‘Increasing costs are negatively affecting how owners are providing pet care however owners of pets with chronic pain did not appear to be more financially affected by the CoL crisis’

This study was completed as part of Isobel Suttill’s studies for a BSc (Hons) degree in Applied Animal Studies at Moulton College in collaboration with The University of Northampton and supervised by Nicola Field.

The cost of living (CoL) crisis in the UK, starting in 2021, has heightened pet owner’s concerns about affording pet care, increasing animal relinquishment and decreasing adoptions. Previous research has indicated that 52% of owners delayed seeking veterinary care due to financial concerns.

Suttill aimed to compare the financial impacts of caring for pets with/without a chronic pain condition and whether currently owning a pet with a pain condition was a significant factor in willingness to adopt a pet with a similar condition.

A questionnaire was distributed via social media and gathered responses (n=158) relating to pet demographic information, pet pain status and care costs. To analyse the data, Fisher’s exact testing was used with a chi-squared residuals table used for post-hoc analysis using R studio.

The most common type of pet recorded was dog (69.6%) followed by cat (23.4%) with the mean age being 7.5 years old. 19.6% of respondents indicated their pet had a chronic pain diagnosis.

Suttill found that there was no significant association between type or number of chronic pain conditions and either an increase in veterinary care costs or having a negative impact on daily life (p>0.05). In terms of cost of living, 19.7% of responses indicated that increased costs had made them less likely to seek veterinary care. 40.6% of owners with animals without pain conditions indicated they were or were somewhat worried about their financial ability to care for their pet compared to 11.39% of owners of animals with pain conditions.

No significant association was found between pet pain status and owner’s being less likely to seek veterinary care (p>0.05), however a significant association (p<0.001) was found between responses to the questions regarding if increased costs have made you ‘less likely to seek veterinary care’ and ‘worry about your financial ability to care for your pet.’ Owners who currently owned an animal with a chronic pain condition were found to be unsure about adopting an animal with chronic pain in future (p<0.05).

The study indicates that increasing costs are negatively affecting how owners are providing pet care however owners of pets with chronic pain did not appear to be more financially affected by the CoL crisis. The study suggests that influencing factors may be age of respondent, financial security, income and strength of human-animal bond with study limitations such as sample size and questionnaire distribution method identified.

Overall, the data in this study highlights the need for support for pet owners during periods of economic hardship to protect animal welfare and resources should be invested into encouraging the adoption of pets with chronic pain conditions.

Summarised by Sophie Park, Lecturer at University Centre Reaseheath

Paper: ‘The Cost of Love: The Impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis on the Financial Care of Pets with and without Chronic Pain Conditions (Suttill, 2024)