Man’s best friend comes with a bigger price tag. Dog owners in Malaysia spend more on their pets every month and are far more likely to face a costly vet bill than cat owners — yet it’s cat owners who are more likely to actually have money set aside for it. That’s according to Versa’s Paws & Pockets Survey, an in-app poll of 10,055 Malaysians on how the country really pays for pet ownership, by Versa, Malaysia’s digital wealth and savings platform.
Dog owners are nearly twice as likely as cat owners to have paid over RM1,000 for a single vet emergency, and they pay more day-to-day, too: a much larger share of dog owners spend more than RM200 a month on food, grooming and supplies alone, compared with cat owners.
Despite the lower cost, cat owners are more likely than dog owners to have a dedicated fund or pet insurance in place for their pet’s needs — meaning the owners facing the smaller bills are, on average, better prepared for them, while dog owners carry both the higher cost and the bigger financing gap.
66% of pet owners have faced a sudden veterinary emergency, and a notable share have paid well over RM2,000 for a single incident. That exposure only grows with pet count — nearly a third of owners are caring for three or more pets at once, meaning more animals in the
household and more chances for an unplanned bill to land.
Most covered the bill out of personal savings, with a smaller group turning to a credit card. Far fewer had a dedicated pet fund or pet insurance to draw on instead, and some said they simply couldn’t afford it.
Whatever the pet, the underlying issue is the same: 91% of pet owners overall say their pet is a member of the family, not just a companion animal, but most haven’t backed that bond with a plan. The majority have no dedicated fund, savings, or insurance set aside, leaving them to cover costs out of whatever cash is on hand when something goes wrong.
That gap shows up in owners’ own budgets, too. A clear majority say they’ve had to cut back on their own personal spending to pay for their pet and even say it happens regularly rather than once in a while. Feeding, grooming and everyday supplies alone push most owners well past RM150 a month per pet — before any medical costs are added in.
“Ninety-one percent of us call our pets family. Only a fraction of us have actually planned for what that family member might cost in an emergency. That gap isn’t about people not caring — it’s about caring never being backed by a plan.” said Teoh Wei Xiang, CEO and Co-Founder of Versa.
The Versa Paws & Pockets Survey polled 10,055 respondents in Malaysia between July and August 2026 via the Versa app, covering pet ownership, spending habits, and veterinary emergencies. Figures are based on self-reported responses; percentages are rounded and calculated against the relevant respondent base for each question (pet-ownership questions are based on the 4,872 respondents who currently own a pet). Cat-owner and dog-owner figures compare respondents who own only a cat (2,903) with those who own only a dog (1,324), excluding households with both.
