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Parents often go without in order to provide for their kids – enjoy fewer dinners out to pay for piano lessons, trade a relaxing night in for an evening on the sidelines at soccer practice, that sort of thing. But a recent survey says that most pet parents are willing to do the same for their fur kids.
A survey conducted by grey healthcare group found that 89% of pet owners in the US and 91% in Europe are willing to give up a vacation to pay for a pet’s surgery. That’s not surprising, considering that the survey also found that 30% of pet owners, both here and in Europe, consider their pets to be their children and 60% say pets are very important to their happiness.
So how do pet owners decide if their pet needs medical attention – and if that vacation may need to be delayed? Most owners, about two-thirds of us, consider our pets’ vets as our most trusted source of information about our pets’ health. The second most-trusted source for pet health information is… the internet. Over half of us, 59%, look online for facts about our fur kid’s health.
The survey found a few other interesting points:
• Approximately half of all money spent on pets in the US and Europe is spent on vet visits and prevention.
• Over half of American pet owners (54%) would buy a supplement for their pet rather than for themselves.
• Pets in the United Kingdom have the most money spent on them – over $1,200 each year – than pets in any other country surveyed. Germans and American spend an average of $864 annually on pets, while the French spend an average of $799 per year.
None of this is too surprising. We take in dogs as members of our family, who have their own beds (when they’re not sharing ours), wardrobes and food. And food can be expensive – feeding a large dog requires its own category in the family budget. But for all they give us - companionship, amusement, unconditional love - is it any wonder we want to give them the best in return? Even when it requires some sacrifice? Not at all - we do it gladly.
If you liked this, you might also like:
What Does Your Big Dog Say About Your Career?
Choosing The Best Dry Dog Food
Paw Protectors For Dogs
Photo by falsedan on Flickr and used with Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
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