It’s A Dogs Life? Or Is It?

Winter has gripped much of North America and as we skate in to a new year 2010 and a new decade I want to share some news from the business of pets and ponder a couple other thoughts. The recession goes on for much of the world and pets are not immune to the cutbacks in household spending. I saw an interesting statistic over at Pew Research this morning stating that households cut back 7% on internet costs while dialing back 22% on their cable TV expenses. These figures got me wondering, when do households and pet owners start cutting back on necessities for their pets.

When my dad grew up and things got tight they fed their dog beans, he was fond of saying ” after 9 days a dog would eat beans.” I’m sure today most pet owners are more enlightened and don’t use starvation to get their pets to eat something profoundly distasteful or something the dog might not like, but the question remains. is there a point people downgrade their pets and decide to feed them less quantity and lower quality food? Are times so tough that this is happening and no one is reporting about it. Are pets starving next to their hungry owners?

Hartz pets products is one large company that has stepped up in the last year to try and address this imbalance in the economy. From June 2009 through January 2010 they have given out over 3 million dollars in pet products to pet shelters, pet food shelters and animal rescue groups across the country. They deserve more than a pat on the back for their efforts and you can read more about their work on their website. Hartz donates to help pet shelters.

Follow

Tagged as: health, pet food, Rescue group