🚨Potentially lethal parasite for dogs found in Southern California waters

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THIS WEEK'S TOPICS:

• 🤑 $55K spent over the lifetime of a dog

• ✈️ Dogs can finally board planes in Australia

• 👁️‍🗨️ Dogs can improve concentration

 🤑 $55K SPENT OVER THE LIFETIME OF A DOG

A Synchrony study titled "Lifetime of Care" sheds light on the financial realities of pet ownership, revealing insights that are both startling and enlightening.

Here's a rapid fire delivery of the key findings:

• Family Members with Fur: Seven out of ten pet parents view their pets as family members, yet nearly half of them underestimate the lifetime cost of care, which spans from $20,000 to $55,000 for dogs and $15,000 to $45,000 for cats.

  

• Financial Unpreparedness: Despite the love and care pet owners are willing to provide, about half of them who believed they were financially prepared for unexpected pet expenses actually were not. This group would consider a financial solution dedicated to pet care financing.

• The Cost of Love: The study, which involved 1,200 pet owners and 100 veterinarians, breaks down the exhaustive list of expenses ranging from initial costs like spaying/neutering and vaccinations to ongoing expenses such as food and health insurance, culminating in end-of-life expenses.

• A Growing Pet Economy: With 90.5 million U.S. homes having pets and $103.6 billion spent on pet care in 2020 alone, the financial impact of pet ownership is significant. The first year of owning a dog or cat can cost between $960 to $2,800, depending on the pet.

  

• Solutions for Pet Parents: Synchrony's study aims to prepare prospective pet parents with a deeper understanding of financial expectations and introduces flexible payment solutions like CareCredit and Pets Best Pet Insurance to help manage these costs.

• Veterinary Insights: Veterinarians often witness pet parents struggling to balance pet care needs with affordability. This study equips them with comprehensive data to advise clients on managing pet care costs effectively.

• Financial Safety Nets: CareCredit and Pets Best offer comprehensive financial solutions, allowing pet owners to manage unexpected vet bills and routine care costs, ensuring pets receive the care they need throughout their lifetimes.

This study not only highlights the underestimated costs of pet ownership but also emphasizes the importance of financial planning and available solutions to ensure pets receive the care they deserve without placing undue financial strain on their owners.

Is there a Credit Karma for dog ownership? Or a mint.com dedicated to tracking pet expenses? Seems like a good opportunity to help owners get a clear understanding of their canine costs!

✈️ DOGS CAN FINALLY BOARD PLANES IN AUSTRALIA

Being able to take your pet on a commercial plane in Australia is one step closer (hopefully).

Virgin Australia has announced its intention to be the country’s first airline to operate flights with pets onboard, as long as they pass regulatory approval.

In the states many commercial airlines already allow this, but have begun to buckle down on their restrictions. The demand for airline travel with your pet is on a meteoric trajectory globally.

A few years back, Virgin surveyed social media followers and customers, and found that 85% supported pets on flights. They also shared that 57% of customers said they would fly more often if their pets were allowed to join.

Now this isn't just a free for all, there will be some limits:

• This will be limited to domestic routes

• It will be only cats and dogs that fit in designated carriers, so there is a weight restriction

• Pets will have to stay in the carriers during the flight

This is all good, because our first worry when we heard about this was that there would be snakes, crocs, dingoes, or other exotic animals from the outback on board.

It also sounds like there will be a specific number of dedicated rows for pets, so if you are worried about sitting close to them, you can always choose seats in another part of the plane.

You may not remember, but we've covered flying with pets before, and from a health perspective we found the biggest impact on your dog was whether they were in the cabin or in cargo. We found that most sources (ASPCA, AVMA) recommend avoiding air travel if you need to store them in the cargo area. The main reasons being:

• 🔊 It's noisier

• 🥶 It's colder

• 🧳 Other items can fall on their carrier

• 😰 And most of all, you can't see them and they can't see you. So mix that in with noise, temperature, etc. and you have a recipe for a stressed animal. And if you can't see them, you can't monitor their health (one reason why cargo sedation can be riskier)

It seems like this is a nice win-win. Virgin seems to have an indication that people will fly more if their pets can come, and flying in the cabin is a much safer alternative than in the cargo.

What wasn't clear yet was if there's going to be a cost for the pets. Currently service animals are free, but knowing airlines, there will likely be a fee for our furry friends.

But hey, we'll take more flexibility to travel with our pooches and hope this is a sign of bigger changes in the travel industry.

We’re still waiting to see a business (airline) come in and provide comprehensive access and amenities to majority of dogs. For now, it’s either travel the highly restrictive commercial flights or pay 5-figures for a one-way private jet.

👁️‍🗨️ DOGS CAN IMPROVE CONCENTRATION

Imagine you're having a ruff day, and then you come across a friendly pup. You stop to pet it, maybe even play a bit or convince the owner to allow you a (stranger) to go for a walk together.

Suddenly, you find yourself feeling a bit lighter, a bit happier. Why does this happen? A recent study sheds light on the science behind the soothing power of our furry friends.

Researchers embarked on a fascinating journey to explore how different activities with dogs affect our minds and emotions.

They gathered 30 healthy adults and had them engage in various interactions with dogs, including meeting, playing, feeding, massaging, grooming, photographing, hugging, and walking the dogs, each for 3 minutes.

They monitored the participants' brain activity and emotional states throughout these activities to see what changes occurred.

The results

Meeting a Dog:

• Not specifically highlighted for significant changes in brain activity or mood, but implied as a baseline interaction.

Playing with a Dog:

• Significantly increased relaxation and resting state, as indicated by alpha power spectra in the brain.

• Also significantly increased concentration levels without stress, shown by beta power spectra.

• Positively affected both relaxation and concentration.

Feeding a Dog:

• Decreased the total mood disorder score, indicating a positive effect on participants' moods.

Massaging a Dog:

• Significantly increased concentration levels without stress (beta power spectra).

• Participants felt relaxed during this activity.

• Decreased the total mood disorder score, indicating a positive effect on mood.

Grooming a Dog:

• Significantly increased concentration levels without stress (beta power spectra).

Photographing a Dog:

• Not specifically highlighted for significant changes in brain activity or mood, but included as one of the activities studied.

Hugging a Dog:

• Decreased the total mood disorder score, indicating a positive effect on participants' moods.

Walking with a Dog:

• Significantly increased relaxation and resting state (alpha power spectra).

• Participants felt comfortable and natural during this activity.

The study showed that spending time with dogs could; significantly reduce stress and evoke positive emotional responses, enhancing relaxation, emotional stability, attention, concentration, and creativity.

• 😌 Specific activities with dogs, like playing and walking, can significantly enhance relaxation and induce a restful state in the brain.

• 😐 Activities requiring gentle focus, such as dog massage and grooming, can improve concentration without inducing stress.

• 😊 Interactions with dogs, including feeding and hugging, positively affect mood by decreasing mood disorder scores.

• 😮‍💨 All activities studied showed significantly lower stress levels in participants, indicating that any form of interaction with dogs could be beneficial for emotional well-being.

DOGGYDEX™

Winner 🏆: BITCOIN

Proudly introducing the DoggyDex™, an index comprised of 10 publicly traded companies whose primary focus is the dog/pet industry.

List of tickers used can be found at the very bottom of the newsletter.

The yellow line-plot in the chart represents these companies above (DoggyDex™) and their combined performance against both the S&P 500 and Bitcoin on a weekly basis.

Pawformance is measured by % gains & losses.

• 😴 Pug smells treat while sleeping: This pug’s owner, holds a chip in front of his pup’s nose and his tongues slowly slithers out towards the treat.

• 🥊 Boxing golden: This Golden puts on gloves and dukes it out with his owner and delivers a KO.

• 🛵 Shiku rides shotgun: A dog named Shiku, sits right between his owners leg thanks to custom built scooter with a compartment just for him.

DOGGY B-DAY

• $CHWY - Chewy: E-commerce platform for pet supplies

• $IDXX - Idexx Labs: Vet point of care instruments and vet software

• $FRPT - Fresh Pet: Pet food company

• $PETQ - PetIQ: Pet health products and medicines

• $PETS - PetMeds: Online pet pharmacy

• $ZTS - Zoetis: World's largest producer of meds and vaccines for pets and livestock

• $TRUP - Trupanion: Pet insurance company

• $WOOF - Petco Health & Wellness co.: Pet health & wellness company

• $BARK - BarkBox: Subscription service providing dog products, services, and experiences

• $PET - Wag! Group Co.: Tech platform that allows pet owners to connect with industry professionals for services such as, walking, training, etc.