Pet owners treat their pets like family, and with that comes the same conflicts of desire vs. practicality in pet food purchasing that exist in human food purchasing.
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Americans have long depended on their household pets for companionship, such that a large majority consider their pets to be family members. Packaged Facts’ January 2024 Survey of Pet Owners shows 76% strongly agreeing that their pets are “part of the family,” while another 17% somewhat agree (see Table 1). That leaves 5% neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and only 2% somewhat or strongly disagreeing. The extremely low levels of disagreement are the most telling stats here: Dog or cat owners who don’t consider themselves pet parents are an endangered species.
