April 11 is National Pet Day
April 11 is National Pet Day. It's estimated around $75.3 billion is spent each year by Americans on their pets. Listen to this though, in 1994 it was estimated that we Americans spent $17 billion on our bets.We've more than tripled our spending on our pets over the last 25 years. As far as what we spend that money on, food is number one followed by vet bills. A growing area is pet clothing. The National Retail Federation estimates Americans spend about $9 billion dollars on Halloween costumes for their pets.
75% of pet owners have either a dog or cat. However, neither one is number one as far as being the most popular pet. Fresh water fish by far ranks as the most popular pet with around 142 million compared to the second most popular which is a cat with a population of around 88 million. Dogs are number three on the list.
My old cat Ginger is still hanging in there. She's around 15 years old. My wife found her in a dumpster behind a business. She's getting kind of ratty looking and her teeth are going downhill. She's also getting crabbier every year. I can relate to that. Guess she's following in my footsteps. Pets are good therapy. You can tell them anything and they never disagree.