In Ireland over 1.7 million adults have a pet. Over three-quarters of adults (76%) own a pet for companionship and the rest own an animal for emotional support, responsibility, protection or activities they can undertake with their pet.
With this in mind, iReach Insights conducted a nationally representative survey of 1,001 Irish adults on how important are pets nowadays.
2 in 5 adults (37%) wouldn’t get a pet due to the high initial cost of purchase, while others wouldn’t due to the cost of food (28%) and accessories (28%).
1 in 4 adults (24%) believe the worst type of pet for a neighbour to have is a dog and 22% of adults think a rodent is the worst type of pet a neighbour could have.
Luckily only 4% of adults actually have pet rodents.
The average amount adults spend on their pets each month is €40. Dog owners spend an average of €43 a month on their dogs and cat owners spend an average of €31 a month on their pets.
Males tend to spend more on their pets with an average spend of €32 a month and females spend €27 a month.
Overall adults in Ireland spend an average of €68.4 million (approx.)on their pets each month or just over €820m each year.
