New study says early 6 in 10 households have at least one pet and when it comes to happiness, there’s not much difference between pet owners and non-owners, but when you break it down by pet type we see a big difference between dog owners, cat owners, and people with both or no pets.
Dog owners are about twice as likely as cat owners to say they’re very happy, with people owning both falling somewhere in between.
In other words, dog people are slightly happier than those without any pets.
Cat people on the other hand, are significantly less happy than the pet-less.
That being said, there are probably a number of other differences between dog and cat owners that account for some of the numbers.
The study showed that dog owners, for instance, are more likely to be married and own their own homes than cat owners, both factors known to affect happiness and life satisfaction.
There are also differences in personality: Dog owners tended to be more agreeable, more extroverted and less neurotic than cat owners.