more likely to report being in poor mental health than people who do not own a pet,” the report finds.

It’s particularly bad news for cat owners. People who own a cat report slightly worse life satisfaction than those with a dog and are more likely to report poor mental health while those who own cats and dogs report even lower wellbeing.

“Those with a dog and a cat are 1.8 and 3.2 percentage points more likely to report poor general health and poor mental health, respectively, relative to people with only a dog (but no cat), it says.

Melbourne Institute research fellow and report co-author Ferdi Botha said it was important not to confuse causation and correlation. “We don’t think cats actually lower your wellbeing,’’ Dr Botha said.

“It seems more likely that people who have lower wellbeing to begin with are more likely to own cats; it is quite possible their wellbeing would be even lower if they did not own a cat.”

People who own a cat but no dog, are more likely to be over 65, male, renters and city dwellers than people who own a dog and no cat. Dog owners are richer on average than cat owners. And Victorians are more likely to have a cat but no dog, whereas those more likely to own a dog but no cat are in NSW and Queensland.