Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X & Boomers Have Very Different Ideas Of How To Treat A Cat
O. Kalacheva / Shutterstock It seems like you can't scroll any social media platform these days without seeing an infinite number of closely cropped pictures and silly videos of just about everyone's favorite pets. While dogs tend to pop up a bit more often, there's no denying that cats are also getting in on the action.
More than 46 million households across the U.S. are homes to beloved cats, but that doesn't mean their owners all agree about how someone should treat those furry little creatures once they have them. Older people may be more inclined to see their fluffy felines as cherished home companions, but younger people are practically obsessed, thinking of their cats as their babies and giving them pretty extravagant lives.
Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers all have their different ideas of how you should treat your pet cat.
Boomers treat cats like any other pet that they love but aren’t obsessed with.
Boomers tend to see the world from a more traditional perspective, and that translates to how they treat their cats. They tend to be practical pet owners who don’t understand the hype about treating cats like fur babies or making dedicated social media accounts for them.
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Instead, they see their cats as nothing more than pets, or possibly as companions. With just 42% of boomers owning cats, the lowest number of any generation, it seems like they aren’t huge fans of felines.
Baby boomers grew up during a time when cats were considered more emotionally distant than dogs, so they don’t expect to have a super close bond with them. They certainly do their duty to take care of them as pet owners, but they don’t go above and beyond to make them the center of their world like younger people do.
Gen X values their cats as friends and companions and is willing to spend a lot of money taking care of them.
Gen X is pretty similar to boomers when they come to their feline housemates, because they primarily think of cats as pets rather than as family members. They are also more likely to own more cats than their parents' generation.
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What’s interesting is how much money they’re willing to spend on their feline friends. Gen X spends more on caring for pets than any other generation, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They are even willing to go as far as spending nearly $6,000 to save their cat’s life if necessary.
Gen X isn’t quite willing to think of their cats as children, but they still pamper them. They are more likely to see their pets as their best friends, and they are willing to put their hard-earned resources toward taking care of them.
Millennials prove how much they love their cats by treating them like family members.
Millennials are truly in a league of their own as proud cat parents. Research shows that millennials prefer cats over dogs and that they feel like their cats are just as important to them as their human friends.
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Members of this generation also said they would definitely take their cat’s well-being into consideration when deciding where to live. If they needed to drop a lot of money on their cat’s health, they would be willing to take out a loan or even sell their car.
While cats are usually considered more independent pets, millennials take them everywhere. There are more pet-friendly places for them to go than there were for boomers and Gen X at their age, and they take full advantage of that because they genuinely see their cats as beloved family members.
Gen Z is nothing short of obsessed with their cats and will go to great lengths to take care of them.
Gen Z loves their cats as much as millennials do, if not somehow more. Cat ownership is exploding among this generation, and they feel like they have a closer relationship with them, too. They truly think of their cats as their children, with many even saying they feel like owning a cat is a good practice run before having a baby.
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It’s not surprising that Gen Z spends a lot of money on their cats’ care, outspending older people on expenses like pet insurance to grooming. In fact, 18% of Gen Z actually said they would sell one of their organs to be able to pay for their cat’s medical care.
Cats may have a reputation for being less friendly than dogs, but that doesn’t seem to bother Gen Z. They think their cats are fascinating, and their sometimes mysterious behavior just adds to that. They take excellent care of their cats and love showing them off on social media, so much so that older generations feel confused at times.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
