Talk about a loaded question.

But that’s exactly what Lendedu, an online marketplace for student loan refinancing, decided to ask pet owners in a recent survey.

They ran two separate polls. First, they asked people who only owned a dog this question: How much would you be willing to spend to save your dog from a life-threatening illness or disease? Then they asked people who only owned a cat the same question.

It turned out, based on their sample, that dog owners were willing to spend significantly more to save their pet’s life than cat owners. How much more?

Around $7,000 more.

Specifically, dog owners were willing to spend $10,725 on medical treatment if it meant saving their pet’s life. Cat owners said they’d pay $3,454

But before we get sidetracked into a debate about who loves their pets more, dog owners or cat owners, consider another intriguing statistic.

When Lendedu put that same question to people who owned both a cat and a dog, the cat love shot up. Way up.

People who owned both a cat and a dog were willing to spend $10,200 to save their cat’s life. Almost as much as they would to save their dog’s life, at $10,392

In general, the people who owned only a dog spent more on their dog, at an average of $2,033 a year, than people who owned only a cat, who reported spending an annual average of $1,042.

That jibes with figures on the average cost of pet ownership compiled by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The ASPCA estimates the average first-year ownership cost of a large dog at $2,008, and the average first-year ownership cost of a cat at $1,174.

Interestingly, people in the Lendedu survey who owned both a cat and a dog estimated that they spend more money in general on their cat than their dog. An average of $1,501 a year on their cat, versus an average of $1,415 a year on their dog. Those figures include money spent on healthcare, food, and toys.

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