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We love our dogs. This is Teddy. He is a cockapoo. He’s 10 years old and I love him to death, even though he costs me a lot of money. I’m not the only one.
Spending on our pets has actually gone up 25% in the last 5 years. In fact, we are spending about $60 billion on our pets just this year, and that number is going up and up and up.
Why do we do it? Studies have shown that owning a pet has been shown to lower your blood pressure, reduce risks of depression. There are both physical and mental health benefits.
But I think part of it is also that the pet industry, they see that Americans are willing to fork out big bucks on our pets so they are rolling out lots of new products.
But by far the largest expenditure is food. We’ve seen age-specific, breed-specific, vitamin-infused foods, enhanced foods for pets. Teddy, for example, is on a food for older dogs.
It’s incredible. He has a whole bin full of wonderful toys, and the tennis ball is his absolute favorite.
So the big question with all of this spending going on: Is it worth it? Turns out, owning a pet is not just cheaper than a mortgage, it’s cheaper than therapy.
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