The Economic Side of a Cat Parent

At record rates, Gen Z and Millennial men are becoming cat dads. Whereas cat households were up by 23% in 2024 (at 49 million), for dogs, it was just 4% (68 million).

With cat households multiplying, we can assume that they are spending more on their cats (in New Hampshire and South Dakota?).

Cat Spending

Where?

Although there are just three cat states–New Hampshire, Vermont, and South Dakota, the slew of “even” states helps to explain our growing cat presence:

Who?

Estimated at 37 million, Millennials compose almost one third of all pet owners in the U.S.:

What?

Chewy did the monthly breakdown for cats:

And more precisely…

• Cat birthday parties soared by 250%.
• Sales of cat harnesses, leashes, and collars have increased.
• With multivitamin supplements, pro- and prebiotic nutritional boosts for cats have become more popular.

Our Bottom Line: Consumption Expenditures

Pew Research confirms our cat connections:

So too do our cats’ names. Decades ago we called our cats Whiskers or Boots. Now the top ten includes Milo, Oliver, Bella, Leo, Charlie, Lucy, and Max– names we might select for our children.

Taking the leap, we can correlate humanizing our cats with our spending.

For some of us, it’s at a whopping $3,000:

But reflecting affordability concerns, we have pulled back:

So, where are we?

It all returns us to the GDP and the consumption expenditures within which we record our cat spending.

With consumption expenditures accounting for 70 percent of a GDP that also is composed of Gross Investment (primarily business spending but also residential housing), Government Spending, and Exports minus Imports, we can wonder if the GDP could get a slight boost from pet spending.

BUT…

Based on the Bank of America’s statistics, this is really “iffy” territory.

My sources and more: For cat facts, the website possibilities included Chewy, the PetFood industry,  Pew Research, the American Pet Products Association, and the Bank of America Institute study.

Our featured image is from Chewy.