Graduates prefer cats to dogs

Domestic populations of cats and dogs may have increased by eight million in 20 years
12 April 2012

Clever people are more likely to own cats than dogs, a study has revealed as it emerged that domestic populations of both animals may have risen by eight million in 20 years.

People with degrees were found to favour cats - possibly because longer working hours leave less time to devote to a dog, researchers said.

Cats and dogs are among the most popular pets in the UK but their population estimates were last published in scientific peer-reviewed journal in 1989.

It that time there were found to be 6.2 million cats and 6.4 million dogs owned by the nation. Today there are around 10.3 million cats and 10.5 millions dogs in Britain's homes, according to long-term study by the University of Bristol.

Around 26% of households own cats and 31% dogs, the figures showed. The research was based on three sources - A telephone survey of nearly 3,000 households in 2007, the latest census of 2001, and the most recent figures on numbers and sizes of households, from 2006.

The full findings are published in the Veterinary Record by Dr Jane Murray of university's Department of Clinical Veterinary Science. Cats were more likely to be owned by households with gardens, semi-urban and rural households, households with someone qualified to degree level, and respondents who were female and those less than 65 years old. They were less likely to be owned by households with one or more dogs, while the likelihood of dog ownership increased as the household size increased.

Dogs were more likely to be owned by households with gardens, rural households and less likely to be owned by households with someone educated to degree level and households with cats or children aged less than 11 years. Women and people aged under 55 were more likely to report dog ownership. Dogs were less likely to be owned by households with one or more cats.

Dr Jane Murray, Cats Protection Lecturer in Feline Epidemiology, said the increase was mainly due to a rise in the UK population as a whole.

She added: "The study has shown many common factors relating to cat and dog ownership, such as a garden and rural location, but it has also identified some notable differences. In particular, the difference in the level of education achieved by a household owning cats and dogs.

"The reason for this association is unclear. It is unlikely to be related to household income as this variable was not shown to be significant but it could be related to household members with longer working hours having less time available to care for a dog. Past reports have suggested that the number of pet cats exceeds the number of pet dogs in the UK. However, results from our study suggest that there are similar numbers of pet cats and dogs."

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