Australians are spending $12 billion a year on their pet animals

Australians are spending $12 billion a year on food, grooming, vets and insurance for their animals, making the pet care industry one of the major growth hot spots of the country’s business sector.
                                     

There are an estimated eight million pet owners, primarily of cats and dogs, which means Australia has one of the highest domestic animal ownership rates in the world.

And as more people choose to live by themselves with their animals, the growing level of spending has prompted new businesses to enter the market to take advantage of the boom in spending on pets.

On most days during the week Gustavo Montagut can be found around Sydney’s off-leash beaches and parks in the east with a pack of up to 10 dogs.

Mr Montagut, 30, left Colombia after studying marketing at university for a decade, to travel and learn the art of dog grooming in Shanghai.

He has increased the number of dogs he regularly takes out from 15 to as many as 105 in three months. He charges $45 a dog for four hours’ care. “I realised I didn’t want to just walk dogs anymore; I started to think of the idea of dog adventures,” he said.

It is estimated that 5 per cent of all Australian pets are insured, which is ahead of the 2 per cent in the United States but well behind Britain’s 25 per cent, which is the highest in the world.

In Australia, it is estimated that $600 million was spent last year on clipping and grooming services — owners can spend $150 every month for professional dog groomers — $500m on short-term boarding kennels and accommodation and $200m on training and behavioural programs.

Total spending in the pet industry, an estimated $12bn, was up 42 per cent last year over the figure for 2013. PetSure’s number of customers has risen from 45,000 in 2009 to 390,000 so far this year, which means its compound annual growth rate has been in the mid-20 per cent range for the past three years.