Pet Care Business is Booming

Today I found several articles which published some great figures and predictions about the pet care industry. In the past few years demand for pet related services and products has been steadily rising as per the report on Small Business Trends. Most spending growth has been occurring in specialty pet products, pet services, pet medicines, and pet insurance.

Your Healthy Pets Online published an article about making money in the pet care business. What I found most interesting about the article was the following figures about pet ownership and spending:

Over 37 million homes in the USA alone have at least one dog More than $33.5 billion is spent annually in the USA on pets Over 45% of all households in the USA have more than one pet

Another article I found quoted an American Chemical Society study that found that US pet owners spent $18.5 million of the $33.5 billion total on veterinary care, medications and non-food pet supplies.

These are a just a couple of many articles I have seen lately that announces that the pet business is growing steadily and that pet care is currently one of the fastest growing home business opportunities. Predictions made by ACS journal of Chemical & Engineering News are that the money spent on pet care is set to rise in the coming years at an annual rate of 6%.

This is all great news for pet care business owners and those of you who are considering starting a pet business. It also sheds light on many opportunities for possible add on income for pet business owners that can be earned by recommending pet insurance, medications, and products to our clients as affiliate sales. There are several sites online that list online affiliate opportunities. A couple are:

Affiliate Match

Commision Junction

Storefront pet businesses such as vets, groomers, and day care facilities can also take advantage of growing pet product sales by setting up displays of pet products in their locations to sell directly to customers.

Owning a pet business does not guarantee you success, but it is generally not difficult to set up your own pet business adn many who own pet businesses love the hard working lifestyle and the closeness to pets. You will have to compete with those who may be better trained, may have lower cost structures and those who “pretend” to have your skills and experience when they do not. (eg not all those who advertise themselves as groomers are actually Groomers).

There are also key skills that all dog industry professionals should possess. Here are some of the most critical skills and abilities for those hoping to work with dogs professionally: Basic Dog Handling and Training Skills, ability to recognize behavioral signals.

Animals can be somewhat unpredictable when they are under stress or in an unfamiliar environment, like when they visit the veterinary office or the grooming salon, so it is important to be attentive and stay aware of the animal you are handling at all times.