Brandon Mullins

Pet Luxuries vs. Human Survival

I could write a rather lengthy post on my thoughts on this issue, but I decided to make the below chart instead to summarize the situation, which is honestly all that needs to be stated (dollars in billions):

• Summary: millions of Americans are spending more money on making sure their dogs have vast comfort, security, and luxury than other human lives in developing worlds.

Notice: I am speaking of the extraneous, frivolous purchases on pets aside from the costs of vet, surgery, food, vitamins, and a chew toy. This is aimed at the Park Avenue dog-spoilers who purchase diamond-encrusted collars and canine fur coats. Yes, there are many, many other frivolous purchases that American’s spend money on which could have been stated. However, I am attempting to draw a parallel between two living creatures, an animal and a human. You may think it’s okay to purchase several hundreds of dollars on dog outfits and coats rather than giving that money to feed another human, but I do not.

A friend of mine, Ryan Allis, recently wrote a quick concerned post titled “Why” regarding the inconceivable truth that 40% of the world’s population lives off of $2 or less per day, and questioning why there isn’t more attention, focus, outrage, and help on the topic. From his post:

I wonder why in a world with as much wealth as we see, as much luxury that we experience, should 40% of the human species live on under $2 per day?

2.56 billion human beings, people just like you and I, live on under $2 per day. On average, 24,900 children under 5 die each and every day in the developing world, often from preventable diseases and starvation. 24,900 children under 5. Check out the sources below. This is absolutely unacceptable.

Why does no one talk about this?

It was a great statistic which stuck with me. Then I came across an industry statistic that stated U.S. annual pet spending is climbing at a rapid pace, per the table below:

Total U.S. Pet Industry Expenditures
Year                 Billion
2009                 $45.4 Est.
2008                 $43.2
2007                 $41.2
2006                 $38.5 
2005                 $36.3
2004                 $34.4
2003                 $32.4
2002                 $29.5
2001                 $28.5
1998                 $23
1996                 $21
1994                 $17 

Curious (as any entrepreneur will be when hearing the phrase “rapid industry growth”), I decided to dig into this pet spending-spree more, and found out that “according to the 2009/2010 National Pet Owners Survey, 62% of U.S. households own a pet, which equates to 71.4 millions homes.” And the total spending on U.S. pets? $45B per year. To be fair, a very large portion of this annual expenditure is on categories such as vet, surgery, and food. But the dollar portion spent on luxuries, toys, and treats? $14B. I thought, here we have an issue in which 80% of humanity, people like you & I who share this thing called Life, are living off of $10 per day or less - no money for medicine, no money for clean water, no money for basic health, $10 every day to ration - and yet all across this country we’re spending $14B every year for Fido’s dog snuggie (yep, it exists) and his Christmas sweater.

And so I pontificated on the fact that both pets and humans are living creatures. But the fact that Americans alone spend $14B of frivolous purchases in order to make sure their dog has more comfort & health than another human being just didn’t sit well with me. So, I did more digging, and found the data that went into my making of the original chart in this post which provides the estimated additional annual costs to alleviate those specific global issues for one year. Both dogs & cats and humans are living creatures. Pet luxuries or human survival? Enough said.

Sources: American Pet Products Association; UNICEF; Volunteer Now!; GlobalIssues.org

Brandon Mullins