Link: Pet ownership, spending on the rise.
There's an interesting article in the Palm Beach Post that is based on the latest American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) National Pet Owners Survey. If you are a dog or cat lover, the overall theme is obvious - more and more people are experiencing the joys of a household pet and they are spending more and more money on their pets.
Some interesting facts from the article:
- pet ownership is at an all-time high with about 63 percent of all U.S. households owning a pet. That means more than 69 million households own 73 million dogs and 90 million cats (plus fish, guinnea pigs, etc.). Compare that to 64 million households in 2002 and 51 million in 1988
- Three-quarters of dog owners consider their dog like a child or family member and more than half of cat owners say the same.
- Obesity is a concern among pet owners. The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences estimates at least 25 percent of dogs and cats are obese, making reduced calorie foods an important new market.
Alternative health care, especially homeopathic remedies, is on the rise, up to 3 percent from 2 for dogs and up to 9 percent from 2 percent for cats.
The number of dog and cat owners who have health insurance for their pets has increased from 2 percent to 3 percent of dog owners and to over one percent of cat owners, up from less than one percent in 2002.
This last statement does not fit with the number of pet insurance policies that have been sold and looks to me overly optimistic; however, I'll see what I can do to put some numbers together on it to check where the US market actually is.
