While cats "dominate in viral content and meme culture," one expert told Quartz, dogs lead the pack when it comes to a crucial influencer metric
Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images
International Dog Day falls on August 26 each year to honor and promote the wellness of pups. Two and a half weeks earlier, felines got their turn on August 8. The trendiness gulf between the two holidays begs several questions: Are you a cat or dog person? Are dog people really more agreeable? Are cat people actually less conformist? And above all else in the creator-economy age, what does the apparent dichotomy say about your potential earnings online?
According to Sprout Social, the top dog influencer — a golden named Tucker Budzyn — earns more than the leading cat influencer account — DontStopMeowing, which features several calicos; the former commands an estimated media value of $4.5 million on TikTok and $3.16 million on Instagram, while Sprout clocked the latter at $828,930 on TikTok and $259,033 on Instagram. Each of these accounts boast millions of followers on their respective platforms, yet the social-management platform reports that Budzyn draws a much higher engagement rate from his followers.
This pattern persists for the second-leading dog and cat influencers, too, with Doug the Pug’s estimated media value eclipsing Nala Cat’s, per Sprout.
“Brands pay more to influencers with high engagement rates, and dog influencers generally perform slightly better on platforms like Instagram and TikTok in this regard,” said Laya Flaherty, CEO of the pet influencer agency Urban Paws.
Flaherty tells Quartz that dog influencers are typically more financially successful than cat influencers because they’re “easier to train and pose, making them ideal for product integration.” Pups also tend to garner a broader array of sponsorship deals.
“Dogs fit naturally into lifestyle, travel, outdoor, and wellness niches," she said. “This expands their monetization channels beyond just pet-specific products.”
Yet, sometimes cat fandom still seems to eclipse dog fandom online. “Cats dominate in viral content and meme culture,” explained Flaherty, citing the enduring love for Grumpy Cat (RIP).
Plus, Flaherty added, cat pages remain fully capable of converting “highly loyal and niche audiences” into “significant income from merchandising, book deals, and brand licensing.”
Regardless of category, “petfluencers” in general are on the rise, and a March 2025 paper published in The Journal of Advertising Research even found that pet influencers “can be more persuasive” than humans.
For pet influencers and their caretakers, the apparent rivalry between cat and dog people may not even matter.
“While cat and dog influencers do compete for general social media attention," Flaherty said. "They often attract different audiences and advertisers, so the overlap is limited.”
“They share the same platforms, but tend to occupy distinct marketing niches and brand personas,” she added.
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