📊 Am I Normal?
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🐾 Pets

How attached am I to my pet?

90% of pet owners consider their pet a family member — but attachment intensity varies dramatically.

Rate each statement 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Your score updates live.

1My pet is one of the most important beings in my life — I'd rank them alongside family.
2I talk to my pet as if they understand every word I say.
3My mood is strongly affected by how my pet is feeling or behaving.
4I go out of my way to buy special food, toys, or treats for my pet.
5I would cancel plans or change my schedule to care for my pet if needed.
6I research the best products, food, and veterinary care for my pet.
7I monitor my pet's health closely and notice small changes in behavior.
8I feel anxious or uneasy when I'm away from my pet for more than a day.
9I find it very hard to leave my pet with someone else, even someone I trust.
10The thought of losing my pet someday causes me significant distress right now.

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What is pet attachment?

Pet attachment describes the emotional bond between a human and their animal companion. The Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), developed by Johnson, Garrity, and Stallones in 1992, was one of the first validated instruments to measure this bond. Research consistently shows that 90% of pet owners consider their pet a family member, but the intensity of attachment varies significantly based on personality, living situation, and the owner's attachment style with humans.

Attachment theory applied to pets

John Bowlby's attachment theory, originally developed for parent-child relationships, has been extended to human-animal bonds. Zilcha-Mano et al. (2011) demonstrated that people form attachment bonds with pets that parallel their human attachment styles:

  • Secure attachment: Enjoy the bond, feel comfortable with closeness, and can tolerate separation
  • Anxious attachment: Worry excessively about the pet's wellbeing, struggle with separation, and seek constant proximity
  • Avoidant attachment: Keep emotional distance even from a pet, may under-invest in the relationship

Three sub-scales in this quiz

  • Emotional Bond (items 1-3): How central your pet is to your emotional world — family status, anthropomorphism, and mood linkage
  • Caregiving (items 4-7): Your investment in your pet's welfare — special purchases, schedule flexibility, health research, and behavioral monitoring
  • Separation Anxiety (items 8-10): Your distress when separated from your pet — unease during absence, difficulty delegating care, and anticipatory grief

When attachment becomes problematic

Strong pet attachment is generally healthy — it's associated with lower cortisol, reduced loneliness, and better cardiovascular health. However, extreme attachment can become problematic when it interferes with human relationships, causes debilitating anticipatory grief, or prevents normal activities. The Separation Anxiety sub-scale helps distinguish healthy bonding from anxious over-attachment.

Population norms

  • Average score: ~28/50 across pet owners
  • Women score ~15% higher than men on most pet attachment scales
  • People living alone score higher than those in multi-person households
  • Dog owners score slightly higher than cat owners on caregiving, but cat owners score equally on emotional bond

Sources: Johnson, Garrity & Stallones (1992, LAPS development), Zilcha-Mano et al. (2011, attachment styles and pets), Barcelos et al. (2020, pet attachment and wellbeing), Applebaum et al. (2020, COVID-era pet bonding).