Consumers tend to buy premium pet food if they know pets benefit human health.
From Petfood Industry:
Over the past few years, Petfood Industry has covered research suggesting that the bond between humans and animals can benefit pet owners’ health and lead to improved pet nutrition and sales of premium pet food.
In 2014, a Human Animal Bond Research Initiative (HABRI) survey interviewed 1,000 US family doctors and general practitioners, with 97% stating they believe that that pet ownership benefits human health.
The survey also showed that 75% of the physicians have seen a patient’s overall health or a specific medical condition get moderately or significantly better after the patient adopted a pet; 87% said they’ve seen a patient's mood or outlook improve as a result of owning a pet; 60% have recommended that a patient get a pet; and 82% said that if medical evidence supported it, they would prescribe a pet for a patient.
More recent HABRI survey results provide evidence that those doctors' advice could lead to their patients purchaing premium pet food.
Knowing pets boost our health leads to feeding them well
A 2016 HABRI report suggested that when owners are aware that pet ownership benefits human health, those people in turn are more likely to purchase premium pet food.
Specifically, when educated on scientific research about how owning pets is good for human health, 88 percent of respondents are more likely to provide their pets with premium pet food, and 92 percent are more likely to maintain their pets’ health, including staying current on vaccinations and preventive medicine, with 89 percent also more likely to take their pets for regular veterinary checkups.
Tim Wall covers the dog, cat and other pet food industries as a senior reporter for WATT Global Media. His work has appeared inScientific American, Live Science, Discovery News, Honduras Weekly, Global Journalist and other outlets. He holds an M.A. in journalism and an M.S. in natural resources, both
from the University of Missouri - Columbia, along with a bachelor's degree in biology.
Wall served in the Peace Corps in Honduras from 2005 to 2007, where he coordinated with the town government of Moroceli to organize a municipal trash collection system, taught environmental science, translated for medical brigades and facilitated sustainable agriculture, along with other projects.
A new year brings new opportunities and excitement, and 2023 is bound to be the same, with several chances for advancing policy issues of importance to the U.S. animal food industry.
