50% of Americans Cancel Plans to Hang out With Their Pets — Are You One of Them?

Nothing beats quality time with pets — including, it turns out, quality time with pretty much anyone else. We all love our human friends and family, but our pets have some winning qualities: They don’t judge us, they don’t talk during our favorite TV shows, and we don’t need to spend Uber money to get to them. If you’ve chosen to bail on friends to hang with your four-legged BFF instead, new research finds you’re far from alone.

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 pet parents, and they found that nearly half, 48 percent, of people have canceled plans with friends or family to spend time with their pet instead. And not just once, either; they’ve prioritized pet-time an average of five times in their pet’s life.

Friendly hangs aren’t the only thing pet parents are bailing on. The survey also found that 30 percent have called out of work to spend more time with their dog or cat — on average, four times since bringing their pet home.

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Unlike your beau, your pup won’t interrupt the film to ask questions.

According to the data, it makes sense that pets are taking priority in their guardians’ lives — a massive 97 percent of survey respondents said that they consider their pet a member of their family. Ninety-nine percent agree it’s important to show their pets love and appreciation every day.

All that appreciation manifests in adorable ways: survey respondents call their pets nicknames an estimated 10 times a day, talk to their pet 11 times a day, play games with their dog or cat seven times a day, and sing to their pet five times a day. And even when their pet’s not around, they’re still on the mind; pet parents dwell on their pet four times a day — that’s nearly every other waking hour.