Spending on US Pets Reaches All-Time High in 2018

The American Pet Products Association recently released its latest pet industry spending numbers and reports that we spent a record-breaking $72.56 billion on our pets in 2018, up $3 billion from the 2017 figures.

The survey found that millennial pet owners are driving the spending, with their willingness to pay more than previous generations for quality pet products and services.

Here are a few key spending figures from the APPA survey:

• Food: $30.32 billion
• Supplies and over the counter medications: $16.01 billion
• Veterinary care: $18.11 billion
• Live animal purchases: $2.01 billion (this is down 4.3% from 2017)
• Other services (boarding, grooming, etc.): $6.11 billion

Premium brand pet foods and treats continue to be a driving factor in pet industry growth.  Other areas of growth include nutritional supplements and digital pet-related technologies.

The APPA also notes that Americans, especially millennials, are acquiring greater numbers of pets through shelters and rescues, which may account for the decrease in live animal sales.

Check out the statistics, including spending estimates for 2019, on the APPA website HERE.

 

California Bans “Easter Bunny” Sales in New Animal Welfare Law

This Easter marks the first year a new California animal welfare law designed to protect rabbits goes into effect.  California is the first state in the US to ban live rabbit sales at pet stores—an effort to cut back on the number of rabbits that are either abandoned, surrendered to shelters, or euthanized after Easter.

This is the same law that also bans the sale of commercially bred dogs and cats in pet stores.  Pet stores can still house adoptable dogs, cats, and rabbits from local animal shelters.

According to an article from Reuters, animal shelters see a spike in rabbit intakes one to three months after Easter.  The House Rabbit Society notes that thousands of rabbits, many still under one year old, are surrendered to California shelters.

Under the new law, rabbits will still be available for adoption from animal shelters and rescue groups, so California rabbit fans have the opportunity to provide a new forever home for rabbits in need!

 

Happy National Pet Day!

April 11th is National Pet Day, a great time to celebrate our pets…and to raise awareness about the many dogs, cats, and other animals waiting for their new forever families in shelters right now!

Pictured above is recent FACE Success Story Pup, a 9 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier diagnosed with intervertebral disc disease (IVDD).  Pup received life-saving spinal surgery with the help of a FACE grant and is now doing well!

 

San Diego Humane Adopts Out 84 Cockatiels Rescued from Hoarding Situation

Back in January, the San Diego Humane Society took part in a large-scale rescue operation of 84 cockatiels from a one-bedroom apartment.  The rescue made the news and many interested adopters began contacting San Diego Humane about the birds.

The cockatiels spent several weeks at the Humane Society receiving lots of TLC and were ready for adoption at the end of February.

In a very happy ending to an unfortunate hoarding story, all the birds were adopted out in the first three hours!

Check out this video for more on the cockatiel adoption success story:

 

San Diego Humane Society Shares Lost Cat Story with a Happy Ending

The San Diego Humane Society is sharing a heartwarming story about the incredible journey of a Bengal cat named Mufasa.

Five years ago, Mufasa was a kitten, living with his owners in Yuma Arizona.  He went missing and his owners never gave up hope that they would find him again.

Fast-forward five years to the San Diego Humane Society.  Mufasa was surrendered to SDHS by his current “owners.”  Standard procedure at the shelter is to scan all pets for microchips.  Mufasa’s microchip revealed that he actually belonged to someone else!

Mufasa’s original owners now live in Oklahoma City, and were overjoyed to hear that Mufasa had been found.  They immediately flew to San Diego to retrieve Mufasa, who seems to have remembered his first human family!

You can watch a local CBS News video of this amazing story HERE.