Canadians spend $4 billion each year on their pets. More than half goes to the bare necessities: food and trips to the vet. But there’s a huge new market for luxury animal products—designer clothes, posh resorts, organic treats, even insurance policies.
Why the sudden urge to pamper our pets? Some say it’s because people are waiting longer to have children and instead lavishing love on their animals. Others blame a consumer culture gone crazy. One thing’s for sure: small-business owners are cashing in.
Lisa Brooks
Happy Tails Pet Resort
It’s a resort for pets. We have activities like paw-print painting and pottery, but most of the time the dogs just hang out with each other and have fun. Each dog has its own cubby to sleep and eat in. They’re all wood, with Berber carpet in the summer and straw in the winter. There’s also a TV and a fireplace. For the larger dogs, there are cabins on the grounds, and couches.Fraser Telford
Exotic-fish expert, Big Al’s
I’m the livestock man-ager for the Mississauga store, and it’s like running a small zoo or aquarium. We have over a thousand species of fish, from goldfish and guppies to large angelfish and sharks. We also get parents who come in and say, “I need a salt-water tank and the fish from Finding Nemo. Make it happen.” And we do.Katina Constantinou
Rufhaus K9 Couture
Pit bulls are a short-haired breed, and they need a bit of cover in the winter. We looked everywhere, and we couldn’t find any jackets that we liked, so I designed one. I had no previous sewing experience, but every time we went to the park, people would follow us and ask us where we got the jacket. That’s how it started.Photo by Globe And Mail.
Richard Laplante on March 27th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
The pet industry and other industry have targeted their marketing strategies to include the humanizing of dogs, thus encouraging more people to humanize their dogs.