'Pets' The Way To A More Perfect Marriage
They were everywhere.
Cool cats perched on top of backpacks, curled around shoulders, dozed in arms, or slumbered in strollers and prams as their besotted owners carted them through the huge exhibition halls at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre here. Cats in vendor booths loafed and purred, accepting scritches and pets from visitors at the Cat Expo 2025, held in October.
And in the halls and hallways of the expo, the furkids – what many pet owners call their pets – outnumbered the children who accompanied their parents.
Pets are popular in Malaysia and pet ownership is increasing in popularity. On their website, the organisers of Cat Expo 2025 reported that the number of exhibitors and vendors has increased, along with visitors.
Kadence International, a market research company, reported that Malaysians spend about US$500 (RM2,039.50) annually on pets. Cats are the most popular pets in the country, comprising almost 80 percent of pets, according to Standard Insight’s 2023 Consumer Report Malaysia.
To Sumitha Shaanthini Kishna, ‘parent’ to two dogs and a cat, it is a sign of the times.
“When birth rates decline, pet ownership rises. I’m part of the trend,” the 51-year-old human rights lawyer said with a laugh.
Like the rest of the world, Malaysian birth rates are declining, with 1.4 babies born to women under 20 years old in the first quarter of 2025, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia. It is also at a crossroads – the population is ageing even as the fertility rate declines, reflecting Malaysia’s growing prosperity.
In Sumitha’s case, these points certainly hit home. Other than her furkids, she is also taking care of her elderly aunt, who has dementia. Having children with her partner Kuganeson ‘Neson’ Poologasingam, 53, would have been “too much” on top of everything else.
The idea that people are choosing pets over having babies is a popular stereotype, but it may be misleading. Instead, research shows pets serve to fill a void, rather than driving the low fertility rate. New research also found that they may help strengthen marriages and families.
THICK AND THIN
“Among the many popular explanations, the rise of companion animals has captured public imagination, often portrayed as substitutes for children or as complements in family formation,” wrote the authors of an October 2025 research paper titled ‘Cats, Dogs and Babies: Quasi-Experimental Evidence on Substitutes or Complements’ from the Linked Administrative Records study [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=56].
The researchers argue that the conventional wisdom may be wrong, at least in Taiwan, which has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. By analysing millions of pet and birth registrations in Taiwan, they found that couples who owned pets, especially dogs, were more likely to go on to have children than those who did not.
Rather than replacing children, the researchers found that pets often preceded them, functioning as a kind of “starter family”. Researchers concluded that pet ownership appeared to offer a lower-stakes rehearsal for couples contemplating parenthood, namely, a way to test the rhythms of care, responsibility and sacrifice before committing to raising a child.
Malaysia does not require pet registration of cats and most other pets, which makes it hard to determine whether the Taiwan example applies to Malaysia. Local laws require pet dogs to be licensed.
For Sharifah Adrinni, who works in the oil and gas industry, and her fiance Afieq Danial, the findings of the Taiwan study ring true. To them, their cats are family, with all the joys and sacrifices that come with it. Together, they adopted five cats, who live with Sharifah in her apartment.
Recently, they lost their six-year-old cat named Bresco after more than a month in the intensive care unit at a veterinary hospital in Ampang. To pay for Bresco’s care, they used their wedding savings.
Sharifah told Bernama her parents thought she was insane to spend that much money on a cat, but it was a no-brainer as far as the owners were concerned.
“He (was) our first baby,” she said, her eyes glistening. “He really meant the world to me.”
Afieq agreed, saying their cats were “family members and not an inconvenience”.
Sharifah said having cats together with her fiance is helping prepare them for married life and children. She also said going through this hardship early on gives them early insight into each other’s commitment.
The Taiwan study also found that pets play an important role as emotional and social support for those transitioning to a new normal following major life changes such as divorce or loss of a spouse or child.
MODERN LIFE
While the above research finds that couples in Taiwan owning pets together have a higher fertility rate than non-pet-owning couples, pets help fill the void.
Previous research has found benefits in pet ownership, including reducing pet owners’ stress levels and increasing feel-good hormones such as oxytocin and serotonin, lowering blood pressure and heart rate, and reducing depression, anxiety and loneliness.
In the case of Sumitha and Neson, their pets -- dogs Casper and Bleu, and cat Kitty -- are their children, and they have no plans to add a human version.
“I lost interest in having kids when I was in my 30s. I was planning not to have children, I just didn’t want any,” she said.
Rather than viewing her decision not to have children as “selfish”, Sumitha saw it as ethical, saying children required a lot of time and financial commitment that they were unable to fulfil.
“I’m also not prepared for all that responsibility … there are a lot of other influences, social media, school, peers and things like that.”
But one thing in the Taiwan study they can relate to is that having pets has strengthened their relationship and provided emotional support.
Sumitha’s father passed away in 2023 from cancer and adopting Kitty, who was her father’s cat, has been a great source of comfort.
“She’s a link to my father,” she said.
