Of course, we all love our pets. Our dogs and cats are part of our family. But did you know that having a pet has other benefits besides bringing you love and joy? You may not believe this, but having a pet can actually save you money!
How Pet Ownership Can Save Money
According to a recent study by the Human Animal Bond Research Initiative Foundation (HABRI), pet ownership actually saves the U.S economy $11.7 billion dollars in overall health care costs. And, those who take their dog on a walk 5 times a week or more save add an additional $418 million in health care costs savings due to a lower incidence of obesity.
Here Are The Numbers
Frankly, none of this shocks us at Pet Camp (except maybe Mark who doesn’t think he burns any calories walking at Splash’s meandering pace). We’ve always known that having a pet makes you feel better, both physically and emotionally. We just never realized that you can quantify those feelings or assign a dollar value to them. Thank goodness the folks at HABRI are better at math then we are! Here’s an example of some of their calculations:
- They estimate that there are 132.8 million pet parents in the United States.
- These pet parents visit a doctor 0.6 times as often as a non-pet parent.
- The average cost of a doctor visit is $139.
So if we remember our high school math here’s what they did:
(Pet Parents)(Average Difference in Number of Office Visits)(Average Cost of an Office Visit)= (132,797,480)(0.616)($139)=$11,370,651,000 (pretty good math skills, if we do say so ourselves!).
Of course, there is more to this study then the press releases are discussing, and some things require greater study.
For example, the biggest factor in the cost savings is the reduced visits to doctors ($11.3 billion of the total $11.7 billion). But that calculation is not based on data from the United States. This doesn’t mean that these savings aren’t real – it just means that we need to collect some local data to verify the result.
Pet Camp for Everybody!
So, what does this mean to you? It means getting a pet can save you money! And how should you spend that savings? By treating your pet to something special at Pet Camp of course! Book a chance for your feline 401(k) to explore our Safari Solarium or your k-9 savings plan to romp in the Savannah.
Thanks for reading.