Pet or Partner? 35% Would Pick the Pet and 22% Would Seriously Consider It

There’s a new dating dealbreaker in the mainstream conversation, and you may well have it on your own list.

In the U.S., 71% of households, almost three-fourths, have a pet, so pet owners are firmly in the majority. Ask most of them and they’ll tell you their pets are family, and they may even call themselves pet parents. Some animal lovers, though, go further than others for their favorite creatures, to the point of passing up a shot at true love and romance.

35% of Americans told the Love, Pets & Partnership Survey, a recent poll, that they’d walk away from a relationship on the spot if their partner demanded they part with their pet. A further 22% said they’d seriously think about doing so.

Pets now carry real weight in modern romance; some daters are even considering a “pet prenup” so they keep custody of shared animals if they break up. Naturally, then, daters don’t take pet ultimatums lightly.

Faced with a choose-me-or-the-pet demand, women were likelier than men to say they’d end the relationship (38% vs. 32%). Daters are also sidestepping such ultimatums entirely by dating fellow pet lovers who own the same kind of animal.

Dog owners had the strongest preference for their own kind: 68% want to date someone who also has a dog, while 48% of cat owners want a partner with a cat. That gives “Are you a dog or cat person?” a whole new level of meaning.

21% of Americans Have Turned Down a Love Interest Over a Pet, and Men Do It More Often Than Women

Pet ultimatums aren’t merely hypothetical; they’re playing out in real life. Our survey found that over 1 in 5 Americans (21%) have passed on someone they genuinely liked because of that person’s pet.

Women are likelier to end things to protect their own pets, but men are likelier to turn down a love interest over the other person’s pet (25% vs. 17%).

By generation, 12% of millennials said a dog could lead them to reject someone, versus 8% of Gen X and almost 9% of Gen Z.

America’s most devoted pet owners? People with both dogs and cats win that title. Among owners of both:

• 67% would break up, or give it serious thought, before parting with their pets
• 43% have stayed with a partner longer than they wanted to, just so they could keep seeing a pet
• 25% have ended a relationship because their pet disliked the person

Relationship status plays a role as well. Singles put their pets first more often than people in relationships: 65% said they’d end a relationship, or think about ending it, if a partner didn’t like their pets.

Surprisingly, 50% of married respondents agreed, a sign that the bond with a pet can outweigh even long-term commitments such as marriage.

2 in 3 Americans Have Adjusted Their Lives for a Partner’s Pet, From Cleaning and Scheduling to Allergy Shots

Some people will reject a love interest over a pet, but others are happy to adapt. Almost two-thirds (68%) of Americans admitted they’d made at least one lifestyle change to make room for a partner’s pet.

The top change? More frequent cleaning.

Here’s how the most common adjustments break down among people dating pet owners:

• 37% clean more often
• 29% bought air purifiers
• 22% reworked their daily schedule
• 22% changed their travel or social plans
• 20% started allergy medication or allergy shots
• Just 21% of respondents won’t make any changes at all

Our findings show daters overhauling their routines in serious ways for a partner’s pet, from taking medication to reshuffling their schedules. Then again, what’s love without compromise?

New York City’s mayor might just be the ultimate example of love and compromise: Zohran Mamdani said he began a course of allergy shots so he and his wife can at last bring a cat into Gracie Mansion, proof that he’s willing to change for love.

Among people who changed their routines for pets, we saw clear gender differences. In nearly every category, men were likelier than women to adapt:

• cleaning more or making other adjustments (41% vs. 34%) for a partner’s pet;
• buying air purifiers (32% vs. 25%);
• reshuffling how they socialize (25% vs. 19%)

Across generations, millennials were the most willing to adapt for a pet:

• Millennials: 79%
• Gen Z: 75%
• Gen X: 67%
• Boomers: 53%

For daters, pets matter as much as the search for love, if not more. And it appears that the more open singles are to adapting for a prospective partner’s pet, the better their relationships may turn out.

Pets Now Figure Into Every Stage of Modern Relationships

Every owner keeps a special spot in their heart for their pets, one that can even outrank romance. Many Americans treat pets as a relationship priority, a test of loyalty, and at times the deciding factor in whether things move forward.

In today’s dating culture, pets hold plenty of sway, so daters should think about how far they’ll bend for a potential partner’s pet. Pets are family, after all, and that bond can’t be replaced.

Methodology

Prodege fielded this survey, which gathered answers from a total of 1,498 U.S. adults aged 18 to 79, whether single, married, or in a relationship. Its sample is broadly distributed by gender, age, and U.S. region. Fieldwork wrapped up in March 2026. For a probability sample this size, the theoretical margin of error comes to ±2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.