SPOILING OUR FUR-BABIES

Average pet owner anticipates spending $237.37 on gifts for Fluffy

How do you put a price on the happiness of your very best friend?

You take a survey, of course. The folks over at the Saint Leo University Polling Institute conducted a survey recently, in which they asked 698 people how much they plan to spend on presents for their pets this year. And the answer among pet owners figured out to an average of $237.37.

That’s a lot of balls of yarn. It’s also more than double the total in years past. The last time Saint Leo asked this question, in 2015, the answer was $98.97. So what’s changed?

“We as a nation are embrac-

ing more than ever our pets as family members,” said Rhondda Waddell, a professor of social work at Saint Leo University. “Many people have substituted their animals for the choice to have children, and thus they lavish their pets as they normally would their own children.”

You know you’ve heard the term “pet-parent” before. And whatever your reaction to that title, there’s no denying that the perception that pets are an integral part of the family in the

past few years.

Assistant professor of marketing at the university Keith Jones noted that “in 2014, households reported that while they were going to cut back on spending for family members, they were not going to do so for their furry family members. Some even reported they were going to increase their spending.”

Makes sense. Americans now spend millions of dollars outfitting their pets for Halloween.

That’s a big reason that Jones projects that Americans will spend $86 billion on their pets this year.

Audi Santoso / EyeEm / Getty Images

Hillary Kladke / Getty Images People are spending more than double this year what they spent in 2015 on pets.

Aleksandar Nakic / Getty Images “We as a nation are embracing more than ever our pets as family members,” said Rhondda Waddell, a professor of social work at Saint Leo University.