New Chewy Survey, Pet Health + Wellness is Top Priority

Chewy surveyed 485 pet parents to find out how important their pet’s health is to them – and the results show there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for our pets. In fact, 68 percent of pet parents/Chewy customers would give up a year of their own life expectancy to give their pet an extra healthy year of life and 54 percent would give up alcohol altogether for the same.

Nearly 9-in-10 respondents agree that they would drop everything to prioritize their pet’s health when they notice an injury or symptom.

• Pets > everyone else – 63 percent care more about their pet’s health than their friends, with more than half caring more about their pet’s health than their in-laws.
• Pet parents would do anything to keep them healthy – 68 percent would give up one year of their own life expectancy to give their pets an extra healthy year of life

o And would give up the following indefinitely to buy pets an extra healthy year…alcohol (54 percent), dining out (42 percent), caffeine (38 percent), streaming services (38 percent), vacations (34 percent)

• Pet health costs are on par with human health costs – respondents spend an annual average of $647 on pet’s health expenses, with 58 percent spend more or the same amount on their pet’s health vs. their own
• The pet and pet parent bond remains strong – 91 percent of pet parents can sense when their pet isn’t feeling 100 percent and 85 percent believe their pets can sense when they are not feeling 100 percent .
• Pets improve their human’s quality of life – pets improve their human’s emotional wellbeing (91 percent), ease stress (91 percent), make them feel less alone (92 percent) and help them be more active (82 percent)
• Pets also experience anxiety – 41 percent of pets experience anxiety, with separation anxiety being the most common type