Franklin, Tennessee-based Mars Petcare launched the “Pets for Better Wellbeing” report, which uses new consumer insights to highlight current ownership trends.
The company’s fourth annual report analyzes the impact of pet ownership on mental and physical wellbeing, comparing responses of owners to non-animal owners – and examines potential hurdles to adding four-legged family members.
“The insights from the ‘Pets for Better Wellbeing’ Report underscore the importance of keeping people and animals together,” said Lisa Campbell, director of external affairs.
“This data drives our innovation in pet care and nutrition, and our aspiration to make more communities around the world pet-friendly – so more people and pets can enjoy the positive benefits of a shared life together.”
The report’s key findings include:
Improved wellbeing among pet parents
- Four in 10 owners report an overall improvement to their mental (38 percent) or physical (41 percent) wellbeing over the last three years, nearly doubling the rate of non-pet owners, at only 23 percent.
- Ninety-two percent of pet owners feel their relationship with their pet helped improve their mental and physical wellbeing over the last three years, with 42 percent indicating their animal improved it “a lot.”
- Sixty percent of animal owners who are also parents to children say that animals improved their youngest owners’ mental wellbeing, providing companionship and emotional support that helped with the stress of social isolation.
Barriers to bringing people and pets together
- Among those considering a animal, 66 percent are concerned about affordability, 47 percent are concerned about being away for work or travel and 42 percent are concerned about finding animal-friendly housing.
- Fifty percent of those who want animals have seen or experienced challenges related to type, breed or size restrictions from their local government or rental property.
- Sixty-six percent of employed animal owners say they’re more likely to stay at a company that offers animal-friendly benefits, but only 10 percent of employers currently do.
Further evidence of pets’ impact on wellbeing
- Pets provided companionship (77 percent) and emotional support (70 percent) to their owners over the last three years.
- Owners are planning to keep their animals close in the year ahead by bringing them when they travel (52 percent) and to pet-friendly businesses (29 percent).
- Owners are also concerned about both their own loneliness (55 percent) as well as their animal’s loneliness (61 percent) when they do have to be apart.
Need for adoptions amid the animal shelter crisis
- Thirty-six percent of non-pet owners are considering adopting or fostering a cat or dog in the next three-five years. Gen Z and Millennials are nearly twice as likely to have these intentions.
- Sixty-one percent of those intending to adopt or foster will turn to animal shelters or rescues.
- Animals adopted from shelters provided an extra boost in mental wellbeing for 84 percent of their owners.
To read the “Pets for Better Wellbeing” report, visit BetterCitiesforPets.com/2022Report.
