Survey: Pets, Allergies, and Dating—Where Modern Romance Gets Complicated

A cute pet pic in a dating profile can do a lot. It can earn an instant like, spark a conversation or quietly signal something about who a person is. But for a meaningful share of daters, that same photo comes with complications.

Hily surveyed 2,900 Gen Z and Millennial American daters to find out how pets—and pet allergies—shape modern dating. From profile decisions to relationship dealbreakers, the results show that animals are a bigger factor in romantic compatibility than most people probably expect.

Here are some key findings from our survey:

• 65% of Gen Z and 55% of Millennial daters instantly want to like someone’s profile if it features a cute pet
• 67% of American daters have a pet…and 82% of them would choose their pet over a partner if it came down to it
• Nearly 1 in 4 daters with pet allergies wouldn’t go out with someone whose pet they’re allergic to
• 78% of daters with pet allergies would take medication regularly to keep dating a pet owner they really like

A Pet in the Profile Goes a Long Way

A pet photo isn’t just a nice touch—for many daters, it’s a deciding factor. In fact, 65% of Gen Z and 55% of Millennial daters say they’d instantly like someone’s profile if it features a cute pet. Whatever it signals—warmth, responsibility, a keen sense of what makes a good photo—it’s working.

And the consensus is that pet owners should lean into it. According to 63% of Gen Z and 57% of Millennial daters, people should show their pets in their profiles if those animals are genuinely part of their daily life. If your pet is your BFF, it probably belongs in your bio.

The Allergy Problem Nobody Is Talking About

Of those surveyed, 16% of American daters reported having pet allergies. That’s not a small number in the dating pool.

And that allergy isn’t something to keep secret: 71% of daters think it’s important to disclose pet allergies in a dating profile. The logic is straightforward—if someone’s cat is going to be a problem, it’s better to know early.

Regardless of what people say they want, only 1 in 10 daters with allergies actually mention them in their bio. There’s a clear gap between what people think should happen and what they’re actually doing. Perhaps disclosing an allergy feels like leading with a limitation, something many daters might hesitate to do.

That hesitation makes more sense when you consider that 36% of daters who are allergic to pets worry that could be enough to lower their chances of matching with someone they like. If an allergy feels like a liability, keeping it off your profile is a calculated move, even if it creates problems later.

Cute Pet or a Hard Stop?

Of those daters with pet allergies, 35% say they’ve hesitated to like someone’s profile specifically because of a pet that’s in it. A pet in a pic isn’t just cute content—for a meaningful share of people, it’s information that changes the calculus.

Nearly 1 in 4 daters with pet allergies say they wouldn’t go out with someone if they found out that person has a pet they’re allergic to. A shared connection apparently has its limits, and for some, a cat or dog is where they draw the line.

When Feelings Are Stronger Than Symptoms

But having a pet isn’t a dealbreaker for most people: 78% of daters with pet allergies say they’d be willing to take allergy medication regularly to keep seeing someone they really liked. If the connection is strong enough, sneezing becomes a manageable inconvenience.

Almost 1 in 5 daters with pet allergies would go even further—they’d hide their allergy altogether to avoid the conversation. It’s a short-term solution with obvious long-term complications, but the impulse to avoid rocking the boat early in a relationship is clearly real.

Don’t Ask Them to Choose

Of those surveyed, 67% of American daters have a pet. That’s a supermajority, which means that for most daters, a partner’s relationship with animals isn’t just a far-fetched hypothetical. It’s a real possibility.

And when pet owners are pushed to choose, the answer is pretty decisive. A whopping 82% say they’d choose their pet over a partner if it came down to it. That’s not a close call for most people.

Even if their partner’s health is the issue, 75% of pet-owning daters say they’d stop dating someone who asked them to give up their pet because of allergies. Asking someone to rehome an animal is, for most pet owners, a dealbreaker.

The Unspoken Competition

Not everyone surveyed is a pet owner, and their perspective is worth noting. For those without pets, 33% say they feel that dating a pet owner means accepting they’ll never come first. Whether that’s a reasonable concern or an overgeneralization probably depends on the relationship, but the sentiment is there.

It seems that daters who don’t own pets are well-aware of where pet owners’ priorities lie—34% say they wouldn’t pursue someone who seemed more emotionally attached to their animal than to people. The line between “loves their pet” and “loves their pet more than you” isn’t always obvious from a profile, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.

Pets, Partners and Priorities

Pets have been part of people’s lives for tens of thousands of years. In modern dating, they’re increasingly part of the decision-making process on both sides.

For pet owners, the animal in their profile is a point of pride that does double-duty as filtering out people who would rather avoid pets. For daters with allergies, it’s a complication that most are navigating in secret. And for daters who simply don’t own an animal, a partner’s pet raises questions about where they’ll eventually land in the pecking order.

None of this is new, exactly. But it’s becoming ever more visible, one profile photo at a time.

The methodology

Hily’s research team surveyed 2,900 Gen Z and Millennial daters in the United States to explore how pets and pet allergies shape modern dating. The study examined attitudes toward pets in dating profiles, whether pet ownership affects attraction and matching decisions, how daters with pet allergies navigate disclosure, and how both pet owners and non-pet owners think about compatibility, priorities and potential dealbreakers in relationships.

About Hily

Hily (pronounced like ‘highly’) is a dating app designed to connect singles with new people while supporting them in remaining authentic. Short for “Hey, I Like You,” it invites users to have fun and not look for a perfect match.

By encouraging everyone to date as they are, Hily is breaking one of the biggest curses of online dating—feeling pressured to hide your true self. Praising self-exploration, self-acceptance, open-mindedness, and inclusivity, the app helps people put real connections first and keep competition at bay by unlocking their unique, fabulous selves. With features like icebreakers, compatibility checks, messaging, Major Crush, and zodiac synastry, Hily helps users express who they really are and connect in genuine ways.

Launched in 2017, Hily has become one of the top 10 dating apps in US app stores, with over 42 million users worldwide.