Why Monique Is More Than a Chicken

Giving her owner (and friend) eggs and love, Monique the hen traveled around the world with a French sailor.

He said that she adapted quickly:

Similarly (and more typically) our dogs and cats have become our companions.

Pet Spending

Decades ago we called our dog Fido. Now he is Max or Charlie and she is Luna or Bella.

You can see that our doggy names are rather similar to what we name our children:

Perhaps knowing what we name our pets can explain what we spend.

Total Spending

Predictably, we are spending more on Max and Luna:

The graphic could include parks, travel, and cafes.

Doggy Parks

Now just in Texas, the MUTTS Canine Cantina has expansion plans. This 1.6 acre facility includes dog parks, K9 splash pads, doggy wash facilities and bark rangers to keep an eye on everything. Complementing a human full service bar, the canine population can indulge in Pupsicles and bite-size beef franks.

To join, you can pay by the day, month or year. A day is as little as $9.99 while the year’s $349.95 price will also get you some discounts and private rental space.

Doggy Travel

Traveling, more of us are taking Max and Luna with us. It used to be tough to find a hotel that welcomed a pet. Now, the “pet-menities” have multiplied. Your room could have a posh pet blanket, a bed, a bowl, and a toy. One hotel has a Wooftop play area and nonalcoholic dog beer on its pup menu. Other entries include chicken Xolo-taco and an apple cookie for dessert.

Virgin Hotels took this photo:

As for the price, some charge as much as $100 while others have no fee.

Cat Cafes

Quite different from doggy destinations, a cat cafe emphasizes the activiites. NYC’s cat cafes were described as having luscious people food, cats ready for adoption, and the runways, perches, and tunnels that cats love. Outside, in the Cat Garden, the felines can watch (and whatever) the birds.

Our Bottom Line: Households

Increasingly, we expect companionship and emotional support from our dogs and cats. When Pew asked people what gives them meaning in life, family, friends, and work dominated the list but pets was one of the answers. Correspondingly, the NIH Newsletter referred to the different roles pets play, from chores for kids to lower blood pressure for us.

As a result, it makes sense that, like Monique, once our pet names changed, so too did our relationships and our spending.

My sources and more: Thanks again to Marginal Revolution for the pet spending update. From there, we returned to our 2018 econlife and then looked at doggy parks, doggy travels. and cat cafes. Please note that while I cannot confirm the Grand View Research’s accuracy, the trend corresponds to what the St. Louis Fed, The Economist, and NIH tell us. Also, the BBC had the story about Monique (our featured image) while Pew had some other facts. Finally, for some fun, you could go to rover.com.