Do pet owners love dogs or cats more? The answer may surprise you

Ruff news for cats.

New research has shown that pet owners tend to favor dogs over cats as their favorites — especially in terms of doling out financial care — according to a study out of the University of Copenhagen.

“We and others have found that people are willing to spend much less on their cats than on their dogs,” lead scientist Dr. Peter Sandøe of the University of Copenhagen said in a release.

Sandøe’s research explored the pet owner behavior of more than 2,000 people in the United Kingdom, Austria and Denmark.

While all three nations invested more in dogs, it appears that Danes especially are wild about their Great Danes.

“In every country, more dog owners than cat owners were willing to spend over a certain amount, but the differences were much more pronounced in Denmark compared to the United Kingdom,” according to the research.

However, fe-line that way regarding dogs was not a “universal phenomenon,” according to Sandøe.

“We suggest instead that the difference is likely to depend on cultural factors, including whether the animals spend a lot of time with their owners in the home,” he explained. “There seems to be no natural limit to how much people will end up caring about their cats compared to their dogs.”

Brits are a prime example of that, researchers found.

“The British are often portrayed as a nation of cat lovers, which is certainly confirmed by our study. The Danes have a long way to go, but they may eventually get there.”

Recent research also drew an apparent connection between the sharper intellectual prowess of cat owners over dog owners.

Other perhaps shocking news found that many millennials love their pets more than their own family members, according to a 2022 study.